Raynet is just radio hams playing at being an emergency service. They aren't, and when there are actual emergencies they seem to be of minimal
use.
For one thing, there are not enough of them for one to already be in
place in an affected area (eg a village cut off by floods).
Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
[...]
Raynet is just radio hams playing at being an emergency service. They aren't, and when there are actual emergencies they seem to be of minimal use.
You could say similar about the various voluntary ambulance brigades or First Aiders - but you may be very grateful they are there when things
go wrong and the emergency services aren't immediately to hand.
For one thing, there are not enough of them for one to already be in
place in an affected area (eg a village cut off by floods).
Perhaps there would be more of them if they were encouraged instead of denigrated.
The new smaller portable Starlink dishes will probably solve many emergency comms issues - provided they are issued and subscribed in advance. Mobile handsets that can send messages via satellites seem to be an up and coming thing. In its infancy with iPhones at the moment.
Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
The new smaller portable Starlink dishes will probably solve many emergency comms issues - provided they are issued and subscribed in advance. Mobile handsets that can send messages via satellites seem to be an up and coming thing. In its infancy with iPhones at the moment.
Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:
Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
[...]
Raynet is just radio hams playing at being an emergency service. They
aren't, and when there are actual emergencies they seem to be of minimal >> > use.
You could say similar about the various voluntary ambulance brigades or
First Aiders - but you may be very grateful they are there when things
go wrong and the emergency services aren't immediately to hand.
If it's the case that Raynet are there to set up emergency mobile base >stations or Starlinks or whatever, then I can see the usefulness - like >emergency first aiders they solve a problem people have that isn't covered
by existing services.
If they're using VHF then what does it do that a mobile can't?
Given that
the mobile network generally does not go down in many emergencies, and where >there's a loss of power the most useful thing to the most people is to get a >generator to bring it back up again, rather than looking for a radio ham. >Only the mobile operator has the access and plant to do that.
If they're in the Scottish Highlands or some place there's no mobile signal >then I can see they have a use.
For one thing, there are not enough of them for one to already be in
place in an affected area (eg a village cut off by floods).
Perhaps there would be more of them if they were encouraged instead of
denigrated.
If they solve an actual problem, all power to them. If they solve the >problem in a way which is not very useful, that's what I question.
Theo
Batteries if a mobile base station has them won't last all that long and
the links between base stations or, backhaul, can suffer if the mains
does a whoopsie!.
On 13/11/2024 22:38, tony sayer wrote:
Batteries if a mobile base station has them won't last all that long and
the links between base stations or, backhaul, can suffer if the mains
does a whoopsie!.
Just look what happened after the heavy snowfall in Kintyre a few years
ago.
Power was off for about a week I think with the roads blocked by deep snow.
Councils used to have diesel backed-up radio networks but snow clearance contracted out and contractors use mobile phones for comms.
Not seen any reports on how the emergency services' networks coped but
like the councils they used to have radio networks that could run on
diesel for weeks.
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 546 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 151:02:35 |
| Calls: | 10,383 |
| Files: | 14,054 |
| Messages: | 6,417,797 |