In the backpack I carry around with me all over the world, I have an iPod, a mobile phone with bluetooth, my MacBook Pro and my Yaesu VX-7R VHF/UHF hand-held transceiver.
So yesterday, when I found myself at a conference where the organizers didn’t feel that WiFi is a necessity, and my cell phone battery died, I was dead in the water. The VX-7R might be able to do 50/144/220/430 Mhz transmitting, and of course I can autopatch into the telephone system and use it as a modem if I could reach a repeater with rights, but without bluetooth, I was incommunicado.
Hams have always been at the cutting edge of technological advancement. My little handheld can get the BBC while hitting the local repeaters… at the same time. I can get weather alerts, monitor emergencies, listen in on several local airports all from my backyard. There’s even a little doohicky for figuring barometric pressure and altitude.
But no bluetooth.
Yaesu, are you listening?
