Why does Ham Radio work “when all else fails”?
Location N/ALecture Summary
Most other communication systems are built on the principle of centralized control and centralized infrastructure. Amateur Radio, by comparison, lacks centralized control, organization, or structure and yet often outperforms commercial systems which are specifically designed to work during a disaster. This talk will explore the notion that it is the lack of central organization which makes our radio service well suited to perform in circumstances where order has been replaced by chaos. A new area of research has been gaining popularity recently that investigates the dynamics of decentralized complex systems. This research when applied to Amateur Radio can help us to understand why our radios continue to work when other systems fail.