I didn’t think you needed a license for certain types of ham radios (smaller ones). Couldn’t govt jam your transmissions anyway?
That is incorrect. If you are using an amateur band, you need a license. But if you think you are getting more than five miles on a hand held unit without knowing what you are doing, you are going to be disappointed. It’s one of those things you need to practice.
If the government starts jamming HAM radio freqs, the situation has gone way beyond the point of needing to communicate via HAM. Unless there is overt tyranny oropen warfare, the gov isn’t going to worry about a bunch of Elmers trading info. Not only would it not be cost effective, I doubt the gov has the smarts to do it in any meaningful way, other than just pissing off a bunch of people that would great assets for any armed opposition to it.
“Couldn’t govt jam your transmissions anyway?”
Any form of electronic communication be it by wire or wireless can be cut off, jammed or monitored.
No license needed for CB or VHF radios. However, don’t count on being able to get out. Long ago there was a channel (9) designated for emergency use only, but many people disregarded it and used it all day long. Not the government necessarily, but other people will ‘jam’ you.
When some guy had a heart attack (we were in the woods with the nearest town over 10 miles away over dirt roads), there was this woman on the emergency channel who refused to shut up so we could call an ambulance or get some help - he died. We called her up after and told her what she had done. She didn’t answer, but later came up again on the same channel and began her monologue.
CB and GRMS do not require a license. HF, VHF, and UHF have reserved bands for HAM radio, but radio is not jammable globally or continentally. They may be able to setup localized jamming but the expense and effort would be substantial. Also consider that everything using wireless of some type would be impacted: garage door openers, Bluetooth, cellular, television, terrestrial radio. Short of an EMP or massive X-category solar flare, the amount of power required to jam a substantial band of radio would be on the order of hundreds of megawatts if not gigawatts.
“Couldn’t govt jam your transmissions anyway?”
Well, if they do, I prefer Strawberry but they’ll probably use Grape.