The emergency preparedness aspect of Ham is highly under valued/underappreciated... or at least it goes unnoticed.
First, most modern handy talkies (what Ham's call their hand held radios) are also very solid "scanners". In so far as you can tune in to a lot of different frequencies and listen. Weather alerts, AM/FM Radio (like the kind you used to listen to in your car before spotify)... you name it. Super handy if you say, lose power and cell service.
Speaking of which, remember that cell service is heavily dependent on a number of external factors. Like the antenna's still being upright (earthquakes, tornado, hurricanes are bad). There still being power. There still being connectivity (typically fiber optic)... and most importantly - NOT being overloaded. With a Ham radio you can listen or transmit, with no other dependencies.
For more local issues, like hiking or camping. Even if you're out of cell range, your radio may very well work. A 5W handy talky can reach up to 30 miles, depending on your location (basically line of sight). If you can get to the top of a hill or mountain and get a clear view - you can get a signal out to someone. All you need to do is get on the 2-Meter Band Calling Frequency
(146.520 Mhz) or the 70-Centimeter Band Calling Frequency (446.000 Mhz) and it's a safe bet someone out there is probably listening. Even better if you've looked up local repeaters in the area.
Also, the radio's are stupid cheap now. BaoFeng makes "cheap and cheerful" (nicest way to describe them) handheld units: Like a 8watt unit for $70 USD. https://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-BF-F8HP-Two-Way-136-174Mhz-40... -- They even sell 2 packs of slightly weaker radios for $50 total. Are they the best? No. Should you splurge and get something better? Totally. Like a 10W radio that support DMR (Digital Mode) for $180 https://www.amazon.com/Radioddity-GD-AT10G-Handheld-Digital-... . But if you just want to get your ham and use it once-every year... get a $50 radio and toss it in your car or something similar. Just make sure to get alkaline batteries for them. Lithium rechargeable are nice but lose charge over time.
I am a hiker and a ham and I disagree with this advice. I carried a ham radio while hiking for years and they were never a useful safety device. Here in the PNW, anywhere I was prominent enough to reach a repeater or another ham on the calling frequency, I also had plenty of cell signal. Whenever I was off the ridgelines and down in valleys, I wouldn’t be able to reach anyone with either method. Both cell phones and handheld ham radios are roughly line of sight, and when you are down in an uninhabited valley without cell coverage, it also quite doubtful there is another ham listening.
I swapped carrying a ham radio for a Garmin inReach a few years ago and it has been far more useful. I pay an annual service charge, but in return I can let my partner know I’m safe a few times a day, and I can use it to arrange for rides, neither of which I could do via ham. I have never had a problem getting reception, and it’s a much smaller, lighter device, and it recharges via USB so I never worry about spare batteries.
There are some ham specific activities for carrying a radio on the trail, like summits on the air, but if you are just trying to go hiking, get an inreach.
Yeah I agree with you on this one, a radio as a safety device on a hike is secondary at best unless mayyyyybe if you're carrying a QRP HF rig like an IC705 that can actually reach quite a ways or you leave a portable repeater at camp. In my original comment I actually meant just for talking to people, especially if you are hiking with other hams and can do stuff like GPS beaconing to each other. IMO an HT is still a better experience than a phone for communicating back and forth short-ish range on the move. Getting weather beacons from APRS and NOAA is also nice though of course there are other ways to do that.
I concur with your assessment of handheld transceivers as a way to report emergencies. But if you end up somewhere off the trail, wouldn't it still be useful after you use your Garmin (or, in my case, a SARSAT PLB) to request assistance, to be able to communicate with SAR once they're in the area? I vaguely recall a situation like that in Oregon.
This sort of thing doesn't require a fancy set, though. Something tiny and crappy like UV-3R would do just fine and is much more compact to carry than your typical handheld.
First, most modern handy talkies (what Ham's call their hand held radios) are also very solid "scanners". In so far as you can tune in to a lot of different frequencies and listen. Weather alerts, AM/FM Radio (like the kind you used to listen to in your car before spotify)... you name it. Super handy if you say, lose power and cell service.
Speaking of which, remember that cell service is heavily dependent on a number of external factors. Like the antenna's still being upright (earthquakes, tornado, hurricanes are bad). There still being power. There still being connectivity (typically fiber optic)... and most importantly - NOT being overloaded. With a Ham radio you can listen or transmit, with no other dependencies.
For more local issues, like hiking or camping. Even if you're out of cell range, your radio may very well work. A 5W handy talky can reach up to 30 miles, depending on your location (basically line of sight). If you can get to the top of a hill or mountain and get a clear view - you can get a signal out to someone. All you need to do is get on the 2-Meter Band Calling Frequency (146.520 Mhz) or the 70-Centimeter Band Calling Frequency (446.000 Mhz) and it's a safe bet someone out there is probably listening. Even better if you've looked up local repeaters in the area.
Also, the radio's are stupid cheap now. BaoFeng makes "cheap and cheerful" (nicest way to describe them) handheld units: Like a 8watt unit for $70 USD. https://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-BF-F8HP-Two-Way-136-174Mhz-40... -- They even sell 2 packs of slightly weaker radios for $50 total. Are they the best? No. Should you splurge and get something better? Totally. Like a 10W radio that support DMR (Digital Mode) for $180 https://www.amazon.com/Radioddity-GD-AT10G-Handheld-Digital-... . But if you just want to get your ham and use it once-every year... get a $50 radio and toss it in your car or something similar. Just make sure to get alkaline batteries for them. Lithium rechargeable are nice but lose charge over time.