Every Day Carry kit comes in handy during snow bound commute home
https://youtu.be/YhQqQW-xP8Y
In about 2018, we had warnings of snow in the UK and we were advised to leave work early before the snow hampers transport.
I was driving a £500 Fiat Punto, an in between car after another driver deliberately caused an accident and wrote off my Alfa, and I handed back the awful hire car.
I had my GHB, Get Home Bag and I used my EDC temporary dash cam with a suction cup attached to the window. I also carried with me my Yaesu FT 817D with a small dual band mag mount on the roof. The video is the short version as it took probably over an hour to get home.
As I left Romsey and turned on the FT817D radio, a call came in from Southampton Tactical for a request to drivers to report on road conditions so that Southampton City Council can coordinate the traffic and salt spreader team
The time and date stamp on the dash cam video is probably incorrect, I had not bothered to update it.
There was a lot of chatter on GB3IW Isle of Wight repeater. The father North I drive from Romsey, the signal deteriorates but it does reach my village and much father North.
I was tailgated by a fast moving snow plough, salt spreader, you will see disappearing, after I took a short excursion almost into the shrubbery on the Potters Heron turning at Ampfield. I was delighted to pass a struggling BMW, looks like a 4×4 and also a stuck Mercedes on a hill closer to home.
This is an excellent example of how Amateur Radio can provide very useful information during a weather event. I recognise almost every voice and call signs on the drive home, which have been edited from the audio. I have had two other similar and worse journeys on this route over the years in snow, almost not making it home.
Kit used:
- GHB (Get Home Bag)
- Boblov body cam as a dash cam with sprung phone mount, mini suction cup.
- Yaesu FT817D, cigarette lighter power adapter.
- Compact dual band mag mount.