Category: Communications & Receivers

Letter Re: ARES Volunteering

Thinking about volunteering your time with your County Department of Emergency Management? You may have to leave your concealed carry weapon at home! As a fairly new licensed Ham Radio Operator, I thought it would be great to volunteer and become a member of the local Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) organization. I submitted an application for membership and completed the required FEMA on-line courses. I received a packet in the mail that contained additional forms that needed to be submitted. One of the forms was a County Department of Emergency Management Emergency Worker Registration Form. The second item on …


Letter: Google Replacement

Hugh, I have switched from Google to Startpage.com as my search engine to gain some privacy on the web. Is there anyone providing an email service that would get me away from the eyes of gmail? I am sure most of your readers would appreciate the same information if you know of any resources. Hugh Replies: Currently, one of the best places you can start with is https://prism-break.org. They list services and programs that are open-sourced and free from spying eyes. They will also tell you the weaknesses of any as they become known. It didn’t take them long at …


Letter Re: EMP

Hugh, While the routers and switches do require power (which will be spotty at best), they too will be fried by the EMP. Many of the modern ASICs are based on IBM proprietary copper chips and as a result really don’t get along well with any form of EMP. It’s bad enough that I’ve seen a floating ground stretched between two buildings fry Cisco, ACC / Wellfleet, and Extreme gear. The only purpose-built router that is tempest hardened is the very old TGS router by Cisco. This was an AGS that was built into a hardened shell. Wide scale deployment …


Letter Re: Amateur Radio Licensees

Hello Hugh, I’m a ham radio operator, and in my monthly ham radio magazine, QST, I saw a chart of ham radio licensees by year. See http://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-radio-showing-steady-growth-in-the-us. It is amazing. Take a look at the chart at the bottom of the page and observe the steep increase in licensees, after four years of decline. What’s the pivotal year? 2008! That coincides with the point in time many of us first took an interest in preparedness, coincident with the acceleration of the political decline in America. It appears that SIXTY THOUSAND people have received ham radio licenses during the Obama administration, …


Letter Re: Communication Radios

HJL, Thought I would give my two cents worth regarding T.K. ‘s question about emergency communication in his valley. About 20 years ago I posed the same question to a ham operator friend of mine. His suggestion was for me to buy a cb with sideband. He claimed that would be the easiest and cheapest way to call for help if needed. He also stated that I may not be able to reach anybody locally due to my remoteness but should find somebody in the country if not the world to respond. I was skeptical at his claim to say …


Letter: Communications Radios

Hello Sir, In an effort to get our neighbors in the valley to keep in touch in case of emergency, what type of radios would you recommend? We are roughly under five miles apart with hilly, somewhat cliffy topography with a lot of brush at an elevation of just under 7,000′. I used to use Spilsbury “backcountry radios” between outfitters and air taxi services in the Idaho wilderness, but those are fairly spendy set-ups and hard to find. I doubt the neighborhood will opt for hams either. Any other options? You’re recommendations or those of experienced readers would be appreciated. …


Guest Article: EMP Myths and FAQs, by Joel Ho

Q: Do Faraday Cages need grounding? A: No. A Faraday cage designed against EMP, if properly constructed, will keep any charge outside the shield. The shield interior is separate, so anything inside, even though it touches the inside of the shield, is safe. However – if the cage is improperly made and there are wide holes in the mesh exceeding the size of wavelength to be blocked, grounding could help. As an example, this Youtube video link is of EMP testing my company has done with another firm’s professional EMP simulator. You can see a shielded laptop on the left …


Non-Internet Social Networking for TEOTWAWKI, by A.K. in Kansas

If you have finally decided to take the plunge and eliminate social networks from your life (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), the skills for maintaining interpersonal relationships should not be completely thrown by the wayside.  Over the course of the last five years our “group” has created a network of people that has proven to be very valuable.  One disclaimer that I must put forth is that the flippant nature of social networking on-line must be completely discounted as OPSEC is paramount.  I would never bring someone into my home to have contact with my family or include them in my preps …


Letter Re: Anderson Powerpoles: The Legos of DC Electronics

Jim, While it’s true that Anderson Powerpole connectors can be soldered, this is usually not a good idea, for several reasons: 1) Soldering is weaker than crimping because it interposes a soft metal– and possible air voids– between the copper of the wire and the copper of the terminal. A properly crimped connection places the wire in compression and the surrounding terminal in tension, ensuring a mechanically strong joint. 2) Soldering adds resistance to the connection. In a properly crimped connection, there are no gaps at all between the wire and the terminal. However low the resistance of solder, it’s …


Anderson Powerpoles: The Legos of DC Electronics, by Dan in Alaska

To say that I’m a neophyte in the electrical world, or as we say here in Alaska a “Cheechako”, is making a big understatement.  So, a couple years back my co-worker and friend got me into Amateur Radio, also affectedly known as Ham Radio.  I studied my ARRL Technician book and passed my test, but it just barely rattled what I had in my head 20 years ago from my only electronics class I had back in High School where we studied Ohm’s law, identified a resistor, and made a strobe light.  So, I’m on a big learning curve.  I …


Portable Satellite Phones: Communicating Off the Grid, by Jon Aldrich

If you’re reading this blog you are no doubt already well along on preparedness spectrum, finding yourself someplace between never in America and not if but when, more likely you’re nearer the latter.  You’re probably well versed in all aspects of food procurement, preparation and storage, water purification, providing shelter and security for yourselves and your families as well many of the other nuances related to preparing for future contingencies.  There is a world of good information available on all these subjects and more and, for most of it you need look no further than right here on the SurvivalBlog. …


Letter Re: The Poor Man’s UAV: First Person Video-Controlled RC Planes

Hello James, While researching availability of a First Person Video controlled RC plane I have come across two viable contenders.  One is incredibly affordable (less than $400) and the other I’m awaiting pricing on.  These are ridiculously valuable tools to scout remote areas, perform surveillance/security, and get a lay of the land. The first is the Spyhawk.  It is for sale at their web site or at Amazon.   On the controller is a small display and you can pilot the craft from that controller.  You can watch a good video here. The second is the Zephyr II. There are some …


Letter Re: The Serval Mesh Network

Mr. Rawles, If you have not yet heard of the Serval Project, I would encourage you to check out the web site. This is an Australian based non-profit that is attempting to build the software and hardware for a mesh network that can be erected post-disaster. It is all open-source and there is even a free Serval app available at the Google App Store. For those of you not familiar with the idea, mesh networks are self-contained networks that run off of the same protocols as the internet, using the same hardware, but are not necessarily linked to the actual …


Communications WTSHTF, by Rangoon

There have been many articles written by the prepper community outlining why having a communications plan for a grid down situation is so important.   So we are not going to go in depth about why you need a communications plan, but rather offer concrete suggestions on communications in general and particular products that every prepper should own. I am a licensed ham radio operator and have been participating in Skywarn spotter activities and off grid battery operated events for over ten years.  I am also a pilot and a licensed EMT, both activities in which radio communications are a matter …


Letter Re: Transistor Radio Repair

Jim, I was impressed by this guy’s threads on basic, old, transistor radio “revival”.  His simple, well illustrated threads at Instructables are written for the novice radio tinkerer.  First, instructions for a GE P780B.  (I have one of these, they’re built like tanks and are worth seeking out.) Second, an American made, Zenith portable. The Zeniths from the 1950s to 1970s are very well made and have audio and DX qualities that place modern portables to shame. Regards, – F.G. JWR Replies: I also recommend the G.E. transistor radios. The technology was improved slightly with the SupeRadio series, which was …