[Elecraft] DZOTA: Dead Zones On The Air

[Bill Frantz]

We discovered that Newfoundland and Labrador are dead zones for 
our US cell phones, because our US carrier didn't pair with a 
Canadian company that covered those areas. They only pair with 
Rodgers. In addition, for the trans-Labrador highway, there is 
no coverage for anyone.

Interestingly, if you drive the trans-Labrador highway, you can 
borrow a satellite phone for emergency use. It comes programmed 
to only call one number, the RCMP. You borrow it up at one end 
of the highway and return it at the other. They were out of 
phones when we started, but the ICOM 706 and Little Tarheel 
antenna in the car gave us access to 80M and up, and a warm 
fuzzy feeling.

My KX3 or my wife's KX2 give the same feeling when on foot in 
the DZOTAs.

73 Bill AE6JV

On 12/10/19 at 9:46 AM, n6kr at elecraft.com (Wayne Burdick) wrote:

>Have you seen those cell-phone company maps showing how much of 
>the country they cover? Inevitably, they reveal a patchwork of 
>Dead Zones (DZs): places where coverage is not just bad...it's non-existent.
>In such inhospitable realms, your choices are smoke signals, 
>sat phone, or ham radio. This smacks of an opportunity. Hence DZOTA.

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