This is interesting. My kids get these radios from random family members on several occasions. national Geographic makes them. They show up for like $10. There are 100 million of these cheap radios out there.
Now a network of volunteers are organizing the use of them to hook into Ham Radios to create a national emergency communications grid to support self-organizing responses in neighborhoods. This is a really good idea.
The site needs help. They also definitely need some public relations, campaign and web strategy help to pop this idea out to the country.
Take your little radios and put them to channel 1 in a huge emergency or blackout. Phone lines down etc. ... Police and Ham folks monitor channel 1.
What do you need to do: Radio to channel 1.
WHERE exactly the caller is (street, number, apt., town, state).
WHAT is wrong (fire, injury, someone trapped, etc.).
WHO is calling (name).
In a big crunch, these cheap little radios can help swarm and coordinate local responses. This is smart. We used these cheap things doing field work in 04. Civic associations and groups could post a separate channel for chatter.
Hmm.... Anybody try this yet?
National SOS" public emergency network in which neighborhoods and communities utilize the 100 million low-cost Family Radio Service (FRS) radios they already own. In addition, 700,000 amateur (ham) radio operators, 70,000 licensed General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) users, and hundreds of thousands of scanner users have been invited to augment the system. Training is essential to the success of the program. Statewide and nationwide training drills, and associated public educational materials, are being prepared to help bring the network to life. For the very latest information, you can click here to visit our discussion forums and here to sign up for our free mailing list. FRS radios and FRS / GMRS combination radios used strictly under FRS regulations don't require an operator license, can be used by anyone of any age, and are available for as little as $10 - $30 at many retailers and online stores. Because of their low cost and widespread availability, these radios can be part of every home's emergency kit (flashlight, water, FRS radio, batteries, etc.).
Kudos to Stephenson's Networked Homeland Security for the pointer
