At 3/26/2008 06:29, you wrote: >Radios at emergency opperating positions that will be used by Ham people in >an emergency need to be commercial radios that are idiot proof.
Sounds like a good idea on the surface, but the lack of VFO mode IMO severely limits its usefulness in an emergency. What if only a handful of repeaters are left on the air & none of them are programmed into the radios? A user-programmable radio like the Kenwood TK-805D is a possibility, but to be effective the user must know how to program it. As I'm sitting here at the keyboard I've already forgotten how to program mine. >We tried the Ham radio in emergency com centers for years and they worked >great but when the E.C. went to the EOC during an activation and could not >figure out how to set the pl because someone fooled with the buttons >between activations the radio was useless and these were very simple single >band radios. IMO anyone who can't figure out how to use their radio shouldn't be volunteering. That is supposedly what distinguishes hams from the general population: our operating expertise. Bob NO6B
