Letter Re: Mobile Solar Power Systems

JWR, Here’s an item some of your readers may be interested in, Mobile Solar Power, it’s a mobile solar power setup and looks like it would fit in with a number of different scenarios. I spoke with the owner a few days ago and he said he will size the equipment to fit your needs/specifications. It appears to be made with high quality equipment and the owner said the batteries have a 10 year warranty, but with care, may last up to 15 years, otherwise the remainder of the equipment should have a life much longer than that. This solar …


Letter Re: Pros and Cons of Property On or Near a Utility Easement

Jim, The use of utility easements as bug-out routes has been mentioned here and elsewhere (e.g., the [online shareware] novel “Lights Out” by Halffast.) It seems to me, living next to one would have both pluses and minuses. Plusses: Handy access in case you need to bug-out and clear lines of sight (in at least two directions). Minuses: (If you choose to stay put) the necessity of monitoring bug-out traffic at least and the potential of defending your retreat from such traffic at worst. Are there other advantages or disadvantages? In the final analysis, would you recommend purchasing property adjacent …


Odds ‘n Sods:

 SurvivalBlog reader “Paje” put together a detailed analysis on the relative value of gold, dollars, and ammunition that he posted over at the AR-15.com forums. Nicely done!   o o o Rich at KT Ordnance mentioned this article at News With Views by constitutionalist lawyer Edwin Vieira: Will the North American Union Be American Patriots’ Last Stand?   o o o There is an interesting thread of discussion in progress over at The Claire Files on using water well hand pumps during sub-freezing weather.



Note From JWR:

The high bid is now at $260 in the current SurvivalBlog benefit auction, This one is for a big batch of 16 survival/preparedness reference books, courtesy of the fine folks at Ready Made Resources. (They are one of our first and most loyal advertisers. Be sure to visit their site and check out their huge inventory of preparedness-related products. BTW, they have additional copies of each of the titles listed below, as well as more than a hundred other titles.)


Letter Re: Opinion on The Retreat Potential of New Hampshire?

Sir: What is your opinion (since it isn’t on your list of 19 [preferred states for retreat relocation]) of the Free Stater’s choice, New Hampshire? I personally would not be that comfortable living near the east coast with their weather Thanks, – GRD JWR Replies: If for some reason I was forced by circumstances to live in the northeast (it would probably take a set of Peerless handcuffs and a whole roll of duct tape), I would probably choose New Hampshire. It certainly has the highest “freedom quotient” of any of the states in the northeast. Its guns laws resemble …


Letter Re: Feeding Problem With an AR-15 Chambered in 7.62×39

JWR, Agreed [with your comments] on the kludge of AR-15/7.62 variants. However, since he already has the upper. I might suggest the purchase of another lower [the “AR-47”], that is intended to directly take AK mags, eliminating the [straight magzine well] problem. I’ll be honest, these things kinda suck, the fit and finish on them is truly horrible. I’ve assembled a few of them into California-legal configurations, they do work, but getting them to fit with the upper, and everything else is a pain in the a**. Personally, I would be inclined to just replace the 7.62×39 upper receiver group …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Mike the Blacksmith and Ben L. both mentioned this article: Bird flu virus ‘still smoldering,’ U.S. expert says    o o o William S. Lind, writing in Counterpunch, penned this thought-provoking piece: When Will the First IED Strike Cleveland? (A hat tip to Eric S. for recommending this article.) According to IED experts, the terrorist IED threat shows spiral development. My personal prediction is that IEDs in the Middle East will soon display far greater sophistication. It is an inevitability of Fourth Generation Warfare. In perhaps just five years, “mud hut tribesmen” will be employing unmanned aerial vehicle borne IEDs …



Note From JWR:

Today we remember the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. It is estimated that 2,403 Americans were killed, and 1.178 injured. It wasn’t the first time that as a nation we were blind-sided. The events of 9-11-2001 proved that it could happen again, and sadly similar attacks are likely to occur. We are thankful for the sacrifices of our soldiers, sailors, and airmen.


Letter Re: Communications for Disasters–Are Scanners Useful?

Jim, A very good shortwave portable is the Sony ICF-2010. It is an older portable from the 1980s but is a very strong performer with its synchronous detector. It is often found on the used market and eBay. One fact that many sellers don’t know is that you need to have fresh AA batteries in them for memory retention or the unit will not even function. Many sellers believe that their radios are broken when in fact only need fresh batteries. The unit can be run of D cell batteries or via an AC adapter. Another thing that “goes wrong” …


Letter Re: Feeding Problem With an AR-15 Chambered in 7.62×39

Hi Jim, In reference to magazines for the Colt [AR-15 chambered in] 7.62×39 [,the AK-47’s cartridge.] Have you had any experience or feedback with the ones that have the AK type mag. welded to the top of an AR type mag.? I think they call them Frankenmags? Thank you, – Tom JWR Replies: Because of the sharp angular transition between the curved Kalashnikov magazine and the straight AR-15 magazine well, they don’t work very well at all. You can expect lots of “failure to feed” jams. The sadly inescapable problem is that the 7.62×39 Russian cartridge uses a steeply tapered …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Readers David D. and Bret F. both recommended a speech transcript at the Energy Bulletin site: Closing the ‘Collapse Gap’: the USSR was better prepared for peak oil than the US.    o o o Michael Z. Williamson sent this link, with this comment: “Further evidence that the “inevitable” Atlantic [La Palma] megatsunami is merely hype.    o o o Rourke (moderator of the Jericho Discussion Group) noticed that SurvivalBlog was linked in the entry on “Survivalism” at conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s “Glennpedia.”  


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“For extraordinary heroism, distinguished service, and devotion above and beyond the call of duty. During the first attack by Japanese airplanes on the Naval Air Station, Kanoehe Bay, on 7 December 1941, Lieutenant Finn promptly secured and manned a 50-caliber machine gun mounted on an instruction stand in a completely exposed section of the parking ramp, which was under heavy enemy machine-gun strafing fire. Although painfully wounded many times, he continued to man this gun and to return the enemy’s fire vigorously and with telling effect throughout the enemy strafing and bombing attacks and with complete disregard for his own …


Note From JWR:

Please take the time to visit the web sites of each of our paid advertisers. They have some great products at very competitive prices. If and when you do buy, please give your patronage to our paid advertisers first! If they don’t have what you are looking for, then move on to the web sites for our affiliate advertisers.