Preparedness Notes for Sunday — December 22, 2019

December 22nd is the anniversary of the death of SP4 James T. Davis, the first uniformed American combat casualty of the Vietnam War, in 1961. This Army Security Agency (ASA) soldier of the 3rd Radio Research Unit was killed in a Viet Cong ambush on a road outside Saigon.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  7. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 86 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.




4 Comments

  1. USMC Antenna Handbook should be the radio man’s bible. Get a hard copy. Here is the PDF:

    https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/MCRP%208-10B.11.pdf?ver=2017-03-15-092827-423

    Also, every radio man should have at least one directional antenna to avoid begin located with DF (direction finding) equipment. A 5 element would be preferable, yet here is an inexpensive 3 element yagi designed to be hand held. Ask if they’ll make it into a 5 element yagi. Or make your own. Specify your frequency range, and it will be custom made. MURS has no limit on the gain of the antenna. This means a yagi can be used on MURS. This antenna will double the radiated power. If the radio puts out 4 watts, the antenna will concentrate the signal, and radiate it at nearly 8 watts in an approximately 45 degree foot print.

    However, the most important benefits of a directional antenna is that those outside the ‘foot print’ may not hear the transmission, and those attempting to locate the origin of the transmission would have a difficult time finding your station. If the yagi is horizontal polarized, and a potential intercept station using only vertical antennas, it would find it difficult to hear a horizontally polarized signal as it is attenuated (reduced in strength) by about 20 to 30 Db. This means the antenna can be pointed in the direction of 2 receivers that are located side by side, one vertically polarized, and the other horizontally polarized, and only the receiver that is polarized the same as the transmitting antenna, will hear the transmission. This is possible only when the transmitter is using the lowest power setting for the intended range. Even if ‘heard’, the signal could be so weak, an intercept station may not be able to DF it, and will assume the station is further away than it is:

    http://www.arrowantennas.com/arrowii/arrowii.html

  2. My reading here on SB is SO very valuable in MANY ways. The articles and links pull together information that one would spend enormous amounts of time to gather…hurts my brain sometimes i must admit. However, the conversations in the community comments are even more edifying. (THANK YOU all for taking time to share!)

    The loaded memory sticks that will be available will include those as well…can one of the administrators confirm this?

    Blessed Christmas to you all…am appreciating the bounty available now and to gather with minimal effort for celebrations. Make memories while we may…

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