Category: Communications & Receivers

Letter Re: Shielding Electronics From EMP

HJL, Another point on electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and Faraday cages is even something simple can be protective. There are 30 Gallon galvanized steel trash cans with lids (made in the USA!) available at my local farm and ranch store for $22. This makes for affordable and easy storage, and you can wrap things in common aluminum foil. Or even something like a steel cabinet or vault, but generally try to avoid gaps or spaces. It doesn’t have to be zero signal, but reduce the field strength enough to prevent damage. Vehicles have some protection for many years. In the early …


Making Sense of What You Hear- Part 3, by Hal2000

Shortwave Radio The next most important radio for preppers is a shortwave radio. Shortwave radio is generally defined as the part of the radio spectrum between 3.0 megahertz (Mhz) and 30.0 megahertz (Mhz). This is referred to as High Frequency, or HF spectrum. There are all kinds of transmissions you will hear on shortwave– Ham radio operators, International shortwave broadcasters, military communications, clandestine stations, numbers stations, and a whole lot more. You will also hear many different modes of communications as well. The bulk of what you will hear will be either standard AM broadcasting and SSB or Single Sideband …


Making Sense of What You Hear- Part 2, by Hal2000

It would take thousands of words and dozens of illustrations to explain trunked radio systems. So, we will look at the thirty thousand foot level. What the communications industry did was to take lots of frequencies, lots of transmitters and receivers, and lots of computers to allow lots of users access to communications. They did what the cell phone industry did. For a large metropolitan area, they would build a dozen or so transmitter and receiver sites and connect them together with fiber optics and computers. This system would consist of anywhere from 5 to 35 frequencies, depending on the …


Making Sense of What You Hear- Part 1, by Hal2000

Knowledge is power. At least that is how the saying goes. For the sake of this discussion let us consider knowledge to be synonymous with information. When it hits the fan, where do you plan to get your information? I want to make you aware of all the information available via radio. I don’t mean the AM and FM radios in your home and car. These will most likely be spewing forth whatever the government line is for the day. I am talking about police scanners, shortwave radios, and amateur or Ham radio. I know some are going to think …


Letter Re: Developing a Communications Plan for Your Group, by NM

HJL, Thank you for the excellent article by N.M. “Developing a Communications Plan for Your Group”. I too have been a Ham for 20 years and have a couple of additions to his article. Great description on use of repeaters and simplex. When using simplex with VHF and UHF, here are some tips. Height and reducing obstructions are important. If you are using any hand-held radio and are having difficulty communicating with someone else, take a moment to think about your surroundings. If you are inside, move outside if you can. The building you are in will interfere with your …


Two Letters Re: Developing a Communications Plan for Your Group, by NM

HJL, Good article. I have chosen to organize my FT-60 memory along paths home from destinations that are frequently visited. The ARRL repeater directory makes it easy. It goes hand in hand with thinking through where we might be at a given moment and the path we might take. I-95 sounds like a terrible path, until you identify the state prison along the alternate route. Many things must be considered. – RV o o o Good morning, Hugh, The item Developing a Communications Plan for Your Group, by N.M. is an excellent treatise on “group comm”. I’d like to add …


Developing a Communications Plan for Your Group, by N.M.

I’ve been a Ham for almost 20 years and held an Extra class for about the last 15 years. I’ve been involved in public safety communications for over 10 years and developed communications plans for a large number of public safety as well as public service events. I’ve developed numerous emergency response exercises, including exercises specifically designed to test and evaluate communications procedures, plans, and systems. I’ve written prior articles for SurvivalBlog on the different communications systems that are available and how to obtain your Amateur Radio license. This article will step you through developing and exercising a communications plan …


Letter Re: Digital Communications Capabilities for Prepared Families, by Prairie Dweller

I would like to add a small bit of information to the fine work Prairie Dweller provided about digital modes in Amateur Radio. One of the things that has kept me from exploring digital modes has been the requirement for a laptop or desktop system, generally running Windows. Firstly, I don’t do Windows. Secondly, two is one, one is none. How will you repair your laptop after TSHTF? How many laptops can you inventory? Do you have large enough Faraday cages? Given the above, I would like to suggest creating your digital mode hardware setup, using a Raspberry Pi B+ …


Digital Communications Capabilities for Prepared Families, by Prairie Dweller

As most preppers know, regardless of where you are on your prepping journey, the ability to communicate is a vital need. We need to communicate with our families, and we need to get information about what’s going on around us. The need for communications, as well as the traditional methods for establishing them, has been well addressed in preparedness circles. What has not been addressed much is what digital communications capabilities have to offer you as a prepper. I have been an amateur and commercial radio operator for many years, and the capabilities of digital communications as compared to voice …


Letter: Getting Practical and Tactical With Baofeng Hand-Helds, by Wrangler

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers: Imagine for a moment that you are a licensed ham, operating in a tactical situation, observing your target. It is pitch black outside, and suddenly a team member calls you on the radio. Your radio goes “beep” and the screen lights up so brightly that you can be seen for half a mile. That is not a good situation! One very popular hand-held radio available in the U.S. is the Chinese-made Baofeng UV-5R handheld dual-band transceiver. They cover two bands: 136-174MHz and 400-519.995 MHz. These hand-helds are mass-produced, so they are often bargain priced at less than …


The Surveillance State 2015- Part 2, by Kass Andrada

Police and government have also been using cell phone jammers in a number of places. The Federal government has discussed implementing in-car jammers in order to enforce anti-texting and hands-free laws,[1] in part, at the urging of articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association.[2] While the FCC insists that use of cell phone jammers is illegal[3] at least one commercial site offers cell phone jammers for use in prisons[4] and at least one corporation has been caught using cell jammers to prevent it’s employees from communicating while on the clock.[5] License plate readers have been deployed in fixed …


The Surveillance State 2015- Part 1, by Kass Andrada

The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it. Woodrow Wilson, 1912 The question of whether a surveillance society was looming on the horizon has been growing since Justice Douglas remarked in 1966, “We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there are no secrets from government.” [1] Early in the new millenium, only about 33% of Americans were concerned about their online data as of 2009. [2] Just a few years later, in 2015, polls show 54% disapprove of …


Giving Directions in a Crisis Situation, by J.R.

So you’re the resident prepper in your neighborhood. Maybe your neighbors know, or maybe they don’t. You’ve run through all the scenarios you can think of and have it all planned out. You and your kin are ready to get out of Dodge, and you all know the where’s, how’s, and why’s. In each “what-if” scenario, are you taking the best route to avoid people? Yup, that’s probably wise. You know the safe ways to get from here to there. No matter how it will play out, you can’t avoid people for the rest of your post-TEOTWAWKI life. You are …


Letter Re: The 20% Solution, by Redoubting Thomas

Hugh: I have comments to the communications section of Redoubting Thomas’ article. Communication is the process of moving information from one place to another. In a TEOTWAWKI situation, there will not be just one specific communication need, there will be several. You will want to communicate over short, medium, and long distances. Some communications needs will be one way. Some will be two ways. Differing needs require differing means to achieve differing objectives. In my opinion, the CB radio, for very many technical reasons, is a poor solution for many, if not most, of these needs. The author emphasizes that …


Letter Re: Building a Simple Multiband Antenna That Works, by The Consultant

Hello Hugh, At the risk of setting off a flood of letters by Hams expounding the “best antenna ever,” I would like to offer an alternative to the off center fed dipole described by The Consultant. That’s a great antenna but did not fit my property or needs. After much searching and simulation of various antenna designs, I settled on the delta loop antenna. My delta loop works with low SWR (with tuner) on 80 through 6 meters, with the exception of 60 meters. It consists of 275 feet of THHN #12 gauge black insulated copper wire from the big …