In this day and age where communication is simple and easy, why do we need to think about it in an emergency? Let's investigate and find out:
Mobile Phone:
Did you know there are many factors that affect your phone reception and during an emergency, any or all of them can knock out your ability to use your phone? So how long will I have phone reception?
- The first to note is that each network in each area only has a certain amount of bandwidth. This means that if lots of people are using their phones more than normal the network will become unreliable. This results in drop outs, "unable to connect to network" errors and timing out on data connections. As this is our main source of communication, even in some instances for emergency services, it becomes heavily impacted very quickly
- In large scale bushfires, it usually doesn't take long for the power to go out. This may be due to damaged equipment or, more commonly, it is actually turned off as a safety measure to protect infrastructure and to help prevent further spread of fire. This means there is no mains electricity getting to the phone towers. All is not lost on this front initially as they are required to have at least 3hrs of back up batteries. In better news, thanks to the Australian Government's program Strengthening Telecommunications Against Natural Disasters (STAND), many regional towers have 12hrs of battery back up. Once these batteries are drained though, the towers will not work
- If you would like to know more about your specific area and towers, you should be able to speak to you local provider and discuss what you can expect from your local tower.
Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio:
These come in many shapes and sizes including in-car, fixed in-home and portable options. They don't rely on the mobile phone towers to work so the above issues do not affect them. So what are their pro's and con's?
- Communication is point to point, however some channels do go through repeater stations for extra range. Generally these channels are left for emergency use only so it is best to familiarise yourself with local channel allocation and check your area for UHF repeater maps
- UHF is a great way to communicate between yourself and others at your home/property if you decide to stay and defend or if you are driving multiple vehicles in convoy. It is important for you all to be on the same channel in order to communicate
- They do have limitations such as distance, terrain (hills) and atmospheric conditions (heavy smoke) which can decrease range in certain situations. For this reason, if you have access to a UHF radio, try using it regularly to know where it does and doesn't work
- UHF radios have some really neat functions available with them. As an example, check out the GME XRS range which offer additional functionality via an app, such as location sending, status updates (kind of like short text messages) and replay of the last transmission if you missed it.
Satellite Communication:
When we say satellite communication, everyone thinks about the phones that are really expensive that you take to the outback on your 4x4 trips. Often people will have these devices in their cupboards but won't think to use them in other emergency situations. If you have a satellite phone, make sure you add it to your bushfire survival plan. If you don't have a satellite phone, what are some options?
- There are some new, more affordable technologies emerging such as Zolio – a device that sends text messages via satellite that is relatively affordable
- Starlink – if you use Starlink for your internet and WIFI at home, it is highly probable that this will continue to work. You will need to make sure you have a good UPS or generator to keep power to it if the power goes out
