3 ms·

Jus curious, respectfully, is ARES still relevant? These days it seems like a few portable cell towers should outstrip what a motley group of HAMs can humanly

• justin66 2y ago
  "If a big earthquake temporarily disables a chunk of communications infrastructure." OP is talking about the kind of thing that kicks in if that cell phone network, or 911 response, or what have you is compromised.
  • tcmart14 2y ago
    I do believe there have been instances where ham radio operators were able to deploy recently and get comms up in some areas faster than others would. These were disasters where they took down the towers, because it happens. And the local hams are faster than the cell phone company is to deploy something.
• chillingeffect 2y ago
  Ham range can be 100s or >1000 of miles. Cell towers much shorter, under abs max ideal conditions 45 miles. And require much more config and admin. Hams aren't "motley." They're well-organized. That's why they appear to you as "preppers."
• wkat4242 2y ago
  The ARES people think they're really relevant at least here in Europe. I don't join them because they take it all too seriously IMO. They have this thing where a minor flood happens and they all come out in tacticool gear and pretend to be important but keep running in the way of the real aid workers. That was at least my experience when there was a "deployment". Perhaps in other countries it's different. I don't care about being "important". I'm more into the hobby for the technical side.
• PM_me_your_math 2y ago
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