[Amps] Emergency communication

[Roger (K8RI)]

This is a bit of thread drift, but LORAN C was the best backup for GPS 
and easily repaired. Using one satellite system to back up another is 
not good practice, as both are easily defeated by the same, low power 
signal.  Non Directional Beacons, or NDBs were as simple as you can get, 
Pilots didn't like them as they required more input from the pilot, so 
they were decommissioned.   There are plans to do the same with VORs and 
the ILS landing system leaving us totally at the mercy of weak and 
easily defeated GPS signals.  Yes, there certainly is a theme. BTW, the 
Loran stations were taken out of service and demolished "quickly"

One shift that could have easily set a precedent for Amateur radio was 
the light squared system using 40KW repeaters to augment low power 
signals right next to GPS, with the FCC violating their own rules to let 
them get a head start. They even ignored the military's objections, but 
public outcry and proof that these signals could disrupt GPS from as far 
as 30 mile finally put a stop to it.

Look up the history on it.  It was part of the plan to provide high 
speed, broad band to every one.
It shows how vulnerable the ham bands can be to special interest groups 
and particularly, shared bands and power levels.

73, Roger (K8RI)

On 4/27/2017 12:53 PM, Chris Hays wrote:
> Humor aside, one thing that phone transmitters require is power. The fact
> that you can copy a CW signal at a far lower signal level than a phone
> signal means that lower power can be effective.
>
> There was a story from one of the operators at the KPH coast station.  They
> were monitoring for CW traffic and as was typical of recent times, there was
> pretty much nothing there. Then a weak Morse signal was heard. It was a
> distress call from a ship off the coast of Alaska.  They had fire in their
> engine room.  They had extinguished it but the damage had left them adrift
> and without any power to run any equipment.  But what they did have was a
> battery-powered emergency Morse radio, and someone who knew how to use it.
> Because this technology is "obsolete," all the coast stations that could
> copy such a message are gone now.
>
> Speaking of obsolete technologies, I read that the coast guard is trying to
> get funding to restore a version of Loran C which was shut down in the 90's.
> It seems the military has discovered how easy it is for the enemy to jam GPS
> and make it useless over quite a large area. They decided they needed a
> backup system and realized they used to have one but they shut it down.
>
> Then there was the wonderful transit system that Los Angeles had that was
> removed because cars were the "thing."  Now congestion has required them to
> rebuild it a great cost.
>
> I hope you are seeing a "theme" here!
>
> Chris, AB6QK
>
> ------------ ORIGINAL MESSAGE ------------(may be snipped)
>
> On Wed, 26 Apr 2017 23:34:44 -0400, K8RI wrote:
>
>>>> CW is the most basic
>>>> form of communication. It is the easiest mode to construct an an
>>>> emergency transmitter out of a few parts.
> REPLY:
>
> I'm picturing you way out in the boonies, far from cell phone range,
> and you come across a terrible auto accident.
>
> You say to the survivors "Wait a minute, I've got a kit of parts right
> here".  "Now where do I plug in my soldering iron?".
>
> 73, Bill W6WRT
>
>
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