Cyber-Tek Zine

Second-Order Effects Of COVID-19 On Part 97 Infrastructure, or Why HF Is A Good Idea

I did a little work on my HF station this weekend. What, do you ask, has this to do with COVID-19?

• Back during the Sparks31 experiment, I had always stressed “never trust anyone else’s infrastructure.”
• Those 2m/440 Baofengs all the preppers like to use work best when there is a nearby repeater to extend their communications range. Those repeaters are someone else’s infrastructure.
• Most repeater owners are in their 60s (or older), or work in in the field at an essential job and thus are in the high risk category for COVID-19.
• Many repeaters are in locations that are likely to get locked-down, making access to them impossible for the moment.
• Amateur radio repeaters are usually put together with older/surplused parts, and often require regular maintenance for peak performance.

Do you see where this is going?

A good HF station will give you the same talk range (or better) as a VHF handheld going through a repeater, sans the vulnerable infrastructure.

This is not something you’re going to do now that we are past the 11th hour. None of the senior citizens who run the ham tests want to go out in public and risk getting something that’ll kill them. If you need some comms now, I previously posted information on what to do. However, once this mess is over, you now know what you need to work on.