WHY ARE AMATEUR (HAM) RADIO OPERATORS NEEDED?
ON TARGET teams can, and do, use cellular phones to communicate, but on many mountain peaks there is no cellular coverage and therefore they find that once they’ve reached their mountain peak they cannot communicate with other teams to confirm their mirror flashes. This is very discouraging to the young men in the Venturing & Varsity Teams. By involving HAM radio operators using portable VHF radios (2 meter band handy talkies or 2m HTs and extra batteries) with each Venturing & Varsity team, there can be nearly 100% assurance that each team can contact any other team that is flashing them. This is due to the fact that the radio signals at these frequencies are line of sight and if you can see flashes from another team and they have a 2m HT with them, both teams will be able to talk directly to each other (barring radio problems). Another benefit of using Amateur Radio frequencies is the many mountain-top repeaters in the western U.S. that provide for communication capabilities well bey
