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Comment by talldatethrow | Hacker News Reader

That would make me feel great about being a ham nerd and actually doing something useful instead of just listening to old men talk.

I kid I kid, I love ham radio. Great fun for camping/off-road trips trying out all the local repeaters of that area. Plus a nice safety backup factor.

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The iPhones sat capabilities from AAA to emergency rescue have diminished some of the emergency benefits and inReach some others so something like this would be great.

There's one huge upside to amateur radio that surpasses all other alernatives: a transceiver potentially works "forever" (barring normal electronics failure) and requires zero infrastructure. The transceiver I use on a regular basis to communicate worldwide, for free (literally - it's powered by solar-recharged battery), is from like 2005. It has no reliance on the continued functioning of modern society, the electrical grid, commercial entities, political stability, orbiting satellites, continued monthly/annual subscription payments, etc. :)

Please tell us more about your rig

Sure! Yaesu FT-857D[0] in Armoloq TPA-857B pack frame[1], High Ground Gear PRC-117G bag[2], Dakota Lithium 12v 10ah LiFePo4 battery[3] (in its own little pouch on the back of the PRC-117G), integrated Digirig[4] and CW key extension cable attached to the pack frame. Charging is via Genasun GV-10-Li-14.2V[5] and a big solar panel I got on discount a year or so ago. I've also got a universal adapter so I can charge various devices like my laptop or whatever else "on the go". One improvement for longer-term operation would of course be larger battery and solar panel. Either way, basically a "shack in a bag". Total weight for the pack (excluding solar charge controller and panel) is 11lbs. Deploy and attach an antenna and you're on the air. Oh, I should mention I got the overall idea from KT1RUN "The Tech Prepper" who has a video[6] showcasing the setup, if you're interested.

[0] https://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&encPro...

[1] https://www.armoloq.com/tpa-857b

[2] https://highgroundgear.com/products/instant-access-prc-117g-...

[3] https://dakotalithium.com/product/dakota-lithium-12v-10ah-ba...

[4] https://digirig.net/

[5] https://sunforgellc.com/product/gv-10/

[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QHVq3P_xWI

thank you so much! I will dig into this!

I'm not OP, but I assume it's a 12v car battery, with a 12v solar panel, and a 12v automotive ham radio connected to the battery, in a box.

Edit: the solar panel is on top of the box. /s

For true life and death emergency Im sure the others are great, but for a "my serpentine belt just broke on my 2004 4Runner, could someone deliver one to road #3223, 4 miles down in death valley" I think you'd do better with HAM radio.

AAA isn't going to come help you for less than $500+ (actually probably $1000) somewhere in death valley.

The community around something like ham radio, although technically not even a community, makes me think I'd get neighborly type help much easier, even if it took someone's entire afternoon to help.

I would never rely on another Amateur Radio operator for help unless there was no other option.

What other option is there in death valley, miles up a random road?

Your only options are asking someone else driving by (happens 2-3x a day on some roads), asking ham radio and seeing if anyone in a repeater radius is feeling helpful, or limping to a main road slowly.

Obviously circumstances vary. When I was in death valley for 9 days, I had enough supplies to sit for 14. So if I needed help on day 2, I can give a helpful sincere ham radio operator a chance to help. If another car passed me in that time frame, I'd talk with them and setup some kind of 'hey, check on me on your way back' system if they were returning this way. And so on.

If I had a breakdown with 36 hours of water remaining, I'd treat things pretty differently and possibly be using ham to get them to relay emergency info.. since technically that's my only choice.. I own an android without sat service and don't any satellite product.

I personally think you can trust ham radio for a favor pretty well. And for an emergency even more so.

I would buy an emergency beacon if I were to be outside of cell range in a risky situation.

If all emergency services were working neither would I do so (I say that as someone who used to own an AR callsign for some decades).

Trouble is that in big natural disasters most infrastructure is down and frankly even if you find an AR operator he/she's likely without power so won't be much help. Nevertheless, there are many historical instances where AR has been of considerable help in emergencies. In those instances functioning stations, which are often on the periphery of disasters act as relay stations and conduits to official help.

Perhaps you could pass the idea by your local group, ARRL, RSGB etc. I failed to generate interest, you may be more successful.

See my reply to amatecha.

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