Emergency Communications at Home

[Aloha8]

I'm planning for emergency communications at home when we move to the new house in SE Tennessee (SW Polk County). There are certainly several parts to emergency planning -- emergency power for example -- and those parts are also in the works, but for now I'm interested in just communications in my home (Bobsguns has facilitated an excellent discussion on communications while out and about in the CB thread).

From everything I've been able to gather, I'm leaning toward ham radio, and will probably start with 2-meter (Technician license doesn't seem too hard to get). Any of you have any practical advice with 2-meter or any other type of radio communication?

Some other questions, on no particular order:

We'll be about 10 miles from the nearest 2-meter repeater. Is that too far for a reliable connection to the repeater?

If you have lived in SE TN for a while, how many power outages have you experienced and for about how long were you without power?

Does anyone know if any emergency services in SE TN monitor any civilian radio communications in emergencies? CB or GMRS or ham or ????. Down the road I'll contact each of them but I'm just wondering if anyone has any information right now.

Are there any other questions that I should be asking ?

I appreciate any and all help.

[Trekbike]

1 hour ago, Aloha8 said:

I'm planning for emergency communications at home when we move to the new house in SE Tennessee (SW Polk County). There are certainly several parts to emergency planning -- emergency power for example -- and those parts are also in the works, but for now I'm interested in just communications in my home (Bobsguns has facilitated an excellent discussion on communications while out and about in the CB thread).

From everything I've been able to gather, I'm leaning toward ham radio, and will probably start with 2-meter (Technician license doesn't seem too hard to get). Any of you have any practical advice with 2-meter or any other type of radio communication?  Tech exam is easy to get if you study properly and have an interest.     I got my license back in 2020 and upgraded to General back in Dec.   You will find hams like to help others for the most part.       Shoot me a PM if you want to talk about specific details.

Some other questions, on no particular order:

We'll be about 10 miles from the nearest 2-meter repeater. Is that too far for a reliable connection to the repeater? Should be no issue unless you have a major hill obstruction in your way.   VHF/UHF is line of sight.    A good antenna and elevation is more important than wattage.    How's your elevation?     The HF bands open you up to world wide communications so that's why I upgraded.      

If you have lived in SE TN for a while, how many power outages have you experienced and for about how long were you without power?     Can't speak to your specific question, but most hams set up their equipment to also be able to operate on battery power when needed.    Also, you will need to consider and plan for using simplex (direct radio to radio) operation, since in a major outage, the repeaters will go down too.    

Does anyone know if any emergency services in SE TN monitor any civilian radio communications in emergencies? CB or GMRS or ham or ????. Down the road I'll contact each of them but I'm just wondering if anyone has any information right now.     Don't know about SE TN, Most counties have ham groups that form emergency service networks.    Shouldn't be an issue to cover this part of your plan.    Several counties in middle TN have really good groups.   

 

Are there any other questions that I should be asking ?

I appreciate any and all help.

See my comments imbedded above 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Trekbike

[Aloha8]

1 hour ago, Trekbike said:

See my comments imbedded above

Thanks! Really good information.

As to elevation, we'll be on a small ridge generally higher than other hills toward the repeaters in Cleveland and Chattanooga. Planning for point-to-point is a good point.

Thanks again.

[Ronald_55]

So just to clarify, it looks like you are not talking about communication between family members at home (or on the property), but a static communication point to the outside world?

[Alleycat72]

I'd probably use the coms I have for work. The Wife and I talked about it. Private land based relay stations, cell, and satellite. Nothing like redundancy. Coms is not my thing, I just use them. 

[bobsguns]

9 hours ago, Aloha8 said:

If you have lived in SE TN for a while, how many power outages have you experienced and for about how long were you without power?

Does anyone know if any emergency services in SE TN monitor any civilian radio communications in emergencies? CB or GMRS or ham or ????. Down the road I'll contact each of them but I'm just wondering if anyone has any information right now.

I'm only about 3/4 of a mile from the town square, so my power issue may well be completely different than yours down there in the bottom Hwy 411? I don't think there's a sub station below Hwy 64/411 intersection, so your feed is coming from there, IMO. 

Volunteer Electric is pretty darn good about getting power back on ASAP. The most recent issue was the little bit of snow we had dropped a lot of trees on Hwy 30 through Reliance & Greasy Creek (love that name!). I think they had the whole area back up in just a couple of days? 

If you pay attention to the lower Hwy 411 south of Hwy 64, you'll see some trees that could cause issues all up & down 411. Tree trimming is limited to budget, sadly. Your neighbors might be a better source of info for power outages in your specific location? 

According to the Fire & Rescue chief, there's no monitoring of anything CB related. Range is only 3-5 miles anyway, so that won't do you any good. Chief also said he can send & receive anywhere in the county on his hand held Kenwood HAM radio. Yes, they use the repeaters that are up on Chilhowee Mtn but it's still GTG. 

I think I too am going with a hand held so I can use it in either my truck or motorcycle should I ever need it. I think hand held units are somewhere in the 35-40 watt range? 

Chief also turned me on to the Cleveland Amateur Radio Club. I plan on being at their next meeting & finding someone to help me get started. Chief said someone may well have a gently used unit for sale instead of having to pay NIB pricing, which works for me. 

I figure HAM radios are like guns: one just doesn't rush out & buy the first thing they see or hold. I plan on doing a lot of Q&A from people whom know their stuff before I depart from my hard earned $$$$$$. 

Hope this helps!

[Trekbike]

1 hour ago, bobsguns said:

I think hand held units are somewhere in the 35-40 watt range? 

I figure HAM radios are like guns:

Hand held units, or an HT as they are generally referred to by hams are usually limited to 5-7 w due to the proximity to your head.    Dual band (VHF/UHF) mobile rigs for your car will typically go up to 50 w.   I do have one mobile radio that's VHF only (2m) that's an 80 w.    

Ham radios are indeed like guns.   There's no one that fits all needs, so given enough time, folks will end up with a number of radios for different purposes.   

[Aloha8]

14 hours ago, Ronald_55 said:

So just to clarify, it looks like you are not talking about communication between family members at home (or on the property), but a static communication point to the outside world?

Right. Getting out to the world or more likely trying to find out what's going on.

On the property we can use our cell phones or GMRS HTs.

[Aloha8]

8 hours ago, bobsguns said:

Volunteer Electric is pretty darn good about getting power back on ASAP.

Thanks. I've heard something similar from other residents, so your average power outage shouldn't be too bad or long.

8 hours ago, bobsguns said:

According to the Fire & Rescue chief, there's no monitoring of anything CB related.

I figure that in Polk County there won't be any monitoring of civilian comms. We'll be fairly close to Cleveland and I plan to talk with the police and fire there plus Bradley County.

8 hours ago, bobsguns said:

the Cleveland Amateur Radio Club

Good idea (to attend a meeting and get advice). I plan to take the Technician license test there, likely in March.

[Trekbike]

11 hours ago, Aloha8 said:

 

Good idea (to attend a meeting and get advice). I plan to take the Technician license test there, likely in March.

Yes, getting hooked up with a club is the best way to get advice and help.    Some clubs have very active Elmer programs to help out new people to the hobby.   

The link below is to a site called MTEARS that is focused on severe weather situations.     They are able to link together a network of UHF repeaters and communicate a good portion of the state.  I believe they conduct weekly check-in nets.     

 http://mtears.org/

 

[Aloha8]

14 hours ago, Trekbike said:

The link below is to a site called MTEARS that is focused on severe weather situations.

Good info! Thanks!

I think I can close out this thread in that ham is the way to go for communication while at home in an emergency situation. Thanks everyone for your input and suggestions.

[Aloha8]

Just one more question and then I'll stop pestering you all with my ignorance .

It's clear that ham is the way to go for emergency communications, certainly as compared to CB. I'm thinking that for some emergency situations, winter weather and the like, 2 meters to repeaters may be fine. But in "grid down" or SHTF situations repeaters may be off the air, as Trekbike noted. In that case HF will be needed.

So... Technicians license will be a fine place to start but a general license should be the goal. Is my thinking here way off base?

[bobsguns]

1 hour ago, Aloha8 said:

JSo... Technicians license will be a fine place to start but a general license should be the goal. Is my thinking here way off base?

Well, Technician IS the lowest level, so yes, it's where one would start. I don't know that *I* would need a General license but obviously everyone is different.

In a complete power loss SHTF situation, I'm pretty sure the repeaters up on my local mountain have their own generator back-up sets. While I don't have a gen set myself, I could charge my hand held in my truck & use it then.

If someone has a base unit in their home, doesn't have a gen set, the only thing I can think of is to use an inverter & run it off their vehicle. It converts 12VDC to 120VAC. It won't carry a lot of amperage but I can't imagine a radio drawing much more than an amp or two. I could be wrong on that, someone can speak up if I am. 

No power is definitely the highest level of suckage one can have, IMO. I've been w/o water for a couple of days but I got by. But no power obviously = no heat, no A/C, possible no comms, no cold for the fridge, no hot water, etc. 

[Aloha8]

1 hour ago, bobsguns said:

No power is definitely the highest level of suckage one can have

Have to agree. In the new house we are planning for backup power. Since we're more than a year from moving in, we aren't settled on the technology but the plan will include a backup generator and likely solar.

[Capbyrd]

3 hours ago, bobsguns said:

 

In a complete power loss SHTF situation, I'm pretty sure the repeaters up on my local mountain have their own generator back-up sets. While I don't have a gen set myself, I could charge my hand held in my truck & use it then.

 

 

I don't know about everywhere but at least here in Memphis, the club based repeaters not only have back up power available but we also have backup repeater sites. 

[OldIronFan]

Most of those VHF/UHF repeaters are on backups and will operate for some time in a power outage. They are used for the purpose of emergency communication in the event of natural and not so natural disasters. In fact any time there is a severe weather warning or tornado warning the MTEARS groups take over the repeater net for the purpose of storm damage and conditions reporting.

They regularly run drills as well with most people participating on emergency backup power. It encourages people to not only have that emergency backup power but test and use it. Some revert to an HT for those exercises while others go to their mobile (car/truck) radio setup. Still others go to the effort of using a battery bank style backup (Goal Zero, Jackery, Ecoflow Delta, or homebrewed equivalent) and run a base station style unit off that. 

Between a handheld, a mobile unit in my truck, and a small base unit with a small antenna I am fairly covered. It does not hurt that I sit on top of a ridge at 900 feet of elevation only a few miles from a local repeater. 

[Trekbike]

As mentioned by others, most of repeater sites do use backup power, but at some point most will go down given enough time unless they utilize a good multi power source including solar.    For most folks looking to continue to power their radios, the best option is to invest in a a good sized LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate) battery and solar charging.      You can use the link below to estimate how long the battery will last given the radio amp draw in the RX/TX mode.    Most folks end up listening more than they talk.   (In RX mode most mobile/base radios will draw 1.0 - 1.7 amps for reference.)

https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/conversion-calculators/conversion-calculator-battery-life

Regarding the license level you obtain, it's whether you want to make this into a hobby or have it in case of an emergency.   Emergency only, probably a Technician will suffice.    I chose to make it a hobby.    Getting your General opens up a lot of communication options.     

[Aloha8]

Thanks everyone. Regarding backup power, as I mentioned in a previous note, we'll have a generator and likely solar with batteries for backup power for the house which will well cover the radio power needs.

17 hours ago, Trekbike said:

Regarding the license level you obtain, it's whether you want to make this into a hobby or have it in case of an emergency.

Good point there. It will be a process regardless with Technician coming first, and soon. General is still a maybe as is the hobby question.

[Jackalope]

The general class license is the way to go.  Study for both exams simultaneously and get it out of the way.  I know a fellow that took all three exams in one day, went to extra, but he had zero practical knowledge.  We went with solar and batteries for our amateur radio station and radio room with a little extra capacity for running a fridge or freezer.  I have both lithium and standard lead acid battery banks.  Lithium batteries usually require an integrated battery management system that could potentially fail in the event of an EMP or a CME.  So the lead acid batteries are the back up to the back up, and they're typically on just a standard battery maintainer, rather than being connected to a solar system like our lithium batteries.

[bobsguns]

4 hours ago, Jackalope said:

The general class license is the way to go.  Study for both exams simultaneously and get it out of the way. 

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the advantage of the General over the Technician level? 

[Trekbike]

@bobsguns

With a General license you are able to use most of the HF bands which allow world-wide communications, so it's not limited to line of sight like VHF/UHF.    The only HF use exception is, Technicians can use the 10m band 28.3-28.5 MHz.

Linked are the bands different license levels are allowed to use.  The chart shows some license levels that are no longer issued.    Today they issue three;  Technician, General, Amateur Extra.

https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band Chart/Band Chart - 11X17 Color.pdf

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by Trekbike

[McGarrett]

I got my GMRS license about 7 years ago, it’s just an application process online and they give you a call sign cost $35 good for 10 years.

It’s fairly cheap to get started, I bought a few handhelds and programmed them to be able to use repeaters in my local area. All family members have them as a backup form of communication.

Planning to setup a base at home just haven’t done it yet. 

https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs

[Aloha8]

15 hours ago, McGarrett said:

Planning to setup a base at home just haven’t done it yet. 

We're GMRS (licensed) users for communication on the property (although cell phones seem to work just fine too). Thinking about a base station but we'll have to see if there's anyone we need to talk to on GMRS. Likely in an emergency situation, 2-meters may be more useful. Not sure, and really won't be until we get the house built.

[JustEd]

Do a search on the internet for GMRS repeaters near you zip code.  If you find one contact the operator to get their opinion.

I am not a GMRS user, but have been a licensed Ham Operator for several decades.  2 meters is great and 10 miles should be fine if no obstacles are in the way.  However, GMRS may be all you need and you can go up to 50 watts on a base unit.  Can't imagine needing more than that if you are in sight of a repeater.

[JustEd]

btw, if you go the Ham radio route am of the opinion that starting as a Technician is just fine.  After you explore the wonderful world of rf on the vhf/uhf bands you can decide if HF is for you.  Not only is the equipment very different for HF, but the antennas are much larger.  Simply put, its not for everybody.  I have been an Extra class operator since 1989 and have not bothered with HF for at least 15 years.  Too cumbersome and the band conditions have not been favorable for years, though that should eventually change.  Before someone chimes in with all the "digital" modes, been there done that and am not a fan.