ONLY need a HAM for emergencies/SHTF - thinking Wouxun now

[RatsoW8]

Just remember that when the SHTF if there are any repeaters left on the air they will be jammed with emergency traffic and you and your group will have little to no chance of communicating with each other as emergency comms will take priority over ALL other comms and you asking if someone else in your group is OK is NOT considered emergency comms. It is considered health and wealthfare comms.

Speaking from experience from the Swiss Air flight 111 crash here when there was no cell service due to location and only one ham repeater and it was pressed into emergency service, I can attest to the fact that HF on 40m was the primary choice for local/regional communications other than very short range simplex on VHF.You may do what you please however just be aware of the extreme limitations of what you propose to do and why you want to do it.

My intention wasn't to get you to "shove off". What CK is saying is absolutly true and I don't think you thought of this. I've have worked with ARES and been in an EOC during an actual emergency and the repeaters that are up with generator backup are in "red" mode for the emergency. You're not going to be able to make personal calls. It is a good idea to be able to monitor though and you don't need a license to do that.

And quite frankly your comment "To me HAM technology is very old and boring. " speaks volumes about your ignorance of the hobby,capabilities and the technology we have access to and use.

 

[office888]

Ok so now you're suggesting to go with just a single band of 2m?

Is that the most popular with the most info during emergencies/SHTF?

And easiest for a few of us to communicate and group together?

You don't think we should have at least a dual band with 2m & 440?

Why not?

The FT 270 is a full Rx scanner isn't it?

The FT270R is not your atypical handheld, it's definitely designed as more of a "Vertex Standard" radio. The battery life blows the VX5/6/8/8 out of the water, and it's not excessively complex to operator. It's not fragile either, I've dropped mine a fair share of times.

It can receive 136-174 mhz.

70cm band just is not really used by hams in Michigan. We're too spread out up here, and UHF just doesn't have the punch that's needed to travel large distances. The most common thing I hear of UHF being used for around here, is to crossband repeat onto our local VHF simplex frequency.

In short, VHF is where the action is...in Michigan anyways.

If you live in a rural area, most Police/Fire/EMS will use high-band VHF which the FT270R can receive. With most departments making the switch to digital modes such as APCO P25, and most departments ALREADY using trunked systems, they cannot be received without a $400+ scanner. You might luck out though, I have local fire / PD / MDOT programmed into my handheld. If you press and hold the "1" key, it'll automatically bring up the NOAA WX receive, and you press to PTT to scan through them to find the strongest one.

Yes, the FT270R is waterproof. Protection from dust and water upto IPX57 specifications. Aka, 3 ft for 30 minutes. I bring my handheld out to the hottub at night occasionally, and Echolink-link my repeater to ones in Australia occasionally.

Suggested upgrades for the FT270R in order of usefulness:
Spare battery
AA battery conversion
Jumper of SMA-F to SO239 (SMA-to-SO239 direct puts stress on the tiny SMA connector...buy one that has a small jumper of coax!)
Rollup J-Pole antenna
Submersible Speaker-Mic