"All Circuits are Busy" Now What?

[U201491]

I'm currently using a Yaesu VX-7R and am pretty happy with it. I was pretty happy with my old Icom IC-T7H, though, before it went to a watery grave. The extra bands on the 7R are nice to have, even if I don't use them much.

Yea Yaesu makes great equipment.
They make my favorite marine radio as well the Standard Horizon.
If you are anywhere near water, a good marine VHF is also good to have.

 

[AMProducts]

Ok, few observations, having lived in southern CA for most of my life, I can tell you a thing or two about what cell phones do during earthquakes:

1) You have 2 minutes to make a call, send a text. Even if you have made a call, it must be done before the 2 minute mark otherwise it will error out and drop. Honestly, send a text that says "I'm ok... at work" and maybe if/when you're headed home. Send it immediately, don't delay, if you have to send it to everyone on your contact list.
2) If you dally, your text will be delayed sometimes for days or hours, which may happen anyways. I had a text conversation with my wife during the 2008 quake (the epicenter was about 2 miles from where I was at work at an ammo factory) we got through 3 texts and that was it.
3) Amateur radio - The downside with this is that many of the repeaters are going to be taken over by cert and comms groups. This is both a good and bad thing, as you should be able to check in, say you have a message for another callsign, this should free you up to do other things. But your chances of talking directly to a family member is pretty low unless you can go direct.
4) GMRS/FRS - this is going to be completely overwhelmed by kids, cert groups, locals etc. It's barely useable as is, this will be worse after an emergency
5) MURS - unlike GMRS/FRS there are no "common" radios that talk on this frequency, so it's going to be used mostly by rogue ham operators and dedicated hobbyists, they may help you out, they may not.
6) Skype/Voip/etc - Provided the internet isn't as affected, this is likely to work as most people are going to be looking to phone and radio to talk home. The best option may be instant messaging services.

So my recommendations: If you're at work, at home, etc internet may be the best mode of communication, however for mobile applications, radio is really the only game in town, but I don't expect it to be easy.

 

[The Heretic]

AMP - all good points.

A few more I would add.

Not all cell/SMS texts are the same.

I think I already mentioned that small short ones of less than 140 to 160 chars will be a single SMS message whereas longer ones will be multiple messages concatenated together. I *think* the shorter ones therefore have a better chance of getting through. Either way - keep it concise and quick.

Also, some systems will retry a number of times if the text msg isn't delivered, some will just try once. None guarantee delivery.

How the text message gets to its destination may vary - it may go go totally over dedicated phone lines, it may go in part over common data lines, or a mix.

As mentioned, send txt msgs to a large group of people if you can and have a plan in place with them to forward your msg to the others in your group. You may not be able to get out to someone a block away, but your msg might make it to someone halfway around the world and then get forwarded to the person next door - that's the way it works sometimes.

My personal phone which is older and runs Android 2.4, sometimes "fails" to even send the text. I have found that if I restart it then it will send texts.

 

[The Heretic]

VOIP and related tech.

This is increasingly being used.

I work with a guy who has a phone and the carrier is TextNow. All his calls are VOIP - they do not use voice "lines", only data.

I saw a product the other day that worked similar to a Star Trek comm badge. You clipped it on your shirt and talked to people in your group (it connects to your phone via bluetooth). It doesn't use voice minutes, it use your data plan. You don't make a phone call, you just use it like a txt msg, but your voice is digitized and then transmitted to everybody in your group. Kind of like Nextel used to work.

I would not be surprised that you could use some VOIP or other voice messaging system in a similar fashion with a simple bluetooth headset. IMO, that would be the way to go for cell.

There was also another product that was basically a radio that attached to your phone. No reviews on this yet as it wasn't released, but I don't see an advantage to it over carrying a separate handset radio.

 

[parallax]

If s.h.t.f. senario applies, all radio rules/laws may not matter anymore.( in an emergency, a person is allowed to use any frequency, its the law..) get some easy to use wide band keypad field programmable hand held/mobile radios. 136 mhz to 174 mhz & 420 mhz to 470 mhz. ( K.I.S.S.) teach your family/friends how to use them. keep them charged up, with spare batteries. have a common frequency list to meet up on, maybe even keep the freq. list taped onto the back of the radio for easy reference, should things go all apacolyptic.

 

[AMProducts]

AMP - all good points.

A few more I would add.

Not all cell/SMS texts are the same.

I think I already mentioned that small short ones of less than 140 to 160 chars will be a single SMS message whereas longer ones will be multiple messages concatenated together. I *think* the shorter ones therefore have a better chance of getting through. Either way - keep it concise and quick.

Also, some systems will retry a number of times if the text msg isn't delivered, some will just try once. None guarantee delivery.

How the text message gets to its destination may vary - it may go go totally over dedicated phone lines, it may go in part over common data lines, or a mix.

As mentioned, send txt msgs to a large group of people if you can and have a plan in place with them to forward your msg to the others in your group. You may not be able to get out to someone a block away, but your msg might make it to someone halfway around the world and then get forwarded to the person next door - that's the way it works sometimes.

My personal phone which is older and runs Android 2.4, sometimes "fails" to even send the text. I have found that if I restart it then it will send texts.

The newer format for text messages is MMS - Multimedia Message Service. This still uses the same data channels on the cell network that text does. Some of the newer phones (android iphone) like to use the data portion for message sending if available.

 

[AMProducts]

If s.h.t.f. senario applies, all radio rules/laws may not matter anymore.( in an emergency, a person is allowed to use any frequency, its the law..) get some easy to use wide band keypad field programmable hand held/mobile radios. 136 mhz to 174 mhz & 420 mhz to 470 mhz. ( K.I.S.S.) teach your family/friends how to use them. keep them charged up, with spare batteries. have a common frequency list to meet up on, maybe even keep the freq. list taped onto the back of the radio for easy reference, should things go all apacolyptic.

You're not 100% correct on this... you are allowed to use any frequency you want in a case of immanent emergency of life and death. IE someone just got hit by a car, you have a radio and happen to know what you need to do to talk to the police. However there was just an earthquake, and you want to talk to your wife to let her know you're ok then it doesn't apply. I would highly suggest sticking with amateur radio (if you're an operator), or the unlicensed bands if you're not. If you have a frequency agile radio (one you can program) you can use the GMRS repeater input frequencies as many bubble-pack radios don't use these and it might free up some spectrum for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service

Generally, if you pick a non-GMRS freq you're pretty safe using anything in the 462-468mhz range.

 

[Bazooka Joe]

You clipped it on your shirt and talked to people in your group (it connects to your phone via bluetooth). It doesn't use voice minutes, it use your data plan. You don't make a phone call, you just use it like a txt msg, but your voice is digitized and then transmitted to everybody in your group. Kind of like Nextel used to work.

You can get the Zello app for most phones and computers. It's a VOIP app with a push-to-talk button. You have an account, then you can create or join talk groups. You can talk "solo" to a single other account if you have made them a contact (which requires the other person's approval). Or you talk to a group and anything you say is broadcast out to all of the group members. Nice thing is that as long as you are logged in it records what people are saying on your groups, so if you have to go to "Busy" mode (where your phone goes mute on the voice transmissions) you can go back and play through what you missed.

 

[The Heretic]

You can get the Zello app for most phones and computers. It's a VOIP app with a push-to-talk button. You have an account, then you can create or join talk groups. You can talk "solo" to a single other account if you have made them a contact (which requires the other person's approval). Or you talk to a group and anything you say is broadcast out to all of the group members. Nice thing is that as long as you are logged in it records what people are saying on your groups, so if you have to go to "Busy" mode (where your phone goes mute on the voice transmissions) you can go back and play through what you missed.

Interesting.

It isn't apparent whether it needs a server or not, but it does require an account so I am going to assume it does.

I don't know why it should though - I would assume it could work without one.

 

[AMProducts]

It probably requires an account so every message has a "from" address. Only downside with this app is it only works if you have wifi

 

[The Heretic]

It probably requires an account so every message has a "from" address. Only downside with this app is it only works if you have wifi

Maybe. But you could setup such a system with your phone number too.

I will have to explore these apps a bit more.

I am interested because I would like to write an Android app (I write software for a living), but whenever I get an idea for any app (phone or computer), it turns out someone else has already written one.

 

[Grunwald]

Indian likem smoke signal

I tried using pigeons. Had a pair but they turned out to be stool pigeons. Whenever I needed a secret message sent one would crap on my head and the other would deliver the message to the police.

 

[Stomper]

Drums and smoke signals. Never needs power, and most of us always blow smoke constantly anyway.... WIN!!

 

[U201491]

Trying to set up a way to communicate with family in the event of a natural or otherwise disaster here in the PNW.

1. I've read that text messages can make it thru when all else cell phone commications can't?

2. When local cell is over loaded, it's best to contact someone out of State to relay messages back into your local area to you loved ones?

Any opinons on this please?

Edit: I have a Ham license but I am the only one in my family.

When SHTF day comes the license don't mean squat. I am a ham also, but I will make sure all those in my family have a radio lic or not. No formalities will mean a damn thing at that point.

The one thing bad about ham gear is it is so damned complicated to set up programming, Tones, offsets, and about every conceivable thing you can think of that unless you learn about it to the level you can pass the test, most folks will hardly be able to turn one on.
At least learn to use it simplex if nothing else.
Things like marine VHF is so simple straight foreward compared to the 2 M rigs hams use.

Hams are gadget and bells and whistle nuts ROFLOL

 

[CoastRange57]

LF 3-5 watt set up good CW key and you are good for a long ways.

 

[Mike aka BandAid]

Ham Radio.. HF frequencies to contact those hams in other states, give them a family members info and have them call or contact. This is called a radio relay. Funny thing, there's a group called the Amateur Radio Relay League that do a lot of good for those people who are truly wanting to advance the art of amateur radio or are interested in Amateur Radio In Emergency Service.., huh, ARES, that would be a good name for a group too.. Look them up, it really works.

Story time:
After a huge tornado in Kansas City a couple years ago (25+), all phone and power was out. My dad fired up his ham radio, and my grandparents in KC fired theirs up with deep cycle batteries, and they relayed a msg from KC to Dallas Tx on 40 meters that they were fine. Now usually with 100watts, 40 meters is great for that stretch, however, the batteries had him working at decreased power. Another ham got the msg, and phoned us that he had heard from our family in KC and they were fine.

73 de N5BLU

 

[erudne]

I think all com bands will be negated when they are needed most. there are now directed EMP weapons in every major power's TO&E as well as reusable area denial devices that can emit a pulse on command to disrupt the use of equipment that was protected in the first EMP pulse.
Smoke signals, we need smoke signals, like were used by the Partisans in WW2

 

[albin25]

I learned semaphore in Boy Scouts...may come in handy.



Edited per <broken link removed>'s suggestion

 

[erudne]

I learned semaphore in Boy Scouts...may come in handy.

Find that manual and post it here!
Saw it and stole it like it was in the QM Locker!