Radios
Amateur radio, as defined by the ARRL, “is a popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics and communication together. People use ham radio to talk across town, around the world, or even into space, all without the Internet or cell phones.”
During natural disasters or local emergencies, amateur radio operators get into contact on specific frequencies and report on the conditions. Whether it’s a hurricane, snowfall, nuclear power plant meltdown, tornado, flooding, or even ice jams, amateur radio operators provide preliminary and backup communications for a town, county, or even region.
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Hello! I am an amateur radio operator from Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA. While many of you know this city as the location of “The Office,” it is also the city where the first land-to-land transmission of radio waves occurred. I am a proud member of the Murgas Amateur Radio Club, named in the memory of Jozef Murgaš, and I assist Luzerne County ARES during emergency drills. As a ham operator, I primary focus on emergency communications. I advocate for emergency preparedness for everyone, but especially among amateur radio operators. Scrolling down, you’ll see the list of my ham shack equipment—all of which is 12 Volt DC—as well as my weather software displayed.
Ham Shack Equipment
“The Whole Shack”
This is the entire area where I do my amateur radio contacts—of all bands, of all modes— as well as monitoring public safety and CB activity. If there is ever an emergency, disaster, or other event in the area, you’ll find me up here.
“Yaesu FT-991A”
This is the primary focus of the shack. The FT-991A setup transmits from 80-10m, as well as VHF/UHF, on all modes.
“Uniden 980SSB”
The 980SSB is Uniden’s best-performing purely CB radio, capable of AM and SSB, as well as weather alerts. This radio’s transmission goes out to a 17-foot tall CB antenna on a 20-foot tower, leaving a wide coverage area of around 30 miles on AM (4 watts).
“Uniden SDS200”
The SDS200 is known as the best scanner on the market. It is capable of P25 Phase II trunking, as well as DMR and NXDN. With a good antenna, I have heard repeaters from well over 50 miles away. During emergencies or incidents, I can listen to Luzerne County’s fire tac channels, roads and bridges, or EMA frequencies on the P25 systems.
“Uniden BCT15”
The BCT15 is a very popular mobile scanner, capable of analog and some non-digital, non-trunked systems. While a medium-sized scanner, it has the ability to store several thousand channels in 10 banks and 100 sub-banks total. I use this as a backup for when I am programming or servicing the SDS200, or as just an additional scanner to monitor public safety and amateur radio at once (with the SDS200.)
“Patch Panel”
This is a custom-made patch panel that my father and I made ourselves, It has twenty SO-239 connectors in total, ten per section. It also has a 100-amp main power switch and a USB/Powerpole/Cigarette Outlet port connector. All of the power components (and the radios in general) run off of two 12VDC, 100-Amp/hr batteries located in a slot just below the charging ports.
“Two Monitors”
There are two monitors, as well as a mini HP computer (that tiny box shown above the radio and below the monitors). From that computer, I can run weather software, look at SWPC forecasts, have a contest log, control my radio, and use all sorts of digital modes (i.e. WinLink). As the rest of the equipment in the ham shack is run, this entire setup is run on 12V DC.