Join Mindy Hull, KM1NDY, as she presents “Doomsday POTA: Why Portable Ham Radio Is The Ultimate Prepper Hobby” at the 2026 Northeast HamXposition. (time, date, room T.B.A.)
“Before burying your brand-new Baofeng at the bottom of your bugout bag and considering yourself Comms-ready for TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It for all you normies), it’s probably time so-called preppers take a hard look at what ham radio really offers for emergency preparedness. It is not a secret that a large percentage of recently licensed amateurs entered the radio hobby in order to level-up their survivalist game. And not quite unexpectedly, a critical contingent within our ranks likes to mock those performing low-commitment efforts at communication preparedness such as buying — and quickly shelving — unused, cheap, dual-band handi-talkies. And they may have a point… Ham radio is not a particularly easy tool to learn on the fly in the middle of a potentially world-ending event! Let’s talk about how amateur radio, and in particular portable operations such as SOTA and POTA, offers a menagerie of opportunities to develop and practice real-life communications and other emergency skills.”
Licensed in 2019, KM1NDY was inspired to get involved in Summits-On-The-Air by Steve WG0AT’s fascinating goat-packing videos and incredible CW hilltopping. KM1NDY currently sits in 12th place in the New England division of the SOTA program.