Going Off Grid In The Tropics – Part 1, by Conan Stevens

Have you ever thought about going off-grid in the tropics?  No? Well, me neither, yet that’s where I find myself. First up, though I have had food stores and access to water as a habit for over a decade I have only been living (mostly) off-grid for a year. So I’m not very experienced and still learning the ropes. But I thought my experiences here might be a curiosity and possibly be interesting reading for others. I originally moved to Thailand to work in the action film industry, 21 years ago.  Since then I saw that the country started modernising, …


Thoughts on the Morality of Lethal Self-Defense, by Mr. Wobbet

Introduction The recent shooting death of Renee Good has resulted in a lot of discussion about whether or not the shooting was justified. Those discussions are important to our society and are illuminating when everyone engages with respect for each other. I project that most regular readers of this blog will land on the side of “legally justified self-defense”. But whether or not it is legally justified is not what I want to address in this missive. I think, especially if my projection of my audience is accurate, that what I want to address is even more important. What is …


The Elenco AM/FM-108CK Radio Kit – Part 2, by Mike in Alaska

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) C45 INSTALLED UNDER PCB (LEFT) IC1 SOCKET PINS IDENTIFIED (RIGHT) There will be many other such steps in this process, so I’m now going to fast forward to pages 9 through 14 after completing all the installation of parts in those pages and report on the tests that are part of the process up to that point. (NOTE: the top of page 12 indicates that if you don’t have the audio generator and the oscilloscope to skip to part 1B) I chose to do the tests and report my findings for the …


The Elenco AM/FM-108CK Radio Kit – Part 1, by Mike in Alaska

Disclaimer: I bought this kit and built it for the purpose of sharing the knowledge and skills you may obtain from the kit if you choose to build one. Elenco has not sponsored this activity and did not contribute financially to this effort. I want to point out up front that this is not just a project build kit, it is a full-blown course in radio theory, electronics education, and a fun opportunity to build your skill set. The “Builders Manual” is in reality a course in electronic theory, assembly, and testing. It has much to learn so this is …


The Elenco Two-IC AM Radio Kit – Part 2, by Mike in Alaska

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) In a previous article I had described a possible need for having some form of radio communications receiver in a TEOTWAWKI situation. It is just good policy to have something you can hide, run on very low voltage, and in the case of this radio, a battery that you can recharge using a solar panel to generate a charge into a battery bank. This radio is an AM receiver set only. However, the chip set can work at much higher shortwave (SW) frequencies and I am researching the possibility of using it …


The Elenco Two-IC AM Radio Kit – Part 1, by Mike in Alaska

Introductory Note: I purchased this kit for this article and I do not represent the Elenco Company. They have not paid me or provided any materiel for writing this article. This article is a review on the Elenco Model AM-780K AM radio kit. It was designed for students in an electronics lab class, and when I was working on my associate’s degree in Electronics Engineering the college I was attending issued us both the AM radio kit from this company as well as the AM/FM version of it. The knowledge I want to pass on here is that should you …


Introduction to Suppressors, by Subsonic Scribe

Effective January 1, 2026, the ATF eliminated the $200 tax on firearm suppressors. This change will undoubtedly encourage many shooters to purchase or make a suppressor. In this article, I will share information for those new to suppressors to be able to make an informed decision as to whether to pursue getting one (or several). As a disclaimer, I have no financial involvement with any companies or products mentioned here. What are firearm suppressors? A firearm suppressor is a muzzle device mounted on a shotgun, rifle, or pistol to reduce the sound made when the gun is fired. They are …


Introducing Your Community to Emergency Preparedness – Part 3, by A.F.

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) The final aspect of emergency cooking stoves that I cover are biomass units, in particular the Kelly Kettle. I appreciate the ability to configure these units to either “cook” on or quickly boil water with. The small feed openings at the bottom or the chimney opening on top of the kettle do restrict the size of materials used to feed the flames when compared to other small biomass cookers. None the less, the kettle’s speed and efficiency for boiling water as well as its lower weight and ruggedness impress me. The final …


Introducing Your Community to Emergency Preparedness – Part 2, by A.F.

(Continued from Part 1.) The next topic is water. I begin with the low hanging fruit of having water stored at all times. It hurts my soul to thoughtlessly parrot the “one gallon per person per day minimum” tripe we have all heard so many times. My recommendation is to store no less than three gallons per person per day or ten gallons each. I follow this up by encouraging each family set a goal of having a five-gallon water jug set aside for last minute filling for each person. For those who lament storage space, I recommend the collapsible …


Introducing Your Community to Emergency Preparedness – Part 1, by A.F.

Back in 2016, the organizer for a local church’s senior citizen ministry approached me regarding a program she wanted someone to present on family emergency preparedness. In the two previous years our area experienced a “thousand-year flood” and the wind effects from a passing hurricane. Several of the seniors had requested a speaker who could help them think through steps that could be taken to minimize the impacts of another storm or similar short-term disaster. This article is a summary of what that presentation has become after multiple iterations over the past ten years. My hope in sharing is that …


Detecting AI-Written Slop Before You Buy Books, by Jennifer Rader

Editor’s Introductory Note:  The alarming trend that is described in this article is also taking place in many other book genres. It is possible that at least one of the author names cited in this article may be genuine, so I’m preemptively stating: Jennifer Rader’s article is an attempt to accurately describe the extent of A.I.-generated trickery in contemporary publishing. If the she has mentioned any actual living human authors by mistake, our apologies. We will be glad to update this article with corrections or clarifications. – JWR — As a preparedness author, the meteoric rise in the number of …


Lessons From a Fight at a Restaurant, by Robert E. Downing

(The photo above, courtesy of Openverse, was taken by “Terren in Virginia“, a witness to a 2008 baseball team “fan rivalry” brawl at a New York sports stadium.) The following is what I learned about security at lunch one day: Scenario One Tuesday, about six weeks ago, I stopped for a late lunch at a local upscale family restaurant in Virginia Beach, Virginia, that is part of a well-known chain.  It was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and it seemed to be a quiet place to have lunch and prepare my Sunday school lesson. I selected a seat near …


Balancing Farm Life for Success, by SaraSue

2025 was a difficult year to get through.  By the end of the year, I was not enjoying any of it.  In fact, I wanted to quit (do I feel this way at the end of every year?).  You have to laugh and find your sense of humor or you won’t make it through anything that is slightly difficult.  There were so many things that went wrong, so I had to sit down and list accomplishments to remind myself that a lot of things went right.  And once reminded of all the good, I can face the next year in …


A Crystal Radio Kit for TEOTWAWKI – Part 1, by Mike in Alaska

Imagine a time when radio was just some experiment in the labs or basements of inventors trying to figure out the phenomenon of sounds being heard over the air. Seems a bit of a stretch? During the period of 1904 to 1915 the first types of radio transmitters were developed which produced continuous sinusoidal waves: the arc converter (Poulsen Arc) and the Alexanderson alternator. These slowly replaced the old damped-wave spark gap transmitters. Besides having a longer transmission range, these transmitters could be modulated with an audio (voice or music) signal to transmit sound by amplitude modulation (AM) radiotelephony. So …


SWL Receiver Considerations and Buying Advice, by Sarge B.

The following is my list of recommended features and some features to avoid, when looking  for a general coverage receiver. This is based upon my personal experience over the years as a shortwave listener (SWL) and Amateur Radio operator. Frequency Coverage: Look for a minimum frequency coverage of 500 kHz to 30 MHz. This covers the AM broadcast band (520 – 1710 kHz) and all of the shortwave broadcast bands (2 – 30 MHz). Coverage of the FM broadcast band (88-108 MHz) is also highly desirable. Digital frequency display: Allows precise tuning to a specific frequency. Avoid any radios with …