In some respects it's like being able to make fire with a bow-and-drill. Old technology mastered for the sake of mastery, not for efficiency.
HAMs may tell you something different:
For example this guy:
W5ESE There is a small transceiver called Pixie and with its SMD-version you could build a kit in a tobacco tin including the entire periphery and power supply.
I own the Rockmite for 20m and 40m. When I tested it, it drew 50mA (transmitting) from a 2700mAh rechargeable pack with 10 AA cells. That would allow a lot of time on air in the case of an emergency for a pretty small package.
If SAR knows that you can communicate with such a device they are more likely to bring someone who can do that too.
I´m convinced that the local HAM community would also try to help if asked for that.
As affiliations should be noted here, I admit that I am a member of the German chapter of the "Flying Pigs" and the NAQCC. So I´m not totally unbiased as far as HAM, CW and low power operation is concerned.
Previous Topic
Index
