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My amateur radio friends used to sound paranoid when they talked about how it might be the last form of communication in an emergency. After all, I'd seen how overbuilt and reliable the PSTN was.

Now I wonder if maybe it's time to get licensed.

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In a true emergency, I don't know that it matters whether or not you're licensed.

I agree though that getting licensed might be useful for knowing how to use it.

> I agree though that getting licensed might be useful for knowing how to use it.

That's the whole point IMHO. You need practice to properly use a radio, especially during an emergency.

In an emergency, either actual emergency services will be using all of the bands and amateurs will be well-advised to shut up, or the military (official or bandit) will be and, again, amateurs will be well-advised to not make themselves targets. Some people get the odd ideas that the Big Ones will be more like Northridge in 1994 than Cambodia in 1970.

Why would emergency services fill up the amateur bands?

Keeping everyone else quiet to remove the possibility of interference is just good sense. The Baofeng people alone would be a huge, unnecessary distraction.

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