I find it odd that the ham radio had little to no traffic when Hawkins was using it in the sheriff's office. Most hand held ham radio's have a effective distance of 3-5 miles based on price etc, but they were using a larger non portable model. If they attached it to an antenna like any person would do especially Hawkins then it could have reached out of the country. I know with personal experience that I have talked to South America from Canada with a antenna smaller than what would have been easily.

The ham radio used by Robert in one of the early Season One episodes to receive Morse code concerning which cities were attacked was a Yaesu FT-101.

This is the last mention of ham radio until episode 15 "Semper Fidelis", where the FT-101 is scrapped for parts to fix "Marine" Maggie's radio.

It is bewildering to me why doesn't the town use the radio if they are so hungry for information. While Robert does use it once at the beginning, it seems the townsfolk don't fully understand the potential use of the radio. It seems such a waste of a precious resource not to use it, and then scrap it for parts without even touching it.

While it is possible that the EMP blast destroyed it, is that the reason it is not being employed, or is there another, subtler reason?