Most of us keep our frequencies in two places: the radio’s memory channels and a phone. Both can let you down at the worst moment. A phone battery dies, a radio gets reset to factory settings, or you find yourself using a borrowed or spare radio that has none of your channels in it.
A small paper card, written out ahead of time, fixes all of that. It costs nothing, needs no power, and works in the cold.
What to put on the card
- Your callsign, printed clearly, so anyone using the card with you can identify the station properly.
- The repeaters you actually use: the output frequency, the offset direction, and the access tone. Our local repeater quick reference is a good starting point.
- A simplex frequency or two that your family, club or group has agreed on ahead of time, for when a repeater is down.
- Net names, days and times you’d want to check into. The nets page lists the regular ones.
- The steps to enter a frequency by hand on your own radio. If you only ever program it with software, write down the front-panel steps now, while you have the manual handy.
Make it last
Print it or write it in pencil, which won’t smear if it gets damp. Slip it into a clear plastic sleeve or cover it with packing tape. Keep one copy in your go-kit, one by the shack radio and one in the vehicle if you run mobile.
Then test it. Leave the memory channels alone for an evening and set the radio up from the card alone. If you get stuck, the card needs another line.
Keep it current
Repeaters change. Tones get updated, machines move or go off the air, and nets change times. Check your card against the club or repeater owner’s own information a couple of times a year, and make a new one when something changes. An out-of-date card can be worse than none.
Our printable checklists are a good companion to the card, and the emergency communications page covers how a card like this fits into a bigger plan.