Hi all,
You all have a very complex hobby here which I admire. Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I'm hoping some of you would be willing to share your years of accumulated knowledge and experience to steer me in the right direction. Although, I have plenty of hobbies myself sailing, hunting, fishing and of course my involuntary and most demanding hobby which is unfortunately my job. I have to admit that I've only put in a fraction of the endless hours required to attain the knowledge necessary to answer my basic questions. So thank you in advance.
I'm looking for a disaster communication system for immediate family members. 3 couples making 6 people total. The requirement is for us to be able to communicate assuming no power, no cell access, no internet access. I included a map with our approximate locations and distances below. There is a key on the map as well. The lowest mark for the 3rd home is much farther south than what is show on the map. Figure 15 miles further south over kind of a mountainous terrain.
As you may already know, San Francisco is a mountainous and urban environment. What would be a good set up to ensure we can all communicate should the megaquake strike or other disaster scenario? Keep in mind, we'd want to be able to communicate as soon as possible without getting put in to a queue and waiting hours or days for our few minutes of air time. I'd like immediate capabilities to communicate over a mostly clear channel.
So far, I've learned relying on repeaters is not a sure bet considering they'd be overwhelmed if they're even operational. Best bet is to have base stations at each home with 80+ watt setups (with back up power) that would communicate directly with each other. Then each person would have a handheld which can communicate with whatever base station they're in closest proximity to. Base stations could then communicate with the other base stations tying everyone together.
Communication is the number one priority for us so we can determine best course of action depending on the endless possible disaster scenarios for Bay area.
Once I can figure out best set up for our situation, then I'll need to choose the gear itself.
Any thoughts and advice is greatly appreciated!! Thank you.
You all have a very complex hobby here which I admire. Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I'm hoping some of you would be willing to share your years of accumulated knowledge and experience to steer me in the right direction. Although, I have plenty of hobbies myself sailing, hunting, fishing and of course my involuntary and most demanding hobby which is unfortunately my job. I have to admit that I've only put in a fraction of the endless hours required to attain the knowledge necessary to answer my basic questions. So thank you in advance.
I'm looking for a disaster communication system for immediate family members. 3 couples making 6 people total. The requirement is for us to be able to communicate assuming no power, no cell access, no internet access. I included a map with our approximate locations and distances below. There is a key on the map as well. The lowest mark for the 3rd home is much farther south than what is show on the map. Figure 15 miles further south over kind of a mountainous terrain.
As you may already know, San Francisco is a mountainous and urban environment. What would be a good set up to ensure we can all communicate should the megaquake strike or other disaster scenario? Keep in mind, we'd want to be able to communicate as soon as possible without getting put in to a queue and waiting hours or days for our few minutes of air time. I'd like immediate capabilities to communicate over a mostly clear channel.
So far, I've learned relying on repeaters is not a sure bet considering they'd be overwhelmed if they're even operational. Best bet is to have base stations at each home with 80+ watt setups (with back up power) that would communicate directly with each other. Then each person would have a handheld which can communicate with whatever base station they're in closest proximity to. Base stations could then communicate with the other base stations tying everyone together.
Communication is the number one priority for us so we can determine best course of action depending on the endless possible disaster scenarios for Bay area.
Once I can figure out best set up for our situation, then I'll need to choose the gear itself.
Any thoughts and advice is greatly appreciated!! Thank you.
