Apologies if this is a bit long. This is kind of a sore subject for me (as a ham that's done a fair amount of disaster work and a backpacker). Ham radio tends to be very over-promoted as the ideal emergency communication, yet it's rarely actually used for that outside of some parts of a large-scale disaster.

The best emergency use is probably HF on a boat or at a remote stationary location. There are some great ham networks like the Maritime Mobile Service Net (mmsn.org), the 14.300 (14300.net) and the Hurricane Watch Net (hwn.org) where multiple ham operators work together to communicate with anyone in need.

But that doesn't really help the wilderness backpacker. There are a few hams that backpack with HF radios (and the associated large antennas). Those can be broken into two groups. The first, mostly "HFPack" guys, carry larger (25-100 watt) HF radios and some sort of antenna rig where they can talk on the move. Military man-pack radios are popular gear for this. They primarily use SSB (voice) rather than CW (Morse code). (The HFPack.com website seems to be down, but that's their usual home, or the associated Yahoo group.) Not many people combine that with backpacking, but a few do. This would probably be the most useful portable setup in an emergency, but you're probably looking at least $500 and 10 pounds of gear.

The second group are the "QRP" (low power) guys, who mostly carry small kit-built Altoid-tin sized radios (under 1 watt) and communicate with CW (Morse code). They generally don't communicate on the move, but from a campsite, with a wire antenna thrown up in a tree. You can build a decent portable QRP setup for under $100 and less than a pound. This light-weight setup is more popular with backpacking hams, but isn't reliable for emergency communications.

So that leaves portable VHF/UHF gear, which for the backpacker almost certainly means a VHF or dual-band VHF/UHF hand-held (walkie-talkie or "HT" to most hams). The two biggest difficulties you face with using a HT in a wilderness emergency are transmitting a strong signal and finding someone to hear it.

There are a number of things that help produce a stronger signal from a HT:

Use good batteries. The HT may be rated to operate on anywhere from 4.8-14.4 volts, but most HTs will produce significantly more power with a "full" or "high power" battery pack. For example, my old Yaesu FT-50RD has a 4xAA dry cell pack. Loaded with NiMH rechargables, that's only a nominal 4.8 volts and the radio only produces about 2.5 watts. With the full "high power" 9.6 volt battery or a 12 volt external source, the radio will produce a bit over 5 watts.

Use a good or great antenna. Most HT antennas are quite horrible. There are many sources online for the classic "roll-up J Pole" antenna. With 15' of cable and some cord, this can be hauled up a tree to really increase the radiated signal.

Climb. Get to a peak, climb a tree, get out of the valley, or move around so the mountain isn't between you and the receiver. Location makes an amazing difference to radio signals.

Finding someone listening is often the harder part. Hams will tell you about the "wilderness protocol" and that someone is always listening on 146.52, but that's just not true. There just aren't that many hams on the air at any one time and the ones that are don't spend their time monitoring a VHF call frequency that is rarely used. So how do you find someone to respond to your emergency call?

Try 146.52. It is the official call frequency and you might get lucky.

Do some homework. Get a list of repeaters for the area where you'll be travelling. Program the frequencies (and PL/CTCSS tones) into your radio and carry a backup paper list.

Get on the air early. If you can, check out a local repeater or two before you start your hike. You can make sure your radio is working and programmed correctly. You might even get to chat with a few local hams. If you want to, you could let them know that you're a ham hiking in the area. Many (but not all) hams are friendly and helpful. If they know that you're wilderness hiking, some will be happy to warn you of bad weather, call or email someone for you, etc.

Transmit on the repeater output. In a rough spot, you may not be able to transmit a strong enough signal to reach the repeater's input frequency. Another ham listening to the repeater's output frequency may be right next to you, but unable to hear you because you're on a different frequency. Transmit on the repeater's output frequency and he'll hear you. Many HTs have a "reverse" function that makes this easy.

Keep transmitting, even if nobody is responding. Just because somebody doesn't respond to you doesn't mean that nobody is listening. There are many scanner listeners out there that would gladly phone in an emergency if they heard a distress call. Or a ham may be able to hear you calling for help on a distant repeater but not able to reach that repeater himself. So make sure to transmit enough information that somebody can get you help.

In a real emergency, try non-ham frequencies. This is usually a sore spot with hams because it does get abused, but most ham HTs can easily be modified and programmed to transmit outside of ham frequencies. With a little research, it's not hard to program in frequencies (and tones) for the local forest service, park rangers, fire department, sheriff's office, etc.


Good luck with the talk. Ham radio can be a fascinating hobby and has many worthwhile aspects besides just emergency or disaster communications.