GMRS during power outage

[WRHS218]

I live in a smallish mountain community not far from the South Gate of Yosemite. Several months ago I showed my son-in-law my KG-905G and after discussing GMRS for a while he ordered one and got his license. We have tested our radios and we can talk to each other from our houses. He and my daughter live 3.7 miles away with top of a ridge between us.  I have lived here more than four years now and have become accustomed to power outages. Last week we lost power around 0730 on a weekday. When this happens to one of us we normally text each other to see if the other is in the dark as well. This time I couldn't text. My phone also couldn't get online. The Verizon tower is a little over 1 mile away with a direct line of site. I tried calling but didn't get an answer. My son-in-law called me a minute later and I was able to receive the call. We coordinated channels and were able to communicate easily with our GMRS handhelds. My phone was pretty much useless. When the power came back on three hours later my phone returned to normal. We are working on a communication plan for future outages and emergencies. This is the first time my cell coverage has been affected by loss of power. So this was a good reminder that cell phones don't always work during power outages and it is good to have GMRS as a back up if your geography allows. 

[MichaelLAX]

Good story

Good ending!

Keep us posted!

[n4gix]

Your SIL could have simply used your license and saved $70... 

[DownEastNC]

17 hours ago, WRHS218 said:

I live in a smallish mountain community ...

I just shared your story in my Facebook group. It is the exact reason why I created the group and am trying to promote / encourage others to join the GMRS community. Thanks!

PS: Link to group but participation is set to invite only. Residents and visitors to the area are welcome to join; https://www.facebook.com/groups/downeastncgmrs

[serrasalmus]

this is why in these types of situations your and your kiddos need to have a predetermined communication plan. doesnt have to be all huge and complex, just say like in the event of a power failure you guys automaticly turn on the radios to a set channel that yall agree on.

 

this is exactly the situation when most people try to depend on there phones, however even cell sites need power and backup batterys only last so long and thats even if the company has kept them up(we all know that the cell providers here in the us are awesome and never lie or cheat so we dont have to worry  ) 

 

[AdmiralCochrane]

Sometime in a previous life my employer was contracted to do specialzed maintenance at cell locations.  One service call for no signal from the equipment invovled in our contract turned out to be the fact that the cell tower primary owner forgot to pay the electric bill and the meter had been pulled. The tower stayed on line an additional 30 hours then the generator fuel tank went dry. 

All cell towers are subject to random mistakes as such.