Letter to the Editor: Importance of Emergency Radio Operations, Comm.

To the people of Cleveland County:We all have seen the damage done by Hurricane Helene, larger than Katrina with higher winds and more torrential rains. Still thousands of people are cut off from communications, electricity, cell phones, media, groceries medications and fuel.As a licensed Amateur Radio (Ham) Operator and a certified Auxiliary Emergency Radio Operator I tend to keep up with several different websites and Facebook pages dealing with radio operations. So many people lost communication ability, including a way to call for help in an emergency, that the question keeps arising about will Amateur Radio help us communicate when everything is down. Specifically; “will handheld radios (walkie talkies) get us the assistance we need?”. The answer is most probably: NO!Most of the handheld radios the General Public can afford ($30 to $450) operate in the very high frequency and ultra-high frequency bands (137 to 470 MHz). These bands generally are line of site, meaning that the horizon is the limit of their range and if there is thick brush, buildings, trees, hills etc. in the way that will severely shorten the signal. These public use bands are Family Radio Service (FRS) 0.5 watts, Multi-Use Radio service (MURS) 2watts, Amateur Radio Service (Ham) up to 1500 watts for base stations and mobile use, but generally 1-20 on handheld units, General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) Up to 50 watts Mobile and base stations, but generally 1-4 watts on handhelds. Both GMRS and Amateur Radio require a license to operate.With a repeater within range the distance your handheld can reach can becomes as much as 50 miles or more, depending on conditions. These are generally on Amateur radio frequencies but GMRS repeaters exist as well. We had our dual band repeater up at New Edinburg but because of terrible radio interference we were forced to take it down. It will soon be back in operation 4 miles east of New Edinburg on at least an 80-foot tower....