Re: Power outage in VK5
VK5ZLR > 29-09-2016, 06:45 PM
They are pretty hopeless in VK5, bunch of Wooses it all went dark so they burrowed down under the covers, most of repeaters died, HF was dead, but in all fairness the crashes and bangs made reception of pretty much anything on HF a non event.
Having no faith in the custodians of the Sates Electrons, here at the retirement home for impoverished amateurs we have a backup power supply, so no power doesn't mean no radio.
But what is a big worry is that the telcos seem to have about 4 hours battery capacity, honestly I reckon it should be in excess of a week, and maybe with panels to keep it going indefinitly. People could not ring 000, or any other number.
ABC radio national 1305 died, ABC 1062 died, only ABC 891 kept on air, as 891 is in Adelaide, and the static levels were so high, even with the "big" antenna it was quite challenging to get any infomation at all. Of course the Telly died too. Most non-amateurs outside of Adelaide would have had almost no idea as to what was going on.
I rekon the telcos need a rocket, and a quiet word in Aunties ear would not go astray either.