E-Mail 'Signals Intelligence for Regular Folk - Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit' To A Friend

13 Comments

1. Using the open mic and dropping an ultra high frequency tone is guaranteed to to get them to rip out earwigs.

2. Mr. Rabbit, would it be possible for you to come to my home and set this up? I will supply fried chicken and your beverage of choice!

   Great article, thank you Sir.

   1. Speaks,

      Would be glad to help, but I am in NW Montana, and do not get out much. Perhaps I could get you started, or help in some small way. tunnelrabbit007@gmail.com

3. My Dad would have liked to talk to Al Millspaugh. My Dad was a fifty caliber waist gunner on a B-24 Liberator bombing Germany. He flew and survived thirty missions. I have just about all paper work from his war days from his draft notice to his discharge papers. And I even have a copy of the pilot’s diary detailing every mission. I also have his uniform. Sometimes I like to quietly get alone with it all and think about Dad and the other men of World War II who were in my opinion REAL men.

4. Good article, got me thinking of what we need and the links to purchase them. Thanks TR!

   1. Ozark Redneck,

      Glad it helped someone. As a country boy like myself, you must know, there are several ways to skin a rabbit. The boys in the Appalachians use low powered networks that will make it very difficult for intruders in that mountainous terrain with winding mountain roads therein. Just like we got around here. And most real country folk that would help each other, might still have a CB.

      Getting a SWR meter for making CB antennas would be good, because folks will dig out their dusty old CB’s, yet not have an antenna. Unfortunately, they may not have the proper 50 ohm cable for an antenna. To make a simple dipole antenna using 75 ohm TV coaxial cable for CB, use the center frequency of 27.205, ch 20, to make the calculation 234/27.205Mhz X 12 = 103.2″ for the radiator, and add 5% to the ground plane number, that should be another 5.16″, for a total of 108.36″. This should be attached with a wire nut to the aluminum outer shield of the cable. A dipole will be a 72 ohm antenna fed by a 75 ohm cable. No miss match there. To make the cable match a 50 ohm radio, cut it into half wave lengths. At CB frequencies, the RG59 cable is not lossy, so we can use lots of cable to get it out of the house and up high. Lets start with 40 feet and cut it down into 1/2 wave length sections to make it match a 50 ohm radio. A dipole is a 1/4 wave antenna. If the radiator is 103.2″, double it to 206.4″ for a length that is a 1/2 wave. 40 feet x 12 inches = 480 inches/206.4 inches = 2.32 1/2 wave lengths. Yet we need only full half wave lengths, and only 2 full 1/2 waves lengths can be cut from 40 feet, or 480 inches. Therefore, 2 x 206.4 = 412.8″. Cut the cable to 412.8 inches. Even if there is no SWR meter to check, you will likely be close enough to use that antenna on Channel 20, especially if the transmission times are as brief as possible, and as they should be. There should be no long conversations anyway.

      A country boy can live off the land and survive when most cannot. It could be a war of attrition. Good enough, is good enough. Snobs will insist on the best, but if we cannot improvise, we may not adapt and overcome. War can take away our stuff and leave us with next to nothing, or we may start out with next to nothing just like the pioneers that built this country. Low budget means we are more inclined to learn the basics, like how to skin a rabbit, sharpen our saws, and hit what we aim at….

   2. BTW, we do not have to have a PL-259 connector to make that CB antenna work. Just fold the inner copper wire over a few times to make a good connection, and stuff it in. Use the outside shield and a wire tie, or cordage around the threads to hold it in place. Yes, this rude and crude, and only technique only a guerrilla could appreciate. Yet that is what it might come down to. Just like with bush crafting, I enjoy the challenge of making something useful, from what appears to be nothing. We can make our own ladder line too, if there is was no TV cable around. I would of course like to have a radio.

      Of course Amazon has connectors that are inexpensive. RG8X is worth the extra .10 cents per foot. Just do not get the junky stuff that pretends to be RG58. Buy a sample first to be sure.

5. I want to submit an article, but have found everything imaginable about how to do so on your site except the email address to send it to. It would be nice if this were prominently displayed at the beginning.

   In any case, would you please send it to me? I’m partway through it, and think it might be useful for some people. Thank you.

   1. Articles can be sent to: james@rawles.to

6. There are many lessons and much wisdom to benefit from in your article. Thank you, Tunnel Rabbit. As a complete novice in radio, I appreciate learning from you. Of your many great lines, one of my favorites was:

   “Your mind is your primary and best weapon, and you can use radio as an extension of that weapon.”

   1. Within the confines of the article, it works. Those who can, as the Marine Corp advises, “adapt and overcome”, will be more successful. I pray daily that the Holy Ghost will guild me.

7. Great article. Hate to admit it but comms is one of the things lacking in my survival preps.

   We do have one ham operator in the family and she swears by it.

   Although the poor man’s jamming technique has definitely piqued my interest.

   1. Amateur radio, by it’s nature, is about talking to as many others as far away as possible, and operating with a set rules that the FCC dictates. The style of radio discussed here, is an adapted version of how the military would use radio at the unit level. It’s mission is for the most part, is very different, and opposite to that of ‘Ham’ radio. It seeks to communicate with a select few that are close by, and not to anyone else. It does not necessarily have to adhere to a set of rules, other than rules needed for secure operations, or those dictated by the battle field.

      Getting an Amateur Radio licensed is an advantage, or a good start, akin to getting one’s driver license. It would be needed to use local Amateur radio repeaters and more powerful radios that extended the range. This would be needed in normal times. Here we are striving to become race car drivers, driving cars in a dangerous environment, where the only license needed is the desire to stay alive.

      BTW, a way to avoid being jammed with an open mic is to use a tone, or a PL. One should also be scanning their primary and alternate frequencies without the tone, so we may hear all the traffic that might be on that frequency. We would need an alternate frequency should the primary be compromised in some way.

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