Year: 2023

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — April 14, 2023

On this day in 1865, just after the effective end of the American Civil War, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a production at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and died the next morning. — On April 14, 1828 Noah Webster published An American Dictionary of the English Language; based on the principle that word usage should evolve from the spoken language, the work was hugely influential, though it was initially attacked for its “Americanism.” — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The …


Commo for Family, Group, or Community – Part 4, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 3.) CB Radios Cobra has time-tested models that are sure to please you. However, there are less expensive brands that may be just as reliable, but lack some of the useful features that Cobra offers. Regardless, 40-channel handhelds and mobile CBs are limited to 3.5 watts. As a practical matter, I would be inclined to buy several of the least expensive CBs before getting something as nice as a full-featured Cobra, or better yet, a CB with SSB. I apply this approach to all my purchases in order to create as deep a supply as possible.  Logistics …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. Most of these items are from JWR’s “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective. Today, we catch some whiffs of recession in the air. (See the Commodities section.) Precious Metals: Gold and silver have seen another week of solid price gains versus the Dollar. As of Thursday morning: Spot Gold was at $2,058.10 per Troy ounce, up $34.10 (up 1.67% for the day) Spot Silver was at $26.10 per Troy …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Americans may like guns because they were reminiscent of the smell of outdoors, military heroism, the intensity of the hunt or merely because they are fascinated by the finely machined metal parts. Maybe the origin of a gun speaks of history; maybe the gun makes a man’s home seem to him less vulnerable; maybe these feelings are more justified in the country than in the city; but, above all, many of us believe that these feelings are a man’s own business and need not be judged by the Department of the Treasury or the Department of Justice.” – Samuel Cummings, …


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — April 13, 2023

April 13, 1743 was the birthday of Thomas Jefferson. Patriotically, he died on July 4th, 1826. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value), Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees …


Commo for Family, Group, or Community – Part 3, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 2.) Test All Antennas for Acceptable SWR The antenna manufacturer of the Tram 1481 boosts an impressive gain on the VHF side of 8 dBi. Given the low power tests conducted, I found this figure plausible as 3.5 watts sent to the dual band Tram 1481 antenna mount only a few feet off the ground was easily received by a Baofeng UV5R on a J-pole located at a distance of 18.3 miles away LOS, and on the other side of a small mountain. The signal was reflect around the mountain. The SWR on low power at that …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, we look at Sales Tax Holidays. Texas: Emergency Preparation Supplies Sales Tax Holiday Texas has announced an Emergency Preparation Supplies Sales Tax Holiday that will run April 22-24, …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — April 12, 2023

April 12th is the birthday of the late novelist Tom Clancy. (Born 1947, died October 1, 2013). It was Clancy who almost single-handedly created the modern techno-thriller genre, with his first novel, The Hunt For Red October. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be …


Commo for Family, Group, or Community – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 1.) Antennas, Expedient Techniques, and Construction Methods A radio tech should be sure to have several SWR meters, one of which is for the 11-meter band, and have the ability to improvise and construct antennas of all kinds — even if it is only a dipole.  For CB, an expedient 1/2 wave dipole (216-inches long) made from coaxial cable propagates much better than a 52″ long 1/8-wave ground plane CB antenna. CBs have a very long radio wave as compared to UHF/VHF radio and thus require much taller and larger antennas to propagate to their full potential.  …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — Please continue to pray for the full restoration of health, for Pat Cascio. His recovery from a stroke has been difficult. o  o  o The two most recent gender-confused mass shootings have the liberals in full-fledged screaming “do something!” mode. I suspect that will come in the form of a raft of …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — April 11, 2023

April 11th is the birthday of John Milius, who was born in 1944. He both wrote the screenplays and directed the films Dillinger, The Wind and the Lion, Big Wednesday, Conan the Barbarian, Red Dawn, Farewell to the King, and Flight of the Intruder. He also wrote the screenplays of the first two Dirty Harry movies as well as the first draft of the screenplay for Patton (before Francis Ford Coppola turned it into a vaguely anti-war commentary laced with references to reincarnation). Milius also co-wrote the screenplay for Jeremiah Johnson. Milius is my favorite Hollywood writer and director, in …


Commo for Family, Group, or Community – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

Long-term survival necessarily requires a community that can sustain itself.  As I have no family, I am more focused on this objective than those who must be concerned with a family to feed.  However, this topic should be of more concern to those with progeny to consider.  Without a plan in place and in action now, we might as well be planning to fail. A plan, any plan, is better than no plan.  The process of continually planning is also more important than any one plan,  As a rule, we should be continually be assessing a changing environment and discovering …