On Thu, 6 Feb 2014, Ken Meyer wrote:
Daves H and G:
Thanks for the responses; it's always nice to know that one is not spitting
down a well :-)
Now, H, you will note that I originally cited the usefulness of publicizing
ham radio and educating folks in the use of it, but get real: very few of
the attendees will know what that thing in your hand is, and in fact, many
will assume that it is an FRS box.
As for range indoors, G, what about hand-held CB's? 4 watts max vs. 0.5
watts max for FRS (and 5.0 watts for GMRS).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Radio_Service
Also, as for practical utility, though the Technician Class ham license is
"easy" as tests go, it does require, oh, my SWAG is about 20 hours to bone
up and take the test, and then the radios tend to be more expensive, I’d
guess $100 – $200 and up for a decent one.
If there is going to be a practical use to communicate between volunteers, I
would guess that at least half a dozen individuals would have to be
convinced and cranked up before April.
To me, the resolution seems pretty obvious: give a talk on the available
software – could include software for setting up scanners as well. Then you
could “sneak in” a pitch for ham participation, maybe even have a rig and
talk to someone in the outside world. Strikes me that you two have more
than enough expertise to do a quality tag team event.
A CB requires a much larger antenna to get decent performance. That's a
big reason why FRS and GMRS radios operate in the UHF band rather than
11-meters. I do not recommend handheld CBs for use in event-managing.
I'm not suggesting that EVERYONE in attendance use ham radios: just the
people who are involved in running the event. The idea is to provide
radio communication of the sort that is very desirable for an event like
this. Now, here's the big question: is LinuxFest NW a non-profit thing?
If so, ham radio can be used. If not, we'll need to rent some
business-band radios or buy GMRS licenses for all radio users.
Side question: why do posts from you have circumflexed 'A' and 'a'
scattered about?
--
David Griffith
[email protected]
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