I have been
a licensed amateur radio operator for 38 years. It is one of those
incredibly interesting adventures that relatively few outside the hobby
know or understand. Cell phones, Ipads, tablets, email, texting,
"Skype," and other internet communication possibilities have made it
possible to communicate around the world. As these new electronic
miracles evolved, I looked back on my 3 years in the Army Security
Agency when I was over in Europe. A 3 minute transoceanic call to my
dear wife would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 dollars per
minute....or was it 3 minutes? Today, those folks who replaced me and my military
contemporaries, can text each other, talk to each other via the computer
screen and basically come much closer to home. How I would loved to
have had that technology back in 1956!
We
can take comfort in the knowledge that there will ALWAYS be amateur
radio operators involved during any emergency; be it a local or national
disaster. It is comforting to know that in the event of a dreaded "EMP"
electric magnetic pulse attack where ALL standard electronic
communications will be useless, amateur radio operators will come to the
rescue, passing emergency messages through their incredibly efficient
emergency radio nets. With cell phone and cell phone towers rendered
powerless, radio communications running on temporary battery power, and
other taken for granted electronic equipment unable to function without
power, the amateurs will be the "minutemen" who come to the rescue.
