Small Packet Radio Station
Sue, N8MMH and her son Jordan are displaying a small packet radio
station I got when I
was involved regularly with Muskegon County Emergency Services. Used with
a hand-held transceiver (not shown) this station is extremely small. The
"palm-top" computer fits in my shirt pocket. The TNC (terminal node
controller) clips to my belt.
The nice things about packet radio in emergencies is 1) sensitive data
(names of injured people) are not readily heard by people on scanners and
2)
disk storage and ability to produce a "hard copy" of information. I'm sure
there are other advantages, but those are the main ones. This year I
manned the packet station in the Muskegon County Emergency Services
Communications Vehicle during the big fireworks display in August. Other
amateur packet stations were at the County airport, the hospitals, and
Central Dispatch for that week long event.