Ham radio works for me. The power went out a few weeks ago. In the time it took me to walk across the room and turn on the radio they were already talking about

Ham radio works for me. The power went out a few weeks ago. In the time it took me to walk across the room and turn on the radio they were already talking about it. I didn't bother to transmit, I didn't need to ask. In the next few minutes I heard reports from across the area, who had power, who didn't. It was way faster than waiting for news on facebook. I had a similar experience when there was a large amount of smoke blowing through. Was it something close or from a neighboring state? Ham radio is pretty simple and you can get started for $50 (radio and test). What does it take? Check out http://hamstudy.org http://hamstudy.org (no affiliation, just a happy user).