I recently took an Amateur Radio (aka HAM) training course and passed the Technician exam. I should get my FCC station ID shortly. Since I have a tight budget this year, I ordered a Baofeng UV-R5 HT transceiver for $40 from Amazon . I received it today and have already programmed in many of our county repeaters and local EMS, fire and police frequencies. This radio should come in handy during the next major disaster. During Superstorm Sandy, when most communications were down, it would have been handy to be able to reach out to other locals using HAM radio communications.
This blog describes my experiences with major disasters before, during and after they have occurred. I have been a member of various Community Emergency Response Teams / Disaster Assistance Response Teams since 2002. In my life, I have experienced one major earthquake and numerous small ones, several firestorms and major fires, after effects of mud slides, three hurricanes, microbursts, nor'easters and major blizzards.