“What I don’t understand is, how does this elitists idiot even know what a HAM radio operator is or does?”
Because most serious large-scale disaster plans from FEMA to MEMA include Ham Radio as an option for communications. Every state has provisions for the relatively long wavelengths hams use. As Governor he surely read those plans, and just maybe when he was Savior Of The Olympics.
His response was “heck no, no hams” rather than “umm, who?”
Actually, “relatively long wavelengths hams use” isn’t usually correct. While we DO use High Frequencies in some disaster scenarios for long distance communication across states or to other countries, normally we provide LOCAL UHF/VHF communications which are NOT dependent upon the power grid. We can and do bring our own generators and battery systems, set up local area repeater systems and when communications have failed on police/fire/ambulance systems we can and do relay message traffic for them. We also keep in practice during things like Walk-a-thons and other local events. Here in Colorado almost every communication on the Pikes Peak Hill Climb race is done by hams. I’ve personally participated in Skywarn for as long as I’ve been a ham radio operator. I’ve also done work with RACES and ARES (though I am no longer as active as I could be)...
basically though, vhf/uhf and packet radio systems are generally our backbone, with HF for long distance communication.