Thank you for having me on your site. First off, I must say that I really like and am impressed with the forum title. ‘Two Way Radio Forum’. Finally something that encompasses all modes of radio. I have never been able to understand the deep divisiveness that can be found between CB and all its modern incarnations and Amateur Radio. After all, it is all radio isn’t it? I personally have a foot firmly planted in both camps and thoroughly enjoy both.
But some background. I was first introduced to Ham Radio over 60 years ago as a Scout at a Jamboree. It stuck. Tinkered and played with radio and old WWII sets that one could pick up cheaply at Army Surplus stores. Never got a licence in the early days and then other passions for girls, cars, flying, career and family kicked in and I never got back to radio until the 90’s when I passed my licence. Then nothing really happened further as I was whisked off around the world for the next 20 years making a living from computers, networks and databases. Then came retirement and a good friend bought me my first HF rig, an Xiegu G90 and I made my first HF contact Dec’ 2022. I was firmly back into CB radio at this time, or Personal Radio Service as it is now designated over here in NZ, where my wife and I both used it when out hunting.
Fast forward to the present day….I live under the shadow of the Southern Alps in Canterbury NZ where we, and the majority of the South Island for that matter, are looking down the barrel of Magnitude 8 earthquake. This particular fault has been going off regularly every 300 years on average over the last 8000 years, and yes, they have all been magnitude 8 or greater. The South Island straddles the divide of the Australian and Pacific plates, part of the Pacific ring of fire. We are 30 years overdue for the next big one and yet trying to shake communities out of their apathy and to start preparing for this disaster that few on this earth have ever experienced is mind numbingly difficult.
However, everyone has to do their bit. One beacon of light in this morass of apathy is Peter Mott (ZL3PWM). He has started the HFRADIO.NZ charity and part of that is the Alpine Fault Net (Alpine Fault Net® | Disaster Relief Communications). I am part of that and try to promote it wherever possible. However, a very important part of his strategy being truly successful in the inevitable disaster is the need for communities to set up Community Emergency Radio Networks based on NZ’s Personal Radio Service (the equivalent of CB, FRS, GMRS and the many other variations that governments around the world designate it.)
I have taken on a personal crusade to try and engender interest and the adoption of PRS into our communities, hopefully leading up to the formation of CERN’s (Community Emergency Radio Network). So that is where a lot of my time goes in retirement. If you are still reading this far, thank you for taking the time out to hear me.
Oh, and by the way I am passionate about Radio of all descriptions and being outdoors, preferably the mountains. Hope to talk to some of you from there sometime soon in the future.
Cheers Phil
ZL3CC