There is nothing visible but rubble… no street signs and house markings. Take for example the widespread destruction left from a tornado. In some disasters, a street address can be useless and the grid square or latitude and longitude can effectively identify the specific location of the incident. But for longer range HF communications, explaining your location is more complicated and thus easier via grid squares. Most people would probably prefer having a street address. This cool map even shows the locations and identities of other stations in your grid square.Ĭommunicating your grid square may not be so important in local VHF communications. Right below “Show Map” is a link to “Explore on HamGrid Maps”. It’s shown in the details tab for your station ID. If you don’t know your station’s grid square and/or Latitude and Longitude, you can look it up on QRZ. This information can be used to calculate your grid square (see ) or even your address (see ) To find this more precise grid square, you can zoom in on the map at Īnother piece of useful information is your Latitude and Longitude. Grid square are further broken down to your precise location… right down to your backyard, as in EM17iq85es. This gets you down to an area roughly corresponding to 3 × 4 miles.
That EM17 grid square is further broken down into subsquares designated by the addition of two letters after the grid square, as EM17iq. What if you need to identify a more precise location? Here’s a PDF file containing the US grid square map provided by Icom america. This identifier could be helpful if you’re attempting to communicate with someone, especially outside the continental U.S. In fact, it’s the grid square where most of us in Wichita reside. Here’s a couple good articles on grid squares:Ī grid square is indicated by two letters (the field) and two numbers (the square), as in EM17… the grid square where I reside.
They’re called grid squares (also known as the Maidenhead Locator System)… and they don’t rely on technology.
Thanks to the ham radio community, there is a shorthand way to communicate over the air and locate any spot on the earth. Well, “When all else fails… there is ham radio.” But, what happens when the power grid goes down, your GPS and cell phone don’t work, and you need to find or identify a location? I like the conveniences all those modern technologies provide and use them myself. In this age of GPS, cell phones, and the Internet, many have lost the ability to read a paper map.
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