I moved from Austin 4 years ago. Lived there 10 years. Constant stress combined with the heavy allergens there forced a move to the country. I was pretty active in the tech community.
I've pondered the communications thing for a while now. Anything that depends on the infrastructure is vulnerable to being taken down, and soon. That includes the telephone system, the internet, tv and radio broadcasts. I'm guessing radio broadcasting might outlast most of the others, so having an emergency radio seems like a good idea. Ham radio frequencies are controlled by the government. I don't know if the FCC could stop all Ham radio operations, but I suspect they could if they thought particular operators were causing a problem. It seems to me that backing up into older technologies would be one solution: c b and police-band/company band radios are short range, and walkie-talkies even shorter, but a strategic network of these could be set up to keep communications open between families and communities. Agreeing on certain bands for certain threads and or communications directions strikes me as a good start. Walkie talkies are cheap and readily available. I guess cb's are still around. We have a couple of older ones. I'm looking at hand crank generators for keeping batteries going--I found a plan for a homemade crank generator you can make out of an old cordless drill on the internet--but you can buy one for about $20 that includes a light, emergency radio and battery/cell phone charger.
With all the talented geeks there are in Austin, yall should be putting your heads together on how to keep cell phone networks in service should the big wireless companies stop operating. I mean, can something be done to keep your local towers operational ? I know this is ambitious thinking, but hey....what's the alternative? Same thing with broadcast radio & tv. Can you work out a local plan to keep them broadcasting? Worth discussion, I think.
raprice49@hotmail.com