Distress Calls - Interesting And Scary To Listen To

As many of you know I am a ham radio operator.  I got my license back in 1982, 40 years! wow, that is a long time.  Anyway, for the most part we just talk and also send each other cards, called QSLs.  I have a collection of these from many countries.  There is a part of the hobby thought that is serious, it has to do with emergency communications.  We do handle traffic, the fancy word for calls, in such situations.  And we use different modes of communications, voice Morse Code and all kinds of digital signal modes to provide help.  

I have never really done any heavy work in a disaster, though I did handle some calls during the Mexico Earthquake back in the 80s and one car accident.  This said while I do know how to do it, I have never set up a net or ran messages.  But, I do know people who have, it's intense.  Very very intense.

If you have watched YouTube you may see video on distress calls and hear words like Pan Pan and Mayday and it is interesting to hear this stuff and it's also kind of scary to.  But, you should know that there is a way to do things if you ever end up in the midst of an emergency. 

I have put 2 videos from YouTube here that explain what Pan Pan and Mayday mean.  And what to do if you happen to come across a situation and are near a transmitter, specifically one operated by a ham operator.

 Note the video about ham radio process is U.S. focused but, here in Canada the rules are very similar.

Cliff T.