I have recently become more aware of and generally interested in electronics and amateur radio, and it got me thinking. What advantage, if any, would there be to having amateur radio experience, over a simple disaster crank radio/flashlight, in the event of a major natural disaster or some other emergency that leads to a longer delay in power being restored? For the sake of argument, let’s assume you have a generator or battery bank to supply your own electricity.
I was able to communicate with some 170 miles away. This was using no infrastructure using only my wire antenna, a radio and a half dead regular 9v battery. I would say ham radio would come in handy if shit hits the fan.