Best Ham band for SHTF?

[sargon]

I am thinking 75/80 meters. I have not been very active so I don't know what is up or not. Last time I listened to 40 it was dead.

It would be nice to have a weekly or monthly net for us on the forum.

[OhioMan]

LOL...thought you were talking about "ham" as in pigs

[joes]

Originally Posted by OhioMan

LOL...thought you were talking about "ham" as in pigs

[dgr]

sargon,
Wouldn't the best band be the one your local HAMs are using?

[Sprig]

Originally Posted by sargon

...Best Ham band for SHTF?...

ALL of them; and MORE???

Get a scanner and open it up if you want to listen... or a SW receiver.

Still, you might want to TX ...

And where you want your transmission to be received ... might be different then where you received the information in your new transmission.


And, if you know as much as you claimed in your post, you already knew this.

[cajunhillbilly]

Originally Posted by sargon

I am thinking 75/80 meters. I have not been very active so I don't know what is up or not. Last time I listened to 40 it was dead.

It would be nice to have a weekly or monthly net for us on the forum.

I would also like the answer to this question. I am also a ham but at the bottom of the food chain. I might upgrade someday. I have an HF rig, its not hooked up at the moment. I'm not real active anymore either. My late father was first licensed in 1953 so I was around it all my life, just never found the interest he had. I did enjoy doing public service work. I plan on hooking things back up if not only for SHTF. If Marshal Law were to be implemented and or communication becomes cut off, I will use it for tx. Where would the best band\freq be in this situation? I can't afford a beam, I will need to make something. I do have a 20m dipole.

[MasterLocked]

Originally Posted by sargon

I am thinking 75/80 meters. I have not been very active so I don't know what is up or not. Last time I listened to 40 it was dead.

It would be nice to have a weekly or monthly net for us on the forum.

666 - didn't you see Die Hard 4?

*I Keed, I Keed*

[unknownsurvivor]

Originally Posted by OhioMan

LOL...thought you were talking about "ham" as in pigs

Too Funny!!! I was thinking pig too! Dang,,, I must be hungry!!!

I have a handheld Yasue(sp?) c. $150.00

,,,,,,anyone got some country ham??????,,,,,,,,,

[TexStarJim]

I'm a licensed Ham radio operator and my advice is to have a rig capable of covering all the bands from 20 to 160 meters. Then a separate rig to cover the lower frequencies such as 2 meter. Hard to tell what frequencies are the best due to the changing dynamics of the bands.

To me, the most useful and reliable frequency for local communication will be the 2 meter band since it is so popular among Hams. I would guess there are more repeaters set up across America for 2 meter than any other band.

Also, 2 meter is FM and very quiet, almost as good as talking on the telephone. Clear as a bell and usually without static.

[Gibsey]

This actually is a very interesting topic.

To the best of my knowledge their isn't an emergency protocol for ham's to reconnect state, national, and global communication... but if we experience something like solar flares of a disaster that causes prolonged winter... Hammies will be the first line of actually being able to reconnect areas to the rest of the world.

I'd never thought of it before... but if there is a national/international protocol established for ham operators in an emergency... could someone direct me to where I can learn about it?

[Thesenator223]

Originally Posted by Gibsey

This actually is a very interesting topic.

To the best of my knowledge their isn't an emergency protocol for ham's to reconnect state, national, and global communication... but if we experience something like solar flares of a disaster that causes prolonged winter... Hammies will be the first line of actually being able to reconnect areas to the rest of the world.

I'd never thought of it before... but if there is a national/international protocol established for ham operators in an emergency... could someone direct me to where I can learn about it?

There are national simplex calling frequencies in the VHF 2m (its 146.520mhz)and UHF ham spectrums, I forget what the 70cm freq is at the moment. As for HF, I believe there are national emergency frequencies assigned as well.

There is a national hurricane net on 20m that activates periodically as well as some VHF and UHF repeaters that are active with SKYWARN weather nets that activate during severe weather emergencies.

Best bet is to contact one of your local repeater clubs or repeater owners and ask whats in your area.

[Thesenator223]

Originally Posted by sargon

I am thinking 75/80 meters. I have not been very active so I don't know what is up or not. Last time I listened to 40 it was dead.

It would be nice to have a weekly or monthly net for us on the forum.

The MUF or "Maximum Useable Frequency" changes all the time with night and day, solar activity, temperature inversions, ect.

Different spectrum is open at different times of the day or night. Recently, the 80m band goes "long" around 5:30pm EST, which means commo distance goes from a couple of hundred miles to a couple of thousand miles or more depending on skip.

A good indicator or what spectrum is open is WWV National Standard on 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20mhz. If you can hear WWV clearly on any of these freqs, chances are the nearest ham spectrum is open and useable also.

I keep these freqs programmed in memories for quick reference.

[cajunhillbilly]

Originally Posted by TexStarJim

I'm a licensed Ham radio operator and my advice is to have a rig capable of covering all the bands from 20 to 160 meters. Then a separate rig to cover the lower frequencies such as 2 meter. Hard to tell what frequencies are the best due to the changing dynamics of the bands.

To me, the most useful and reliable frequency for local communication will be the 2 meter band since it is so popular among Hams. I would guess there are more repeaters set up across America for 2 meter than any other band.

Also, 2 meter is FM and very quiet, almost as good as talking on the telephone. Clear as a bell and usually without static.

I was thinking 2m and 70cm would be useless. If the power is out, no repeaters. A few of us in my hollow use gmrs\frs radios to communicate. They are 5w max. We can usually get around well on 2w and even 1\2w on good days. My Yaesu HT is 5w max, to expensive to play on 4wheelers and hunting with. I figure the HT is not much good without a repeater. Hf will do 100w and make it around the world, on a good day. Am I wrong?

Now that I think about it. I have done some 2m side band years ago, that was interesting I must say.

[NedReck]

It depends on where you want to listen to or talk to completely.

Different freq's bounce at different angles. If you are wanting to talk to a place 100 miles away, 40 meters is not going to do much good since its bounce is going to be more like 250 miles.

You also have to remember that bounce and understand that it may be heard 1,000 miles away using fairly low wattage. Using 5 watts on 10 meters can indeed travel several thousand miles, though more power does make that more reliable.

2 meter fm is line of sight and fairly low wattage can have good distances but if stuff is in the way you lose reliability. you also have far less likelihood that you are being monitored from 100 miles away.

So what I am trying to say is you have to define your communication needs and distances and then evaluate which band is most likely to be received there.

My goals are only short distance transmit and scanning all bands for listening.

[prepperintraining]

Originally Posted by Gibsey

This actually is a very interesting topic.

To the best of my knowledge their isn't an emergency protocol for ham's to reconnect state, national, and global communication... but if we experience something like solar flares of a disaster that causes prolonged winter... Hammies will be the first line of actually being able to reconnect areas to the rest of the world.

I'd never thought of it before... but if there is a national/international protocol established for ham operators in an emergency... could someone direct me to where I can learn about it?

I would check your local clubs for the ARES/RACES/CERT/SKYWARN freq's.
They have automatic freq's allocated for emergencies (including simplex.

[Sprig]

I'm up a little later then I should be on a work night.

This post is meant for the good people that are just trying to understand why HAM radio might a good thing to have in case of SHTF.

About 90% of the above posts contains opposite/wrong/misleading information.

If ANY READER OF THIS THREAD and is new to Ham radio, and did not understand this thread, don't worry! I couldn't understand it myself!.... and I'm not exactly new to this stuff.

Maybe the all the troublemakers will go away in the future.

[Orbital-Burn]

Originally Posted by cajunhillbilly

I was thinking 2m and 70cm would be useless. If the power is out, no repeaters. A few of us in my hollow use gmrs\frs radios to communicate. They are 5w max. We can usually get around well on 2w and even 1\2w on good days. My Yaesu HT is 5w max, to expensive to play on 4wheelers and hunting with. I figure the HT is not much good without a repeater. Hf will do 100w and make it around the world, on a good day. Am I wrong?

Now that I think about it. I have done some 2m side band years ago, that was interesting I must say.

You are likely wrong. For instance, the main 2m repeater in that serves southern Idaho is solar and wind powered. It is more reliable than any other form of communications. You'd likely find more than a few repeaters that are set up to run on other forms of power than grid power.

That being said, the best band if the .gov decides to turn off communications are the illegal ones.

[prepperintraining]

Originally Posted by Sprig

I'm up a little later then I should be on a work night.

This post is meant for the good people that are just trying to understand why HAM radio might a good thing to have in case of SHTF.

About 90% of the above posts contains opposite/wrong/misleading information.

If ANY READER OF THIS THREAD and is new to Ham radio, and did not understand this thread, don't worry! I couldn't understand it myself!.... and I'm not exactly new to this stuff.

Maybe the all the troublemakers will go away in the future.

You're right. Time for you to go to bed and wake up with a better attitude.

We are all trying to answer the OP's post which was "What is the best band for SHTF?" This person admittedly is not active, but gave no indication that he was new, or was unaware of the material in these posts.

[Sprig]

Originally Posted by prepperintraining

...We are all trying to answer the OP's post which was "What is the best band for SHTF?"...

Most of the posters in this thread have posted deceptive information; information that may seem to read good but is factually inaccurate.

And, YOU, are now promoting the continuance of this bad information.

Why, if you are a HAM, would you intentionally do that?

[NedReck]

Originally Posted by Sprig

About 90% of the above posts contains opposite/wrong/misleading information.

If ANY READER OF THIS THREAD and is new to Ham radio, and did not understand this thread, don't worry! I couldn't understand it myself!.... and I'm not exactly new to this stuff.

Maybe the all the troublemakers will go away in the future.

I am not sure which 90% your talking about, but I do not see a mass of poor information. The only thing I see that I would call totally inaccurate is the post about the yaesu handie talkie and being useless without repeaters. Assuming the repeaters did in fact die, a 5/8 wave antenna on my 411e let me reach out about 25 miles and that is restricted by hills more than propagation.

I did see a few inexperienced operators noting their inexperience providing the limited information they felt they could share in a positive manner.

Amateur radio will play whatever role the person has opted for themselves. It is an effective tool with a high reliability but also comes with the hazards of identifying ones location to other interested parties. To combat that, I suggest ham over other methods due to the abilities to reduce power and even propagation to limit it far more than other types.

Amateur radio is not a "take it out of the box" kind of communication, it is a hobby dedicated to the science of radio and if you are going to try and use it for SHTF your going to need to start learning about it soon as it will not be an overnight learning process.