As promised, I will give you some information to help you get on the air so you can formulate a communications plan for your family.
Why is this important? As I mentioned before, there will come a day when cell phones and landlines won't work. Whether it is something as simple as human error or a thunderstorm, or as nefarious as hacking or electromagnetic pulse any number of things can disrupt how you contact your family and call for help. A phone/ internet outage could last a few minutes, a few hours, and some experts say under certain circumstances, outages could last for several months.
Please note, that all of the communication modes are only as good as your enthusiasm and willingness to learn about it and practice it. Just like anything else, you can have the best equipment on the planet, but if you never use it, when the chips are down you will not be successful. It's like a buying a new gun and carrying it every day to defend your life and your family's life, but never practicing with it. When you need to pull the gun, you won't know how it feels or shoots. You will be overconfident in being able to protect yourself which can cause more problems than it fixes.
All that said, what is available to you to use for communication?
FRS
MURS
GMRS
Ham (amateur) Radio
** Family Radio Service (FRS) are those little UHF radios you can get at Walmart or online that are wildly popular for kids to play with, for families to use at Disney World or on a cruise ship, and campers use them too.
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/family-radio-service-frs
A license is not required to use these. They are pretty cheap to get and aren't a bad tool to put in your communications tool box. No matter what the package says, the usable range is 1/4 mile to maybe 1 mile.
** Multi Use Radio Service (MURS) are radios in the VHF band. https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/multi-use-radio-service-murs
These can be used in the same fashion as FRS radios above.
** General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) requires a license and special radio that is certified by the FCC. The radios are higher powered and can access repeaters which greatly boost your signal across several miles or even a hundred miles.
At this "level" of radio, you can have longer distance communication with your family or friends. As mentioned, a license is needed to use a GMRS radio and the frequencies they are on. You don't need to study for a test to get your GMRS license. Simply log on to the FCC website and fill out form 605, send them payment, and you will get a license. Right now it is $70 for a license (I hear the FCC is lowering this price to $35 at some point soon). This license covers your entire household family for ten years.
**Amateur (Ham) Radio requires a license and a radio certified by the FCC. Ham radio is the big daddy of radio.
https://www.fcc.gov/amateur-radio-service
With amateur radio, you can access VHF, UHF, and HF bands. You have thousands of frequencies you can talk on. The entry level ham license is Technician. Then there is the General license class, then ultimately the Amateur Extra class. The higher you go, the more access you have to more frequencies. You have to do a little study in order to get a ham license, then take a test. It generally costs about $15 to take the test and it covers only the person successfully taking the test for ten years.
So, these different modes of comms above are what are available to all to use in case of an emergency or just in case you need to talk to friends and family every day. The art of communication by radio is just that. The more you use it, the better you will get. Amateur radio operators definitely use the bands in case of emergencies but it is also a multi-faceted hobby that can last a lifetime.
This is the pyramid of comms:
FRS/ MURS is the quickest and easiest to get into
GMRS requires a license and little more know how.
Ham radio is the grand daddy and most effective
Stay tuned for more!!!!!!!
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