By Corey Graff
On the afternoon of Sunday, May 22, 2011, the residents of Joplin, Missouri, learned to distrust their cell phones. What convinced them were the hellish winds from a maximum-strength EF5 tornado that reached down from the heavens like a giant vacuum cleaner of death. It touched down just east of the Kansas state line and blazed a 22-mile path of death and destruction through the town — sucking, ripping and tearing the city’s structures into mangled toothpicks and violently ending the lives of 158 people.
The monster mile-wide twister caused catastrophic damage in the neighborhood of $2.2 billion. And it knocked out cell phone communications for days. When the storm passed, 1,300 people were missing. The Show Me State learned a tough lesson that day: Don’t rely on cell phones. While they’re a great modern convenience, they’re also the first to fail when high winds crush cell phone towers like pop cans.
It wasn’t the first time. New York City, the morning of September 11, 2001. Terrorists strike the World Trade Center. New Yorkers — and virtually everyone else in America — rush to their cell phones. They called to report smoke and fire. They called to request medical help. They called to check in on loved ones. And many just called because they needed to talk to someone, anyone who would listen, about the horrific scenes they saw on TV. It didn’t matter why they called, as much as the fact that everyone called at the same time. The phone system locked up. There was too much data flooding the network and not enough bandwidth. While some infrastructure damage could be blamed for the failure — several cell towers and connecting land lines were indeed destroyed — the real reason the networks failed was simply because they were overloaded.
“I walked from downtown to Lincoln Center (about 4.5 miles) before I was able to hail a cab with four strangers,” said Andrea Mancuso as reported by CBS News (“Can We Count on Cell Networks?” September 7, 2011). Mancuso was working just north of the Trade Center. She was lucky; her phone worked. “Everyone was upset, and no one had a cell phone signal except me. I passed my phone around like a hot potato all the way to Harlem. Everyone including the cab driver graciously and tearfully called their families.”
Since that day, cell phone networks have been tested and retested and they routinely fail when consumption demands exceed normal levels. Industry representatives claim providers are installing additional towers and built-in network redundancy to handle the volume spike during crises. But Telecomm Analyst Gerard Hallaren paints a different picture. In the CBS News story he revealed that networks are only designed to handle 20 to 40 percent of traffic, which includes phone calls and data modes such as wireless Internet and text messaging.
In the end, it may be business realities — as opposed to technical or infrastructure limitations — keeping cell networks lean and mean, susceptible to failure during extraordinary events. “It’s just economic insanity for any carrier to try to solve the congestion problem,” Hallaren said. “It’s cost-prohibitive to build a network that could serve 330 million at the same time. A service like that would cost hundreds of dollars a month, and people are not willing to pay that much for cell phone service.”
The advantage of radio lies in its ability to send and receive a signal, with no help from others. Two-way radio has come a long way since the early days of Guglielmo Marconi’s historic transatlantic wireless transmission that must have struck people in those days as nothing short of magic. Today, two-way radio transceivers (transmitter-receivers) are as technologically advanced as any other “tech gadget” — with amateur or ham radio leading the march toward integration with the Internet, GPS and exotic new data modes. But at its most basic level, radio is still radio. Like the basic Marconi set that transmitted the distress signal from the sinking Titanic, it works today for the same reason it worked then: It relies on no one else to get a message out. Thus it remains the best, most reliable form of communication for emergencies. Wireless two-way allows you to be a locally operated independent radio station. You are the network, in essence, and can take advantage of built-in network redundancy, communicating with other independent operators. If one operator loses capability, the network keeps chugging along. There is no middleman. And, other than initial equipment purchase and license fees, there is no cost, either.
Not so with commercial telecommunications systems. By their very nature, commercial communications are centralized. That means that all calls go through your service provider’s network. If that system gets overloaded, which it will in the event of a widespread disaster, you’re out. These systems are designed to make private companies money, not to ensure you can communicate during times of uncertainty. They are so fickle that any event that gets people talking can spark telecomm gridlock. Equally troublesome is the weather: An ice storm or a wind event such as tornado or straight-line winds can twist lines into high voltage pretzels — rendering your smartphone into nothing more than a fancy-looking paperweight.
One way to deal with low batteries while on the move or during a power outage is to have some portable power. Brunton’s Resync uses a lithium battery to store enough juice to power up tablet computers, e-readers, GPS units and cell phones via USB ports. A quick test at the office revealed that an iPad can be charged in approximately two hours, a cell phone in about 30 minutes and an e-reader in less than an hour with plenty of juice leftover. The Resync can be recharged through a wall plug-in, a 12V DC charger in your car, a USB port or by solar panels. It has a waterproof rubberized shell for protection against foul weather and impacts. Bonus: it weighs 10 ounces.
Arguably the most versatile of the radio services, amateur radio allows you to operate on all modes and bands, and push out a full legal limit of 1,500 watts. You’ll need an amateur radio license to transmit. There are license classes — Technician, General and Extra Class and each requires a few weeks of study and gets progressively more difficult to ace. But with each new license upgrade, you attain access to more bands and modes. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) administers licenses while testing is handled by certified Volunteer Examiners (VEs) through local ham radio clubs. Study manuals for each license class are available through the American Radio Relay League (www.arrl.org).
The benefits of ham radio for emergency communications include access to other local, state, national and global radio operators who are capable of staying on the air even during power outages and failures of the grid. You can operate FM, AM or Single Sideband (SSB) modes using voice, CW (morse code) and data modes from the high frequency (shortwave) bands through the ultra high frequency (UHF) spectrum for crystal clear local and statewide FM communications. You can find out what’s happening. And you can get a signal out to get help.
High-performance transceivers like this Yaesu DX9000 transmit up to 400 watts, and can cover the full ham radio high frequency (HF) spectrum from 1.8 mhz (160 meters) up to 54 mhz (6 meters). Advanced filters allow you to pull weak signals from the static when atmospheric propagation isn’t ideal.
You don’t have to be a wayfaring trucker careening down the open road to realize the benefits of Citizen’s Band or CB radio. While described by some as a “wasteland” — a reputation gained by rampant on-air vulgarity in some parts of the country — CB radio operates in the 11 meter band (26.965 – 27.405 MHz spectrum range) on 40 designated channels, and is quite useful for emergency use. Radios can receive and transmit in FM, AM or SSB modes but are limited to 4 watts (AM) or 12 watts (SSB). Unlike some of the other radio services, Citizen’s Band no longer requires a license, though there are rules you need to follow. Amplifiers used to boost output power are prohibited and you must observe height restrictions on antennas. You are also required to assume a “handle,” though it’s a safe bet that “Rubber Duck” has already been taken.
Another advantage of amateur radio is the option to run vintage equipment. These World War II-era radios use tubes, which allows them to keep working after an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), unlike solid-state electronics.
The General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) requires one adult, who is the head of the household, to obtain an FCC license. The license covers your immediate family, and gives you access to local- or intermediate-range communications between family members. Some handheld GMRS radios claim up to a 36-mile range, but most GMRS units are handheld “walkie-talkie” style and are limited to 5 watts, making them much shorter distance options. While the actual power limit is 50 watts for this service, there is a loosely-scattered network of GMRS repeaters around the country (a repeater is a high powered station that receives weak signals and retransmits the signal on a different frequency at high power to cover a much greater distance) so if you need to stay in contact with family located over a few miles a way (but less than 50) GMRS may work for you.
Today’s small amateur radio “HTs” or handie-talkies, are incredibly advanced. This Yaesu VX-6R is a dual-band model transceiver that operates in the 70 cm (440 mhz) and 2m (144 mhz) bands FM. It also receives international shortwave AM transmissions and NOAA weather radio. While typically used for local emergency communications and weather spotting, it can access Internet-linked repeaters for international coverage.
Similar to the GMRS, the Family Radio Service, or FRS, is intended to keep, as its namesake implies, family members in contact with one another. You do not need a license to operate a radio in this service. However, FRS is considered a close-range proposition, due to the fact that radios are limited to one-half watt. In practical terms, FRS radio is a one-mile or less choice. One thing to note: Many FRS radios have GMRS capability, so be sure not to operate the radio outside of the FRS limits unless you have the GMRS license. That being said, one principle of preparedness is using gear that covers more than one use. Thus, one of the handiest units I’ve seen in this category is the Garmin Rino — a GMRS/FRS radio with full Garmin GPS capability. Not only do you get two radio services covered with one transceiver, but you can find your way to safety (assuming the satellites are working).
By Jerry Ahearn
For ordinary communication between individuals or families, the “drop” or “postal drop” could prove useful beyond its original sphere – clandestine lovers and the world of espionage. A drop can be any location to which two or more people are privy, yet the location is not common knowledge. If a drop or any other clandestine means of communication is used too frequently, it will cease to be secretive. It’s only good sense to work out something with the family along the lines of: “In the event I can’t make it back to the house and you guys have to evacuate, try to be at the bridge on Tuesday morning around seven or eight. If you can’t wait that long, leave a message.” Search out a good spot to leave messages. It can prevent an unintended separation during an emergency and the deep trauma of being out of touch with a loved one.
Two final, less popular options are the Low Power Radio Service (LPRS) and Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS). The former uses one-way radio to transmit voice or data information to disabled persons. The latter, MURS, is a two-way service with five allocated channels in the VHF band. Radios used for this service are limited to 2 watts; a license is not required.
There’s only one thing you can absolutely count on when it comes to your cell phone: It will fail — probably when you need it the most. However, long-range communication is still possible if you plan now to incorporate two-way radio into your family preparedness plan. Sometimes, your ability to get a signal out is your only lifeline to outside help. Don’t entrust your family’s safety to a telecomm company’s flimsy cell phone network. Instead, get on the air now, while you still can — and stay on the air, when all else fails.