TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY ARES MEMBERS (OFFICIAL)
ALL ARES AND NON-ARES AMATEURS ANYWHERE (INFORMATION)
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM ARRL DISTRICT 3 EMERGENCY COORDINATOR
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INC.
WOOD COUNTY ARES BULLETIN NR 17.40 DATE: October 1, 2017
SUBJECT: CAN YOU USE YOUR RADIO IN AN EMERGENCY?
At a basic radio class this week, the discussion of radios being used in a different location away from home. If you are away from your normal radio location, can you set up your radio to work with someone else's system? After a little thought it was decided that it might be possible.
If you have a dual band radio, there's a good chance the frequencies that you have may match other systems, but a little thinking and engineering will need to be done. You will need to know the frequencies that are being used. You may have to use both banks of your radio. On one bank you may have to set up the transmit frequency, and the other bank for the receive frequency. You will then be transmitting on one bank and receiving on the other.
This type of an arrangement will only work if the radio system you're trying to communicate with is using some kind of makeshift network. For normal repeater type systems, it's easier to program the repeaters you're more likely to be using in that area. If you program your own radios, you might think of using more than one program file. Use files that has the repeaters that are all in the same area, or overlap another area.
Just a thought.
Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV