This site designed for and looks best at 800X600. Click here to take a practice FCC Ham exam. I am a licensed Amateur Radio Operator, more commonly known as ham radio . When disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and floods strike, the first things to be affected are your home phones, cellular phones and, in many cases, the communication systems of law enforcement and local government. It is in these situations that Amateur Radio comes to the rescue.
Many hams have emergency generators and back-up batteries to keep the radios powered up.
If our antennas blow down, stringing 40 or so feet of wire in the attic will serve as a temporary antenna and still keep the station on the air. Watch the news carefully the next time a major disaster strikes and knocks out the conventional methods of communications. Ham operators often relay health and welfare messages, notify family members that their loved ones are safe and assist the National Hurricane Center in Florida with on-scene weather reports from the watch and warning areas. Ham operators have a long and proud history of serving their communities in not only emergency situations but also in providing communications for bicycle and running events, Special Olympics, air shows and any other event that needs a coordinated system of two-way radio communications to pass information over a large area. Amateur Radio Club.