Category: Communications & Receivers

A Prepper’s Guide to EMP, by Chris C.

Those of us who frequent this web site, the prepper community, prepare for a host of potential crises that may befall our nation.  Some are more likely than others, but most share a common background when it comes to being prepared for them.  The event of an EMP strike, however, requires some very specific knowledge and safeguards.  This is a serious enough issue that a study was commissioned by congress several years ago, which found that the threat was real and that we were woefully unprepared. This essay will provide a brief description of the event itself with some supporting …


Letter Re: Advice on Dakota Alerts

Hi Jim and Readers, My Dakota Alert works great, as long as I can keep the batteries fresh, I find that they really use the current up fast. I did paint the outside of my "bird nest" box with paint that looks like bark and green leaf color that I purchased in the paint department at Wal-Mart. It really helps camouflage the box, and when hanging it on a tree, most people never notice it. As for protecting the antenna, I covered it with 1/2 inch black adhesive-lined shrink tubing available from Mouser Electronics. By shrinking it on the antenna is …


Letter Re: Advice on Dakota Alerts

Dear Mr. Rawles,  Greetings! I have enjoyed your blog site.  I noticed you have mentioned several times your use of Dakota Alert systems for your ranch.   This is why I am writing. I would like you input and thoughts.   I was viewing some customer comments on Amazon from those who had purchased the units.  Some complained about rust-out due to moisture (rain) after a few months.    I then followed this up with an e-mail to Dakota Alert manufacturer.    Bryon Pedersen of Dakota Alert responded by stating that most of the moisture issues have been resolved-except for moisture …


Letter Re: LEPCs Show That Help Won’t Be Coming

JWR, Just a few notes about RC’s article about ARES/RACES and becoming the EC.   I’ve been an emergency services volunteer since 1986 and a ham since 2003. Actually, Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) is under the control of the ARRL.   RACES is the ham radio group that is activated by a government emergency person, usually the state’s governor.   In many small areas they are combined, but ARES can operate in an emergency without specific government authority.   RACES only acts in time of war or officially declared emergencies.  Unless a war is declared or martial law declared, you can help others …


Letter Re: LEPCs Show That Help Won’t Be Coming

Jim: I wanted to comment on my experience with my county LEPC. When I got my ham radio license in 2003 I was invited attend the sectional ARRL ARES/RACES meeting being held at the local court house. I jumped at the opportunity to meet my local ham brothers. For those who don’t know ARES/RACES is the emergency response arm of ARRL. The idea is to provide amateur radio help to the local emergency response teams of the Government including FEMA. Sounds all well and good. The county had a total population of under 25,000 at that point. It is still …


Letter Re: Question on the Utility of Garmin Rino 655t Receivers

Brother Rawles, I read your blog every night and appreciate what you stand for, and the way you live your life. My question is on the Garmin Rino 655t GPS. My family is large, but we all live somewhat close to one another just outside of Cleveland Ohio. Although this isn’t optimal, the majority of us work as either firemen or policemen, so relocation would be difficult. We are trying to find the perfect radio communication system that our family could use during a SHTF scenario to communicate during a bug out to the compound. I have tried the MURS …


Letter Re: Long Distance Bug Out Planning

Jim: J.B. mentioned that it is important before and when bugging out to listen to all radio news reports and gather any information concerning the route.  This, of course, depends on somebody still broadcasting.  We must constantly keep up on what’s going on locally and soak up every scrap of information available.  This data is used to update the maps, note the areas to avoid, and make navigation decisions.  It will be important to constantly gather intelligence, adjust plans accordingly, and to be acutely aware of where you are. Something I found helpful: I picked up a 1000 channel scanner …


Letter Re: Wireless Internet in Remote Regions

James, As your readers pointed out, Internet service in remote places can be a challenge, but also delivering this connectivity to various locations on your property presents other difficulties, too.   If you have a voice telephone line, you’ve got most of what you need for dial-up Internet capability, which is painfully slow, but you will be able to pick up and send email and if you turn off all videos, images and javascript, you could do very limited web browsing.  Cable and DSL are out of the question if you live at the end of a long road with …


Letter Re: Internet Service in The American Redoubt

Hello,  I just read your article The American Redoubt — Move to the Mountain States.  I am confused about something.  On one hand you said to not expect high speed Internet then scrolling down further you refer to using the Internet.  There must be some sort of Internet service where you are.    My income is acquired using my computer and high speed Internet.  So does that leave me out?   Thanks for your time. – Deborah T. in California JWR Replies: There is dial-up Internet available in most towns in the Redoubt, but high speed (DSL, or better) is …


Letter Re: In-Extremis Travel; Red Light, Green Light, Yellow Light

JWR: Regarding the recent article by “Will Prep”: The otherwise well written article with lots of good information overlooked mentioning amateur (ham) radio as the very best mode of communications when he asks: “What will I do for Communications?” Any General or higher class ham with a few radios that he/she uses on a regular basis will have no problems with communications! “Will Prep” must have lots more spare cash than the average person to even mention satellite phones! Thanks again to JWR for this great site! Keep up the good work. – Ken M.


In-Extremis Travel; Red Light, Green Light, Yellow Light, by Will Prep

There has been a lot of debate over whether or not to remain in place or to leave your home and retreat to another location within the prepper community. Both have their advantages and disadvantages but that is not the scope of this article. I simply want to address the moment that all of us may come to, both the bug-in crowd, when they realize their initial plan is untenable, or the bug-out crowd, when they have made their decision to move to “higher ground.” We all remember the game “Red Light, Green Light”, we played as kids and tried …


Prepping Across Three States, by Kris S.

Many years ago, my two childhood friends and I began to prep for TEOTWAWKI.  At first, we just began buying whatever was recommended by certain web sites, throwing our equipment into a box and then telling the others about what we have.  Doing this allowed us to collect many things, however we were not sure what was really practical since we never used the items.  We decided to change this about five years ago when we got serious about what we are doing and decided to take a camping trip.  The camping trip would include about a one mile hike …


Letter Re: Laptop Becomes Oscilloscope and Waveform Generator

Jim: I’d like to tell the readers about an amazingly affordable electronics workbench tool that turns you laptop into an oscilloscope, and a lot more: Analog Discovery. This one card can replace $10,000 worth of other gear. The student version is just $99. See a quick summary of the specifications. I think that this is the Pico scope taken to the next level. This puts AM radio, FM radio, radar, sonar, ultrasound, spread-spectrum radio for secure communications, encryption tools for running secure comms over otherwise insecure channels, high-bandwidth servocontrol of machinery and countless other modern technologies in hands of the …


Forget Codes: Using Constructed Languages for Secure Communication, by Snow Wolf

Egyptologists tell us that the last hieroglyphic inscription was carved in 394 A.D., and within a few decades all memory of the ancient Egyptian language was lost. For the next fifteen hundred years the world’s greatest scholars tried to translate hieroglyphics, but it was only when Jean-Francois Champollion had access to the Rosetta Stone in the 1820s that the dead language spoke once more. The Rosetta Stone, which had an identical inscription in three languages, was the key which allowed Champollion to begin translating the forgotten language. You may be wondering what this has to do with preparedness. I believe …


Letter Re: Will Analog AM and FM Radio Soon Be Phased Out?

James, A friend of mine who is in the know with the FCC told me that in a few years all AM/FM commercial radio stations will be changing from analog to digital broadcast. Most or all AM/FM radios will not work after this is implemented is what he said. Have you heard anything about this and he also told me even the OTA car radios would not work and have to be replaced. I asked him if someone was going to come up with a converter like they did for televisions and he said probably not.  This person is not one …