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.
One of the reasons why ham radio has been around for so long (without losing -most- of its bandwidth) is that its proven to be so helpful in those scenarios. VHF bands are great for helping people locally, and one of the HF bands will usually be open to in-country and world-wide comms.
Another perk of hamming is getting to know locals, to prepare for emergencies (‘Field Days’ ), and to share ideas for gear, antennas and operations with a usually great gang of fellow hams.
You’ll find a lot of info about all sides of it at the ARRL site: http://arrl.org/