Comms & Electronics

5 things this book knows

Quoted from Comms & Electronics for City People exactly as printed. Every figure is the book’s own.

The reference cards, free

Straight out of this volume’s own appendix, which opens by telling the reader to photocopy it freely and laminate it shamelessly.

THE PACE PLAN — FILL-IN TEMPLATE (Ch. 2)

One per family. Complete it, copy it wallet-sized for every member, tape one inside a kitchen cabinet, send one to the out-of-area contact. Laminate or packing-tape everything.

P — PRIMARY (normal networks) - Family text thread / numbers: - Message format: STATUS / LOCATION / PLAN / NEXT CHECK-IN (“OK. Office. Walking home via 5th. Next msg 8pm.”) - Rule one: in any regional event, TEXT, don’t call. Short, informative, timestamped.

A — ALTERNATE (out-of-area contact = the family switchboard) - Name: Location: - Phone (voice): (text): Email: - Has agreed to the job: ☐ Holds current copy of this plan: ☐ - Everyone reports IN to the contact; everyone gets news FROM the contact. No lateral calling storms.

C — CONTINGENCY (phones down → radios) - Family radio service: FRS ☐ GMRS ☐ (license # ) Ham ☐ - Family channel: Fallback channel: (both written on every radio: ☐) - Simplex/mesh backup: - Check-in windows: at / / / (10 minutes each, radios/phones off between) - Missed-window rule: try next window; escalate only after TWO missed.

E — EMERGENCY (nothing electronic works) - NEAR rally point (walkable, exact spot): - FAR rally point (outside neighborhood): - Note-leaving spot at home: (format: WHO / WHEN / WHERE / NEXT) - School release policies checked & pickup adults listed: ☐

Memorized numbers (minimum 3 per person, recited cold): 1. 2. 3. Drill dates (twice yearly, tied to clock changes): / Last drilled:

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THE SERVICES — ONE-CARD COMPARISON (Ch. 3–4)

Notes: FRS/GMRS share channels and interoperate. “Privacy codes” (CTCSS/DCS) mute your speaker; they hide nothing. Verify current fees/rules: fcc.gov (Part 95 for FRS/GMRS/MURS; Part 97 for amateur).

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THE TECHNICIAN STUDY PATH (Ch. 4)

The facts: 35 multiple choice · pass at 26 (74%) · every question from a published public pool (~400+ questions, refreshed on a multi-year cycle) · no Morse code · license good 10 years.

The two-week commuter plan: - Day 1: Take a free practice exam COLD. Score is irrelevant; starting is the point. - Days 2–5: Free flashcard site (search “ham practice exam” — hamstudy-type sites track weak areas), 20–30 min/day. Study what you MISS. - Days 6–10: One practice exam daily + review misses. Formulas: E = I × R; wavelength ≈ 300 ÷ MHz. That’s most of the math. - Days 11–13: Practice average holding 80–85% = you’re ready. - Day 14: Exam session.

Before exam day: create FCC account, get FRN number (free, fcc.gov). Bring: photo ID, FRN, session fee (~$15), pencil, calculator (non-programmable OK). Find a session: ARRL exam-session search, or your local club (search “[your city] amateur radio club”). Online proctored sessions exist. After passing: pay the $35 FCC application fee promptly; transmit only once your callsign appears in the FCC database (check the ULS lookup). Weekend option: one-day “ham cram” courses — study morning, test afternoon, licensed by dinner.

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FIRST-CONTACT SCRIPT CARD (Ch. 6)

1. Listen to the repeater until you know its rhythm. Days is fine.

2. Key, pause a half-beat, then: “[Your callsign], monitoring.”

3. Someone answers → exchange: name, rough location, signal report, “first contact.” They will be delighted. Let them be.

4. ID with your callsign every 10 minutes and at the end. (Law.)

5. Wait for the courtesy beep + a beat between overs — gaps are where emergencies break in.

6. Sign off: “[Their callsign], [your callsign], 73.” (73 = best regards.)

Signal reports: “Five nine” = perfectly readable, strong (RST). FM repeater dialect: “full quieting” (perfect) / “scratchy” / “picket-fencing” (mobile flutter). Give honest reports. National simplex calling frequency: 146.52 MHz. Repeater offsets: 2 m ±600 kHz; 70 cm ±5 MHz; tone (CTCSS) per directory — wrong tone = silence, check it twice. Net check-in: wait for “visitors or new check-ins” → phonetics, slow: “[callsign], [name], first check-in.” State “no traffic” unless you have some. Come back next week. Attendance is the skill.

PHONETIC ALPHABET: Alfa Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliett Kilo Lima Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey X-ray Yankee Zulu. Digits: say each (“one four six”).

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THE LISTENING LAYER CARD (Ch. 7)

NOAA WEATHER RADIO (buy this first): - 7 frequencies: 162.400 · 162.425 · 162.450 · 162.475 · 162.500 · 162.525 · 162.550 MHz - My transmitter/frequency: (map: weather.gov/nwr) - My county SAME code: (+ upwind neighbors: ) - Setup: program SAME code(s) → enable battery backup → fresh batteries yearly → confirm the weekly on-air test: ☐ - Alert modes: choose tone-then-voice. Never fully silence it. It cannot be colonized by mattress companies.

SCANNER: check your county’s systems FIRST (online scanner-reference databases) — analog is cheap; digital/trunked capable costs real money; encrypted is unreceivable, full stop. State law on mobile/vehicle scanner use checked: ☐ SHORTWAVE: $40–90 portable, SSB capability if you want the ham bands. Listen at night; lower frequencies run long after dark. Time stations: WWV at 2.5 / 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 MHz. Wire antenna toward a window. THE LAW (cold): listening to unencrypted public airwaves is broadly legal. Transmitting without the appropriate license is a federal violation — five-figure forfeitures. Sole exception: immediate threat to human life with no normal means available. The license is about $50 and a weekend. Get the license.

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What each chapter comes down to

One line per chapter, in order — the book’s own summary of itself. The argument, the worked examples and the reasoning are in the volume.

1. The Tower Is a Building on a BatteryThe cell network dies early and on schedule — congestion in minutes, tower batteries in hours (commonly two to eight), rescue towers in days. In the gap: text don’t call, one designated contact, Wi-Fi calling on, airplane-mode discipline, and 911 kept sacred.
2. PACE Yourself: The Family Plan That Isn’t a Billing TermBuild the PACE plan — text-first Primary, out-of-area Alternate as the family switchboard, radio Contingency with fixed check-in windows, physical Emergency rally points and notes — put it on wallet cards, memorize three numbers, and drill it twice a year until it’s a bit.
3. Walkie-Talkies Without the MarketingFRS is license-free and honest at a half mile to two miles — own a charged pair. GMRS is the family’s real network: $35, ten years, no test, covers the household, real antennas and repeater range. MURS is the quiet VHF sleeper for fixed and rural use. And “36 miles” is a mermaid.
4. The License: 35 Questions Between You and the EndgameThe Technician exam is 35 multiple-choice questions, 26 to pass, drawn from a free public question pool — a take-home you’re allowed to memorize. About $50 all-in for ten years, no Morse required, passable in a weekend of free practice exams. A teenager does it between soccer games; you went to grad school. Go.
5. Your First Radio (and the Penthouse Gossip)First radio: the $25 handheld if the price is what gets you started, the $100 one if you already know you’ll stay. Program it by cable and software with every local repeater — offset and tone — BEFORE the emergency. The repeater is the penthouse gossip on emergency power: whisper to her, she shouts to the county. And spend your next $20 on the antenna, not the radio.
6. Keying Up: First Contact Without Dying of Stage FrightListen first, then key up and say “[callsign], monitoring” — the exchange is just names, signal reports, and welcome; ID every 10 minutes and at the end; phonetics are armor; 146.52 simplex is the knock-on-any-door channel. Then find your Tuesday net and check in weekly: a net is a drill that doesn’t know it’s a drill, and attendance is the skill.
7. The Listening LayerBuild the listening layer: a $30 NOAA weather radio with your county’s SAME code and battery backup (the one purchase this book insists on), a scanner sized to your county’s actual systems, and a $40 shortwave set for when the horizon is the only network left. Receiving is legal, free, and unkillable. Transmitting takes the license — and the license takes a weekend.
8. Watts and Hours: Keeping the Rectangle AliveWatts are the spending rate, watt-hours the account: a phone is only 10–15 Wh, a 10,000 mAh bank is ~2 real charges, and a “100 W” panel honestly aimed pays 50–70 W in full sun — 250–400 Wh a day. Budget loads first, then storage, then panels; charge USB from USB; fund medical devices first; and obey the lithium rules like the fire code they are.
9. The Mesh and the PaperBuild the two towerless layers: a license-free LoRa mesh node per household — rooftop nodes, shared channel, block-scale texts that hop past any outage — and the paper spine: contact sheets in every wallet, three numbers memorized cold, a waterproof document sleeve with an encrypted USB twin, printed maps and routes, small bills, and one print-day a year. The heart emoji does not store digits.
10. EMP: The Physics and the Fan-FictionSolar storms are real, grid-scale, and forecast days ahead (Carrington 1859, Québec’s 90-second collapse in 1989 — bookmark NOAA’s SWPC); they threaten long wires, not your pocket. HEMP is real physics whose scenario makes your gadgets a footnote. Prepare for the near-certain outages first — the same stack covers every tail — and if you want a Faraday hedge, it’s a $25 trash can, not a $400 duffel.
11. THE SINCERITY: Five NineThe payload was never information. It’s the carrier — a fixed hour, a kept frequency, a station that answers. Build the skills so that when somebody you love sends NOT OK, at whatever speed they can afford, you copy all of it — and they are always, always five nine at your end.

Common questions

Do I need a licence for a two-way radio?

FRS and MURS need none and cost nothing, at 2 W and short range. GMRS needs an FCC licence — about $35 for ten years, no test, and it covers your immediate family. Ham requires passing an exam.

How hard is the ham radio Technician exam?

35 multiple-choice questions, 26 correct to pass — 74%. Every question comes from a published public pool of 400-odd, refreshed on a multi-year cycle. There is no Morse code requirement, and the licence lasts ten years.

What is a PACE plan?

Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency — four ways to reach your family, ranked. Primary is the normal network, and in a regional event you text rather than call: status, location, plan, next check-in. Alternate is an out-of-area contact acting as the family switchboard.

What this book is not

It is a field guide, not a medical, legal or structural authority. Where a mistake maims or kills, the book stops joking and says so on the page; this site does the same. Nothing here replaces emergency services, a physician, a licensed tradesperson, or the law where you live.

This edition