The Villages Daily Sun

The Villages Daily Sun: "“When there’s an emergency and you lose power, you usually lose all phone service,” said Ed Crowell, secretary of the club and Village of Glenbrook resident. “Your cell phone service especially, because everyone gets on the phone. The subscriber can only hold 17 percent of its users at a time, so the cell phone tower shuts off its automatic cell phone switch. You need a radio to send a message over long distances.”

Crowell said the radios can last for years, and showed one he’s had for 10 years.



“The batteries die, but the radios don’t burn out,” he said.

Crowell said that ham radios are useful in natural-disaster situations other than hurricanes."