S3: E2; LTE Outage and Importance of Backup Communications

In this episode, Cody and Maribel discuss the recent AT&T outage and its impact on voting sites during an election. They introduce their guest, Daniel Blount, who has extensive experience in radio communications. Daniel shares his background in civil air patrol and ham radio and discusses the recent wildfires in the Texas Panhandle. The importance of redundancies in communications and the need for radio caches are also highlighted. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the balance between efficiency and preparedness in emergency management. The conversation explores the availability of radios and the challenges faced in obtaining them. It discusses different radio systems, the difference between simplex and repeated channels, and the use of patching at the console. The conversation also touches on building a communication platform, satellite communications, and the role of ham radio as a backup. It delves into packet radio and APRS, ham radio license classes, and the concerns of EMP and cybersecurity. The conversation concludes with the importance of backup communication options and the need for an immediate action plan and family. In this conversation, the topics discussed include communication redundancies, the use of drones and mesh networks for communication, the role of the Civil Air Patrol in emergency management, the integration of radios in aircraft. Other topics covered include the adoption of ICS by law enforcement, the importance of training and using communications effectively, the role of dispatch and EOC communication, the need for ham radio licenses in EOCs, and the organization of ham radio drills.