WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! :-) AM / MW radio can be useful in emergencies, as noted on this blog previously. A pic of my Sangean PR-D14, a radio similar to the one on which I heard a recent Emergency Alert System message.
Recently -- a couple days ago, in fact -- I was at home on a day off, doing some writing on my computer, and a strange thing happened: a tornado warning.
I had my nearby radio -- my trusty, mini-boombox Sangean PR-D5 -- tuned to a local AM band talk station. The station was one of the stations in the Seattle metro area -- I had it turned on for background news and info, basically.
So I'm listening and typing away at my computer and voila! The Emergency Action System's data sounds cover up the programming. This normally does not happen. And then, suddenly, a computerized voice comes on, stating that there is a tornado warning, or tornado watch, for a nearby county, about 30 miles (roughly 35-40 km) west of me.
That never happens.
The message repeated a minute or two later. The message was extensive, urging people to 'take cover', get into a basement or a protected, bottom floor room. It was scary to hear.
Now, for those of you in other parts of the US, or other parts of the world -- especially places that have tornadoes -- this sort of warning on the radio may be no big deal. But here in Washington State tornadoes are as rare as it gets. There was one waterspout reported in the 1990s, and my grandmother saw a small tornado in the 1970s, that tossed up some field hay and stripped some leaves off of trees. Other than that, one could probably count the number of tornadoes in my state that have occurred over the past 50 years on one hand and a couple more fingers.
It was a bit shocking to hear this on my AM radio, to say the least.
My Realistic Patrolman SW60, purchased in 1989 but still a good emergency radio for today. Radios like this are great in emergencies. They are light on battery use, and usually have decent to good reception of AM, FM, and the Weather bands.
After the EAS alert stopped and the local station went back to regular programming, I then grabbed my trusty Realistic Patrolman SW60 radio, and turned it to the weather channel -- NOAA's station on 162.55 Mhz. NOAA was broadcasting a continuous warning about possible tornadoes in Kitsap County -- which is where the Bremerton, Keyport, and Bangor Naval bases are located. There were severe thunderstorms in which radar detected vortices, and they were tracking it.
After listening to the NOAA Weather Service for a couple minutes, I thought to myself: "Wait a minute! The 2 Meter Ham Band is also receivable on this radio! Ham radio guys online always talk about the value of ham radio during major emergencies! I'll tune in and listen to the ham guys talking about this rare emergency!"
Now, for those of you who don't know what ham radio is, it's amateur radio, a hobby where you get a license, procure a radio, erect an antenna of some type, and communicate with other 'hams', even across the world. Guys do it by Morse Code ("CW"), they do it on sideband, and even digitally, which is a growing and effective part of that hobby.
I have always been aware of ham radio, and know that the 2 Meter ham band is not too far from the Weather band. In fact, there are a few radios you can get that have AM-FM-SW-Weather Band and the 2 Meter ham band. Those radios are sometimes advertised as being great for emergencies because of the 2 Meter ham band being included, along with the Weather Band.
So I tuned my radio away from the continuous tornado watch on 162.55 Mhz, downwards to the 144 Mhz portion of the VHF-Hi spectrum, which is were the 2 Meter Band is -- and the 2 Meter Band has usually been one of the most popular ham bands.
To my surprise, there was nothing but hiss. No hams talking about the possible emergency situation. No emergency networks checking in. Nothing.
Just 'crickets'.
This was on a radio that I used to always hear plenty of chatter on when tuning the 2 Meter Band. Day or night, there would be at least some activity there.
HAM RADIO FORUMS and SWL -- An Interesting Mix
The reason I bring this all up is because if you are a radio aficionado, and you have an internet connection, chances are high that you have checked out the ham radio forums. There are several radio forums that, even if they are not dedicated to ham radio, they at least have several sub-forums where the ham guys hang out and talk about the importance of ham radio, rigs, antennas, and other ham topics.
Some of them are really gung-ho. If you mention that you haven't heard much activity on the ham bands, and you are just a listener (like me), they'll often come back and ask you "Why haven't you got your ham license yet?" They may talk down at you because you do not have a ham license, despite the fact that you may have been in the monitoring hobby as long, if not longer, than they have been a ham. Most of the ham guys are decent people, but some of them online are total jerks. And when enough of them do act like total jerks online, it really makes amateur radio hobby look bad.
TEOTWAWKI & SHTF
All that said, there is this undercurrent in ham radio land that somehow when the world is in the process of being blown to bits by meteor strikes, devastating earthquakes, tsunamis, coronal mass ejections, EMPs, or nuclear warfare, ham radio will be there to save the day. Ham radio will be that last line of communication necessary to save civilization! This is despite the fact that ham radio didn't save the day during Hurricanes Katrina or Sandy, and despite the fact that during this recent half hour of tornado warnings in a state where such a warning is a very big deal, the 2 Meter Band -- despite the fact that there are apparently 10-20 repeaters in the region -- was dead, dead, dead.
I'm not writing this to knock ham radio's relative importance. In a disaster, ANY communication medium is important. I've written before on this blog that AM radio may be the best disaster communication medium if a TEOTWAWKI or SHTF event occurs. I would include ham radio and even CB radio in that category as well. Some FM stations may still be on the air and operating.
But the problem biggest problem with ham radio is: ham radio is dying.
Now, as long as I've had radios with BFO or SSB capability, I've tuned through the ham bands. I have heard KC4AAA in the South Pole when it was handling DX 'pile ups' from the US and Canada. I've heard rare stations like A7XB (no longer active, I think), in Qatar -- an American who was apparently living there in the 1980s. At the time, countries like Qatar were still unknown to Americans -- this was pre-Gulf War. The pile up of stations trying to talk to A7XB was massive.
I've heard some of the exotic DXpeditions, although -- because I live in a hole, I haven't heard many of the actual DXpedition stations, but I still have heard the overall activity. I've heard stations from Indonesia and Malaysia chatting in English and sometimes Malay during the early mornings on 40 Meters. I've heard stations from all over the world during ham radio SSB contests.
EVEN SANTA CLAUS IS A HAM RADIO GUY
Before the SW conditions hit the toilet in 2017, I even heard Santa Claus talking to little kids in the US, from his home in northern Finland (I think he was in Oulu, which is a city on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia). Santa was on the 20 meter band, early Christmas Eve. One little girl said "I love you, Santa!" It was fun to hear ham radio being used to make kids happy.
So, as you may be able to tell, I have always enjoyed tuning in to ham radio.
But I've also noticed that over the past several years, the bands are relatively dead, unless there is a contest. It wasn't always that way -- even during sunspot cycle downturns, there was activity.
A DIMINISHED HOBBY -- Still Important, But Fading
It's definitely diminished. The 2 Meter Band is an example. When I first got my Realistic Patrolman SW60 in summer of 1989, I heard 2 Meter activity day or night. There was always someone on. The local aerospace company had a lot of workers who were hams, and they even had a club where they put up 2 Meter repeaters, including one which was very popular. Now, even if those repeaters are still working, there is mostly silence. After doing some research, it seems that most of their repeaters, save one on 440 Mhz, are gone.
And anymore, any time I tune the 2 Meter Band, it's just hiss. It's not the radio -- it still picks up the local airports and the weather channels on the same frequency band and range.
A regular weekend? No activity.
Tornado warning? No activity.
Even though I am not a ham, and never will be, because of the cost involved, and because I just don't see the value in it for me personally -- it's sad to see a radio hobby of any kind die.
On the ham radio internet forums, periodically this subject comes up. The ham operators who have been in the hobby for more than a decade know that things have changed. And someone always brings up an online map showing various contacts between continents, proving that there is as much activity as ever. Yet my radios tell me differently, and other long time SWL's (and even some hams) will say the same thing.
Someone then will bring up the increased numbers of hams as retirees get licenses and buy radios. But many, if not most, of those licensees are inactive, and many ham radio operators admit this. Online you can find databases of hams in your general area. In my area there are technically 5-10 hams within a couple mile radius. I've never heard any of them on the air.
One guy, who I did hear on the air once, had a very large tower -- right in front of his house -- maybe a mile or so from me. He moved out of the region a couple years ago, and that proud tower is now recycled beer cans, and the concrete base has long since been pounded into dust.
Not Just Ham -- MW RADIO Is Also FADING
Unfortunately, we who are in the radio hobby in general are seeing similar things happening to SWL and MWDXing. Aside from a few Chinese, Tecsun and Sangean radios, new SW models are fewer and fewer. Stations are slowly leaving the air. Propagation conditions are miserable or poor. Online, even MW DXers complain about the state of the band: "the music's all foreign language", "nothing but right wing talk and sports", etc.
In a way, I understand their frustration, even though they are definitely exaggerating. There still is plenty to listen to. Any given night I can hear the CBC, with their variety of programming and news; KGO's interesting talk shows; stations playing South Asian music, Country music, or Classic Hits; the BBC overnights on KOAC (550 khz out of Corvallis, Oregon); some Canadian talk stations; and other variety programming. Most nights if I tune to XEPE 1700 -- a station out of Tecate, Mexico -- I can hear pop hits from the 1970's to the early 2010's. But if you're not into those types of entertainment, MW DXing can be a wash.
All that said, I am convinced that MW will be alive and well for at least another 10-15 years. There will be plenty of North American stations left to DX.
As for Shortwave? I'm not so sure. I'm not even sure about ham radio activity being plentiful in 10 years. By the time the sunspots pick up in three or four years, will there be that much to hear in the SW spectrum?
It's a dilemma, but I will repeat the mantra I stated several blog posts back: GET 'EM WHILE YOU CAN.
In 2001, the SWL magazines were bemoaning the BBC stopping broadcasts to North America. Radio Nederland, which took up the torch, then left the air. Radio Canada International then left the air. The SW magazines of the time were full of letters to the editor, pronouncing doom and gloom. Yet the early 2000s were still a goldmine for Shortwave listening compared to today. I heard tons of signals every early morning, and plenty at night, too.
Just under ten years ago, I could hear CBers from South America; hams from Borneo; SW stations from Brazil, Chile South Africa, Singapore and Thailand; and even Vividh Bharati broadcasting South Asian movie music most evenings on the 25 or 31 Meter SW bands. A lot of it I could hear on my Grundig G2 just off the whip antenna. Even though a lot of the big broadcasters had left the air, there was still a lot to hear just ten years ago. Compared to today, those years were a goldmine of listening.
My point is -- ten years from now, or twenty years from now, this space in time, and this decade may be the goldmine that you look back and go "wow, I remember when I could tune across the AM band and hear all sorts of stations." Or, "I remember when I could still hear WWV before they took it down."
If you're a ham, you may be saying "Wow, there was still a lot of activity on 40 meters back then.."
You never know.
I try to stay positive about it. Have to, really. We all probably should.
A shot of empty store shelves over a year ago, when the pandemic first hit. Hopefully, the shipping and supply chain issues in the news recently do not cause a repeat of empty shelves.
IN OTHER LIFE....
Right now my work has been on a somewhat extended leave of absense. I probably will be seeking other work, as soon as I get a booster vaccine shot. Being that I had no ill affects from the previous one, I have decided that yes, I will get the booster. I also take my supplements to help my immune system -- something I've done for years. I have cut back on ginseng, because I think my body is tired of it. But garlic extract, zinc (which most men need especially), and a few other supplements I take on a daily basis.
I still have been doing a bit of fiction writing, and playing slide guitar, improving my accuracy.
Our economy seems to be holding to a strange pattern. Prices of some items have gone up, price of gasoline has gone up, some food prices have climbed, and quality varies more than it used to -- and I've noticed for the third straight week that the canned pet food shelves are partially empty. The shipping and supply line issues are a bit concerning.
My Halloween Jack O' Lanterns from 2019. This year I just put out a few of my electric ones. It was a low key Halloween when compared to previous years.
Halloween is my favorite holiday. This year, I only put out my electric Jack O' Lanterns. I had maybe 9 trick or treaters -- if you include the parents. I always give candy to the parents, if they want one. Halloween is a good time to interact with the neighbors on a fun basis. We had a cold holiday this year -- it was freezing the night before. And Halloween this year also was on a Sunday night -- so those factors, and the pandemic still being with us -- all probably added to the low numbers of trick or treaters.
Sammy the Cat (grey cat in front) R.I.P. -- Boots the Cat, in back, is still thankfully very much alive.
I am ending this post with a pic of my cat Sammy, who my neighbor found dead on his driveway. I don't know why she died, but she used to greet me every time I came home from work -- she'd be right on the car, meowing, like she was my little welcoming committee.
Now she rests next to Pudge, my cat who died last November. They are out by the hawthorn tree.
I hope this finds all of you readers safe and doing well. During this continuing pandemic, we all need to count whatever blessings and good things we may have.
Peace.
C.C. -- Thursday, November 11th, 2021.
