Category: Land Navigation & GPS

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. …


Pat’s Product Review – Rescue Me Personal Locator Beacon 1

I’ve been out of the military for a long, long time now. However, I still remember many of the things that were taught to me back then. Those Drill Sergeants, bless their hearts, really knew how to drive home the lessons they were teaching us. Looking back over the years, I can see they were teaching us lessons that would save our lives in combat. I can still remember our map reading and compass orientation course, and the drill sergeant told us “a good soldier never gets lost, they just get disoriented.” At the time, I wasn’t sure what that …


Getting Out After a Trigger Event, by Paul H.

Despite years of reading valid arguments for moving to the American Redoubt or other remote area, of the hundreds of preppers I’ve met I can count on one hand those who made the move and most of those were retired.  I meet relatively few preppers living at a secluded retreat, a few with secondary retreats, many planning to bug out to property they do not own (hopefully by agreement), and the majority still living in and around cities with no alternative plan to shelter in place.  Only one of those four types I just described is unlikely to be on …


Teaching Opportunities, by J.L. in Pennsylvania

My story begins as another closet prepper.  As many of you, I did not have the support of my spouse for my new found drive to prepare for the unknown. Often I would attempt to sneak items that I planned to lay up long-term into the grocery bill without her noticing. I would even have online purchases delivered to a neighbor claiming to him that it was for her birthday or our anniversary. Needless to say, I usually (always) got caught, which would lead to long discussions about me “wasting money.”  As fate and the good lord would have it, …


Letter Re: Rapid Progression of the Geomagnetic North Pole?

Jim: Is it true, what the rumors have been saying about the [magnetic] north pole shifting 161 miles in just the past six months? can that be true? Is it possible that there will be a pole reversal in the next few years? Should I be worried? – Elaine T. JWR Replies: This topic has been discussed before in SurvivalBlog, but mostly vis-a-vis the need to keep maps updated with current magnetic declination data. (The difference between magnetic north and true north.) The geomagnetic north pole moves laterally because of shifts deep in the Earth’s core. It is presently in …


Letter Re: GPS Jamming is Illegal in Most Jurisdictions

James, Please let your readers know that GPS jammers are illegal to own, operate, and market in the United States. Here is a link to the FCC consumer alert on GPS jammers. While I can understand that someone could make the personal decision that their personal privacy justifies blocking GPS tracking, please be aware that these GPS jammers are very effective and can jam an area up to a mile in diameter. There was well-publicized incident of a personal GPS jammer that shut down the aircraft landing aid at the Newark, New Jersey airport. And there are documented cases of …


Letter Re: A New Online Mapping Tool

JWR, I thought you might be interested in this new mapping tool. It is much faster than Google Earth.  Is there nowhere to hide? After opening the link to Showmystreet.com, type in the address you want slowly, letter by letter, space by space, and watch where it takes you, incrementally. It located our home in the whole world after just seven strokes of the keys. – Rip


Geospatial Intelligence on a Laptop, Part 1, by N-101

Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is mapping using satellite images, digital elevations, transportation networks, land use classifications, vegetation classifications, weather data, demographics and much more to help the decision making process for any activity a corporation, army, or group wishes to undertake. Unfortunately much of the best data, the highest resolution and degree of accuracy, is only available to large corporations and nations. This does not mean it is not possible to create your own GEOINT solution. A small scale solution is constrained by data storage and computing power, in every GIS (Geographic Information System) user’s dream is to be able to …


Letter Re: Acquiring Local Topgraphic Maps

Dear Jim: A reminder to folks who don’t have good topos of their local area – get some. Just went to get updated topo maps of my local area in the 1:24,000 scale.  Little did I know that the 1980s vintage map I currently have is superior to the current maps!  The US Geological Service, decided in their <sarcasm on> “infinite wisdom” to update topos with roads added since the 1980s, but delete much of the vital information like pipelines, fencelines, gravel pits, radio towers, etc., etc. that make a topo useful.  It must have been just too difficult to …


Games Preppers Play, by T.W.

Preparedness is well within the top ten subject matters of interest today.  Most everyone is thinking about it and many of us are well under way toward some level of advanced planning.  Groups of like minded families are common but it would be a mistake to fail at making preparedness attractive to our children. Our pioneer ancestors invented creative games to teach their children skills of survival in an unfriendly world.  Games were simple and fit for most occasions.  If they were weathered in at a cabin, there was a game where one child was the subject and the others …


Letter Re: A Useful Map Tool

Hello Mr. Rawles, I wanted to share a great web site for calculating distances, etc. on several different mapping systems: GPSVisualizer.com. You can overlay your results on Google Maps or any of a bunch of different map types, including Google Terrain, which I like. It will compute range rings from a lat/lon or an address, great circle distance from an address / lat/lon to another address / lat/lon… etc. Great for showing folks exactly how close they really are to a large population center or other nasty place! – Rick in New York


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: Power Grid Transmission Lines for G.O.O.D.?

Mr. Rawles, I’ve browsed your site for about a year off and on, and have read Patriots, and am just starting Survivors. Great work I must say, keep up the good work! My question for you is one I’ve tickled in my mind since heading to a camping trip this last summer. While we were driving, and I was mindlessly staring out the side window, I noticed the large power grid high tension lines. (you know the ones I’m talking about with the large steel towers, holding a dozen or so lines high above the earth). I had a day …


Letter Re: A Useful Free USGS Online Maps Web Site

Dear Jim, I have found an invaluable free tool for your pre- and post-SHTF operations that allows you detailed and accurate mapping for your location(s) within the U.S.  Here is a link to the U.S. Geological Survey Map Store where you can download at, no cost, detailed topographic, contour, road maps, etc. even including satellite images. These newer maps usually are around 20 megabytes, so if you have a slow Internet connection, be aware of that.    First navigate to the USGS Map Locator and Downloader Web Page   Now Double-Click to Zoom-In and Click-and Drag to Re-center the interactive …


Three Letters Re: Durable Paper For Printing Maps and Crucial Documents

JWR- Never mind the high tech paper that is bound to help increase a corporations quarterly profit margin and deplete your limited prepping budget…. Here is my input.   Tyvek used to make  various sized mailing envelopes and has replaced the old tan manila envelopes in many cases will work as a waterproof paper.  Granted you might need to use a sharpie or other permanent ink pen, but you can get these Tyvek’s  free of charge or close to it in many cases…If the outside of the envelope contains printing of some kind, turn it inside out and cut the paper …