My above post has been suitably edited. And I've been pm'ed by other
Isuzu hams, including a "nerd challenge."
Much of this will be like when the audiophiles discuss DVD/amplifier specs, or you guys discuss ring gearing; I don't understand half of what Dan Houlster says, but I look it up and ask when necessary. We're a varied Isuzu group.
Let me try a better example of why HAM + GPS = pretty cool. Let's say you're out 4x4ing. Of course, in your [color:"blue"]
Isuzu BlueMigo[/color]. Your wife wants to know did you really go to Moab?
Now she can follow your tracks all around. Remember to turn it off before driving to the bars and just swear you were in camp all night. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />
And when your weakened CV finally blows on the way home and your point doesn't move for a couple hours...she'll know, without you having to call. (Or when you drive 16 hours from Dallas to Phoenix, or 6 hours from Dallas to Arkansas, mom can just look you up on the internet to check on you.)
CB is limited to 4 watts, AM. Ham radio is limited to 1500 watts and most common rigs (144 MHz/440MHz) rigs are FM. True, you don't want this behind your head (and you'd need that 2nd or 3rd alternator), but 50 watts is common in a mobile rig. A ham station at MOAB and some ham equipped
Isuzu vehicles would probably give total park coverage, especially if you have a mobile repeater (or cross-frequency repeater) set up at a high point....or floated up in a tethered balloon. It's your own comm system and you don't have to depend on the phone companies.
Plus, I've never found a cell phone that works in the bottom of the narrow Grand Canyon. When I leave my ham radio running up on top (with a solar panel providing additional charge to the [color:"blue"]
Isuzu BlueMigo[/color]), and the repeater on, and carry my handheld down....works great for emergency communication. Especially when you build a directional antenna that points down towards you.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanaghan/40225802/Licensing is a very easy test. Cell phones are killing ham radio as personal communications devices, but I love them. And, your kids learn a little about electronics if they study for the test, and you can build home projects to get their interset going.
