Amateur Radio

A:  In the United States, The Amateur Radio Service is defined and regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. via the Code of Federal Regulations Title 47, Chapter I, part 97. It defines the radio frequencies, the maximum amount of power useable, the types of activity allowed and expected, and the methods for becoming licensed.

A:  By the definition in Part 97, Amateur Radio Licensees primary purpose is providing communication during emergency situations. Secondary is contributing to the advancement of radio and adding to the reservoir of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts. Last, but not least the continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to
enhance international goodwill.

A:  Yes. The hobby aspect has many depths to it depending on one's personal interests.

Some people purchace all commercial manufactured radios and antennas and are only interested in communicating with people throughout the world.

Some build the radios from scratch. Others build antennas and experiment with new designs which are more efficient and/or smaller.

Others work towards finding ways to link and maximize radio functionality with other technologies like the Internet.

A: 

• Point-to-point radio communications
• Atmospheric bounced radio communications
• Satellite bounced radio communications
• Moon bounced radio communications
• Communication with astronauts in space
• Participation in building the satellites sent into orbit for amateur radio communication
• Still picture transmission
• Slow scan television
• Fast scan television
• Teletype
• Computer networking via packet radio
• Communication via Morse Code
• Weak signal/low power communications
• Connecting radio transceivers via the Internet EchoLink
• Automatic Position Reporing System via Packet Radio APRS
• Participate in organized competitions

A:  Yes. The primary sponsor is the ARRL. The contests focus on aspects of amateur radio.

Common Contests:

• Band contest - all contacts have to take place in a specific range of radio frequencies.
• CW contest - all operations carried out using Morse Code.
• DX contest - goal is to make contact with as many other countries as possible.
• Field Day - all operations carried out on battery and generator power while making as many contacts as possible.
• Fox Hunts - a radio beacon is setup and participates must find it in the allotted time.
• International EME contest - all communications done by bouncing radio signal off the moon.
• Kid's Day - all participants are minors. Licensed operators can allow unlicensed minors to participate as their responsibility.
• School Club Roundup - participates are radio clubs of K-12 schools, colleges, and universities.

A:  The quick answer is flexibility to adapt to most any situation.

To the more in-depth answer:

Cellular phones work by having an autonomous tower with antennas to service a set area. The size of the area depends on how many people the cellular phone company expects to be servicing in a given area and the terrain of the service area. When the cell tower no longer has electricity to power it, the antenna takes enough damage, or the tower falls that "cell" then has no service provided within it. Also, depending on the cellular tower, it will connect to the home office via microwave antenna or landline. If the method the cell tower uses to connect to the world is disabled, so is the cell tower. Additionally, if the number of cellular phones attempting to use the tower goes beyond what it is configured for, the overage of cellular phones won't even be able to connect to the tower system. Depending on the disaster, cellular service could be disabled for hours to days and maybe weeks.

Cellular towers and networks are vulnerable to many elements:

• Wind
  • Winds over 120MPH will cause common cell towers to fall
    • 120MPH is the wind speed reached by a F2 or higher ranked tornado
    • 120MPH is a steady wind speed of a hurricane ranked category 3 or higher
  • The high wind gusts which accompany even a Catagory 1 hurricane can cause microwave link antennas to be blown out of alignment and cause the tower to no longer be in contact with the rest of the network.
• Power Failure
  • If the electricity to the cell tower fails, the tower fails
    • In some areas, a precentage of cell towers have backup generators
    • Generator fuel tanks are only large enough to have fuel for a couple days of use
  • While the cell tower may have backup power, the controlling electronics for the land lines a tower may use to connect to the cellular network may not.
• Lightning
  • Can melt a cell tower to the ground
  • Even a near miss of the cell tower can cause disruption in services via the localized EMP caused by lightning
• Flood
  • Water in the tower electrical system will disable it
  • Violent flood waters can topple the cell tower
• Wildfire
  • The heat of a wildfire can disable the electronics of a cell tower
  • The heat of a wildfire can weaken the tower structure so it falls
• Terrorism
  • As we saw on 9/11/01, some times the building with the cell tower on it falls
  • Cellular communication is a potential target
• Use beyond expectation
  • If more phones attempt to use the cellular tower than the company expected, the tower will be inaccessible to the number of users over the limit
  • With some cellular networks, public safety phones are given a priority so a civilian call will be terminated to allow a public safety phone to connect.
  • If the cellular network does not give priority to public safety, they are left without cellular communications just like everyone else trying to make calls.
• Dead zones
  • Even with forethought and regular expansions of cellular networks, there are locations where cellular phones do not have the power to connect to the nearest cellular tower.

Many public safely agencies use trunked radio systems. A basic Trunked radio's analogy is cellular phone party lines. Trunked systems have their own radios and frequencies, but to have the system work, it has multiple repeater sites covering the area the trunked radio is setup to serve. These repeater antennas & towers have the same kind of vulnerabilities of cellular towers. If a trunk repeater is out of range or fails, the public safety personnel in its planned coverage area are limited to their car-to-car/person-to-person radio capabilities. While agencies like the police and fire departments may share the same trunk systems, they often have separate car-to-car radio frequencies.

Where does amateur radio fit in?

The Amateur Radio Service has a number of places where it compliments and expands the abilities of public safety agencies. The primary area is interagency communication. Radios provided to public safety personnel are assigned specific radio frequencies to use. Because of this a county trunked radio may have no way to directly contact a city agency radio. During normal activity, such a message would be passed through the dispatchers of the two agencies.

During disaster situations, amateur radio operators can compliment this part of the dispatchers' duties by being able to pass interagency messages between cities, counties, and states. The agencies do not have to be governmental. Non-government agencies like the American Red Cross rely on amateur radio operators to be their communication backbone. So any messages they need exchanged with government agencies via radio will go through amateur radio operators.

The American Red Cross also utilizes amateur radio operators to serve a communication points for shelters opened during disaster operations. The buildings used for shelters are often cafeterias & gyms of public schools. Neither which generally has ready phone access to anyone but school personnel. Depending on why the shelters were opened, landline phones may not be functional and the materials, which make the building suitable to be a shelter, will often block the low power transmissions of cellular phones.

Amateur radio operators are also utilized during wildfire emergencies through out the country. While not a regular problem in Florida, in states with mountainous terrain, amateur radio operators will fill in communication holes of fire-rescue personnel radios. While amateur radio operators will find radio dead zones also, they are not usually in the same areas the public safety personnel have because the amateur radio repeaters are in different locations than the public safety ones. Also, the amateur radio operators have the ability to put out significantly more power than public safety radios.


While there is no doubt cellular phones and trunked radio systems play a major part in improving day-to-day emergency communications, they do not replace the flexibility of amateur radio equipment to be able to facilitate communications under extreme conditions. From being able to use just a length of wire as an antenna to being able to put out the signal power equivalent to a small FM rock radio station, amateur radio operators can carry out point to point communications when every other common form of radio or land base communication have been disabled--whether failure is caused by wind to EMP. This includes being able to have the point-to-point locations on opposite sides of the globe.