Why “The Walking Dead” Needs to Ham It Up

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So I like apocalypse TV and I watch “The Walking Dead” so sue me. But since I watch almost all of them, I can legitimately be puzzled about how rarely they deal with what would be as important as it is in all real-world disasters: Amateur Radio.

I guess the people who watch them share the really bizarre notion that it’s an antique hobby, slowly fading away, and most have little idea about what it is, what it does and how it does it (or that’s it’s growing nicely).

The latest episode of the Zombie series has two of the “good guys” walking into an abandoned cabin with a complete “shack” full of vintage 1960 Hallicrafters equipment. An opportunity to contact survivors around the world? Why of course not.

Related: Greg Reviews “The Walking Dead”

The rare occurrences of game-changing technology seem always to feature antique equipment or worse, some cobbled together thing with light bulbs flickering. Never do you see modern equipment nor would most people recognize it for what it is or would know what can be done with it.

The cast does, however, use hand-held equipment that somehow works without battery chargers and has an astounding range for VHF without using repeaters, but hey, if you can believe in Zombies I suppose you’re not too worried about realism anyway. Just remember – when the zombies arrive, or the pandemic or the asteroid – a ham is your friend.