Communicating in a Crisis
Part One of our Family Communication series
You wake up one morning, and the power is off. Out of habit, you click on the TV, but the screen remains black. Your computer turns on but doesn’t connect to the internet. Your cordless phone is dead. Your mobile phone has service, but you can’t reach anyone. Hopefully, you can hear news using a battery-powered radio. But what if the news is bad? Help won’t come for days. An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), either natural or manmade, could shut down power for months. The gas in your car is now a precious commodity. You worry about extended family. Are they okay? Do they have enough food? Did they decide to leave home because of the growing chaos? How do you contact them in a grid-down situation?
It’s good to be self-reliant. I certainly strive to be so. In the area of communication, self-reliance can be difficult. We are dependent upon phones, the internet, or the post office to communicate with family and friends at a distance but, during a crisis, the power usually fails. The phone company maintains extensive battery and generator backup for emergency situations. However, most people, if they have a landline, use cordless phones, and those require electricity to send the signal from the base to the phone in your hand. When the power fails, your cordless phone is useless. A landline corded telephone, like the old rotary dial ones will continue to work. I’ve kept one just for that reason and encourage family members to do the same. But when everyone is trying to get news or call family members, the system will be overwhelmed. You may not hear a dial tone. If you do, your call may not connect. If an emergency happens during a weekday, mobile phones will immediately be inundated. Your phone says you have service, but you can’t reach anyone because all the circuits are busy.
Most cell towers have about eight hours of battery backup. The majority have permanent generators that can run for 24 to 72 hours on a single tank of fuel. After that, the network begins to collapse. Without power, your connection to the internet is dead and your television is a blank screen. Postal sorting facilities lurch to a halt. Your local radio station may stay on the air for a while, but it will be dealing with the same communications issues you have.
The best time to plan for such issues is before the next earthquake, hurricane, wildfire, riot, war and before the eventual EMP. However, there is no single good answer.
The Basics
In this two-part post, I’m going to discuss four radio service options you could pursue, and practice with, before the next emergency. Each option has different rules and ways to use it. You can buy handheld walkie-talkies (HT) for walking around. Base stations are usually at a fixed location in a home or office, and mobile units in a vehicle. The distance you can communicate depends on many factors including terrain, antenna height, the time of day, and the transmitter power measured in watts.
Citizens Band Radio
In the United States, CB radio began in 1945, but the service has evolved significantly from its origins. As I young teen, I bought a Realistic Base Station and set it up in my bedroom. I erected a simple antenna and then talked to the only other kid who lived nearby and had a CB radio. Those radios were little more than toys and didn’t have much range. I could have easily walked to my friend’s house, but this was more fun, and it became a lifelong hobby.
Kyle with one of his handheld CB radios and his smaller FRS radio
Back then you needed a license, and I had one. My call sign was KBOP6284. Then in 1983 the FCC discontinued the license requirement and call signs. That created a wild, anything-goes environment, but the service remains popular with truckers who use it to communicate with other vehicles moving up and down the highways.
Today, a CB base station can be bought for less than $200. However, on most base station and mobile models that doesn’t include the antenna. Also, you’re only allowed a maximum of four watts of output. This is low. HTs—walkie-talkies are cheaper but will give you only about one watt, severely limiting your range. Usually, with a base station and decent antenna height, you can count on about a five-mile range. HT units will reach much less distance.
CB base stations are allowed a maximum antenna height of 60 feet if the antenna is attached to a ground-mounted tower, or twenty feet if the structure is mounted on the roof of your home. (FCC 95.408) This will give you better range, but you still have the four-watt limitation. This limitation can be lessened by transmitting in single sideband (SSB), but that is beyond the scope of this post.
For more information about single sideband along with an emergency communications overview check out the book Prepper Communications shown here.
Family Radio Service (FRS)
The radios you buy at Walmart to keep track of the kids at the amusement park or similar adventures are FRS radios. These evolved from Citizens Band and provide a low-cost, low-power family service, hence the name.
These radios are limited to a maximum of two watts of output. Some channels will output less than one watt. Most FRS radios are handheld models, and all must have a fixed antenna. Because of these restrictions, FRS radios are not practical for emergency communication.
However, no license is required to use either CB or FRS radios, and handheld units can be operated with just household batteries. A CB mobile unit can be plugged into the vehicle cigarette lighter. In part two of this series, I’ll discuss the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) and Amateur (Ham) Radio. These services are more robust but require a license and more power.
Have you used CB or FRS radio to stay in contact with family members? How did it work for you? Let us know in the comment section below.
