Chapter 4

Dad and Mom were glad for my return. We had dropped Ed at his house on the way. He said Janice would stay with him. My parents were also presented with Shirley. They welcomed her with Mom beaming. Shirley was invited to use the guest bedroom for as long as she wanted.

We sat down in the living room with Shirley and me on the sofa. She took my hand in hers. That had become a habit though I didn't mind. Dad brought me up to date on the details of happenings here while we were gone. He and his brother, Tom, had done what I suggested. They also set up a food depot with freezers and secure storage. They weren't worried about people and had left a sign welcoming one and all. They had thought about the dog issue and, against that threat, they had prepared. Going armed was now required.

I started on my story going into details about what I did and did not find, namely people. I told the story of finding Shirley. I nodded at Shirley to talk while I had some iced tea.

She started to tell her story and said, "I was a student at Tech majoring in mechanical engineering. I even had a class that Jack taught a year ago. He was okay as a teacher." She looked at me and grinned.

"In my dorm, we heard the news and were worried. Then, girls in the dorm started to get sick. No one knew what to do. I don't know if anyone could have done anything. Anyway, we started to nurse the sick ones. The first ones to die were carried away but, quickly, there was no one to come and we just closed their doors. If you were alive and still there, your door was open. I stayed because my parents didn't answer the phone and I was caring for about twenty still in the building. I realized, finally, that I was the only one left. Jack found me when I heard his truck. I was almost in a panic because I was so alone.

"He and Ed let me join them, first at Jack's place for lunch, and then on their trip.

"There was no one downtown. It was a ghost town with all the stations playing loop recordings. No matter where we looked, we just found no one. We went to Ed's apartment and Janice shot at us. At least, that's what we thought at the moment. We found out later she was shooting into the air to get our attention and then was scared. Her mother left a few days before to get food and never returned. She stayed with us for the night and, in the morning, we found her mother shot dead. The grocery store close by had been looted. There are some survivors who are not too nice and who haven't realized that living together is the way to go.

Dad said, "Those people will struggle when the gas is used up and the power grid stops working." He looked over at me and smiled.

Shirley continued, "That night I got a bit teary and Jack gave me a shoulder to cry on. I appreciate that." My mom looked over at me and she smiled some more.

"We had decided to go down to my folks place near Macon. They were dead. Mom had died of a heart attack and dad took pills. He left a note." She started crying and moved even closer. I put my arms around her and held her until she eased up.

I started back, "Her dad was an amateur radio operator, a ham. He had different radios and could talk locally and distantly on different frequencies. Dad, I had said that the phones will quit sooner or later. Ham radio might be a real solution."

"Dad always said that ham radio works when nothing else will." Shirley interjected. "He proved it a number of times by helping in emergencies."

"The only other thing that happened," I said, "and I think it's important is that we were attacked by dogs. They may have already been wild before but I don't think so. We were on the menu until I shot one. I think it will get a lot worse as other food runs out and the wild game haven't regenerated sufficiently to provide fresh food.

"Anyway, Dad, I learned or had confirmed three things on the trip. First, there are less people than we had thought. Second, things will quit working or run out. Third, there are wild animals and wild people out there." That was the end of my speech. Mom got up and asked Shirley to help her with some more tea and a snack. She and Shirley went into the kitchen.

Dad said, "Son, Shirley seems like a nice person. Just remember all our feelings are on the surface right now. Don't make any commitments until you know what you both want. House rules will not change. This is not the time to hurry regarding any thing that's truly important."

"I know, Dad. I have had that in mind since we met. Things will just have to develop in whatever direction they develop."

We shut up because Mom and Shirley came back in with fresh tea and slices of Mom's lemon pound cake. We talked about little things as we all digested the results of the trip.

After a big slice of cake washed down with tea, Dad sat back and said, "Shirley, tell me more about these radios in a general way. I'm just a farmer, not an engineer." I almost choked because Dad knew more about more different things than anyone I had ever met in my life.

Shirley looked at little startled but said, "First of all, hams are licensed after passing tests, one for each license level. There are three, Technician, General, and Extra. I have a General though haven't been on the air much since going to college. Dad had an Extra. In each case, the higher you go, the more frequency allocations you have. Looking at all the frequencies available, they are divided into bands based upon general wavelength for a group of frequencies. A popular band for Georgia and the rest of the southeast is eighty meters. Different states all over the U.S. use a different frequency for communicating primarily within a state but also with neighboring states. In Georgia, three point nine seven zero megahertz was popular and, in Alabama, it was three point nine six five megahertz. Other states had other frequencies. Usually, those frequencies had nets to practice proper radio operation and have some preparation for emergencies. There was even a method for passing organized traffic or dispatches. Dad was active on the Georgia net and checked into the Alabama net often."

Dad said, "So, we would have to find a radio to tune into that eighty meters band and, if anyone is out there, we could talk to them?"

"Yes, Sir, but it's simpler than that. HF ham radios include all the bands in the HF ranges. So one radio can cover many bands. Antennas are easy. It only takes wire and a tree to string up an inverted fan dipole. I've helped Dad do that many times to help other hams and for Field Day.

"Then, there's forty meters which is good for all over the U.S. and some overseas talk or DX as hams call it. For some reason, that was Dad's favorite band. I liked twenty meters which is okay for the continental U.S. but great for talking overseas. I have worked over fifty countries on twenty meters which means making contact and confirming that contact in writing with a card or a log entry with one of the big internet logs.

"The next band to mention is two meters. I will talk about it and then quit boring you. Two meters is a little above the FM radio band and is good for local operation. There are also stations called 'repeaters' that automatically retransmit one ham's signal so another can receive it further away. I took an HT when I first went to Tech and talked to Dad through that method. Then phones had free minutes and we phoned more. Ooh! I left it in my room when I met Jack. We will have to get it. They are expensive."

"Shirl, that's not an issue. I don't think money is going to be necessary to buy things." I said.

"Oh!" She said. "Well, it's still worth having because it's all programmed with repeaters"

"Okay, I'm sure we will be making trips into Atlanta to get things in the future."

Mom was fast. "What's 'Shirl?'" She asked.

Shirley answered, "Jack called me that as a nickname. He didn't know that 'Shirl' is, was, Dad's pet name for me." She teared up a little. "But I like for him to use it." She added quickly.

Mom gave me a look and then smiled at Shirley. She didn't say anything. She didn't have to. I think Dad caught all that, also. I wasn't sure because he has a true poker face but his talk earlier suggested he suspected something.

Dad picked up the conversation, "I would think that this two meters would be better than CB radios because it is FM which would be quieter and has those repeater things."

"Yes, Sir, it's popular and, with the repeaters you can talk from most of one end of Georgia to the other. It is "line of sight" though that term is pretty wide. Dad could reach repeaters in Atlanta with his rig at home with forty watts of power. I could talk to him on the HT with one watt from my dorm room."

"So, if we had a repeater in the area, we could talk from here to Atlanta and over to Macon and Columbus. Is that right?"

"Yes, Sir. Also, the antennas are small as are the radios which makes them good for mobile operation."

"Okay, Shirley, how do we obtain these radios?"

"Either from hams or there is a store in Doraville that should have plenty in stock. There would also be a stock of HF radios there. We could use those and might find other groups and communicate."

"We'll see. Don't tell people where we are over the radio until the family has had a chance to discuss what our attitude is going to be toward strangers."

"Does that include me?"

Mom jumped in on that. "Jack vouches for you and Robbie and I like you. The rest will go along with us pretty easily. The fact that you are pretty and smart doesn't hurt either." I smiled a bit proudly. I thought to myself, "And she likes me, too."

Dad said, "Back to the radios. Is there some way to determine where repeaters are located?"

"Yes, there are books put out by the ARRL, the American Radio Relay League, which list them. There also are web sites. There are probably a number that can be easily reached from here. We can also use the internet to look for hams who lived in the area."

"Jack, you two take your laptop and put together a list of repeaters around here and some hams who lived around here. I think you two will have to find some of them to quickly get radios, hook them up and demonstrate what they can do."

Shirley and I nodded and left the room for my laptop which I kept in my bedroom. We left the door open. After all, I knew the rules.

Shirley noticed that and said, "Is that one of the rules? Could I kiss you or does that break the rules?" Her eyes were smiling and she had a fiendish grin on her face.

"The door has to remain open. You had better kiss me back." With that remark, I pulled her tight and gave her a passionate kiss which was eagerly and vigorously returned. After an endless minute, we broke our clench and got down to work. I started up the computer and opened Firefox and looked at her. "Where to?"

She looked at me for a second. "Why don't I type things in and talk about it as we view the different sites?"

"Works for me." I said getting up and waving her to the chair. She sat and started typing for a web site.

"This site locates repeaters. There more than two meter repeaters but that's all I'm looking for right now." A new screen came up with a map. "Okay. That's what I wanted. What's the zip code here?" I told her and she typed it and pressed "return." The screen changed. It showed a map of the area with our zip code in more or less the center. There were a number of circles on the map. "Those circles are repeaters and their coverage area. On the left are the details for each repeater on the map." We looked and I could see that there were a number of circles that included our area. Shirley started making notes and moving the slide up and down adding to the information. "There are six repeaters that should cover this area pretty well and two of those should be excellent. I have the information we need listed to program radios. I will save it to favorites, if that's okay, so we can access it later?" I nodded. "Now, I'm going to a site that will let us look up individual hams." She typed in a site and it came up. She logged into it. "This is my call." She typed in a call in search and clicked. Information on her call came up along with a picture of her operating a radio. "Dad took that and insisted I put it up. People seem to like it."

"I like it." I said.

"Thanks. Let's go to advanced search and see what we can find." She shifted screens and started entering search criteria. After she pressed "enter," a new screen came up with a number of calls and names. We went over each one looking at licensing levels and locations. We picked six that were close to check out. She saved that site to favorites, also.