Tuesday, April 5, 2011
The Silence of the Cell Phones
zeke-emcom.blogspot.com/2011/04/silence-of-cell-phones.html

Dennis, AI8P, is our first guest blogger. His topic is very true, I can remember at the Stow 4th July parade when the cell service was so overloaded that parade workers lost their cell communications and were dependent on the hams for their communications.

I read an interesting account of a family that was on vacation in Hawaii when the Japan earthquake hit. The gist of the article was the father lamenting how he was always prepared for an emergency at home, but he was totally unprepared on vacation.

When the tsunami warning was issued all the beachfront hotels were evacuated to higher ground. He was glad to have his own rental vehicle so that he did not have to rely upon the hotel to evacuate them, but many other things did not go very well and he wished he had brought a few supplies with him on vacation.

I found it particularly fascinating that he really wished he had brought some radios with him because THE CELL PHONES DIDN'T WORK!

You may recall that there was NO damage in Hawaii from the tsunami. So here is a situation with ZERO DAMAGE and the CELL PHONES STOPPED WORKING.

All that is really required is a widespread panic, and the phones will be jammed and completely useless.

- Those who claim that the communications infrastructure is more rugged than ever are correct.

- Those who claim that communications capability can be restored more quickly after a disaster than ever before are correct.

But this incident demonstrates clearly how susceptible even an intact system is to overload.

Radio communications are not now and will not at any time in the foreseeable future be obsolete in an emergency.

The bottom line is we still need to be trained and practiced and ready to help when help is needed.

I also encourage you to widen the horizons of your radio world. FRS radios and yes, CB radios, are used by lots of people who might have valuable information, or might need information from us. The ability to scan and communicate on those frequencies can be an advantage in these circumstances.

Dennis, AI8P

Rob - KB1TTN writes:
Nice article on the cell site over loading during events.

This happens at the Yale Bowl when the Yale vs. Harvard game is on.
It also happened in Boston at the marathon bombing.

It happens all the time where ever there is a large crowd.