Amateur radio is definitely one of those things I’ve neglected over the years and need to dig into.

Like the tens of thousands of other North Carolina residents, the power to Witherspoon’s neighborhood was completely out. It was impossible to communicate with the house down the road, let alone anyone several miles away. Unable to send text messages or make phone calls, radio became the one form of communication left in rural North Carolina. After fixing what he could on his own property, Witherspoon, a lifelong amateur radio enthusiast, began distributing handheld radios to his neighbors.

No doubt being able to communicate with people outside the affected area is important, but being able to communicate with people within the affected area is absolutely critical. From what I’ve been reading, despite the disdain for them as the Hi-Points of radios, the Baofeng radios have been heavily represented in this episode.

I have some handheld radios that I keep on the charger, with spare batteries, specifically for contact with close-by people. If I’m roaming around the neighborhood checking on the situation it’s nice to know that the people back at the house can contact me, and vice versa, if something needs to be communicated.

One thing I’ve been absolutely dragging my feet on is getting the antennae set up for the Icom 7300 I picked up last year. I need to get off my butt, climb up on the roof, and get something up there. I probably should start investigating the local amateur radio scene and see if I can find that particular brand of boffin…the radio nerd who is also a survivalist…to help me get things set up.

In fact, really, I should probably do some sort of communications audit and see what exactly I have, and what I need, in regards to this sort of thing.