Category: Retreat Security

Optimizing MURS Dakota Alert Sensors – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

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(Continued from Part 1. This installment concludes the article.) — MURS band Dakota Alert systems are very useful, but they often frustrate the user. Read up. It would be a huge loss if one could not operate their sensors correctly. And just like anything else, take one out of the Faraday cage and use it for awhile to gain experience with it. In a time of stress, getting a ‘false alarm’, could be nerve racking, when all hat it needs is batteries. In a pinch, but only in a pinch, would I connect directly to 12 VDC. With higher voltages …


Optimizing MURS Dakota Alert Sensors – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

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Editor’s Introductory Note: This essay describes one approach to optimizing the performance, extending the range, and securing the signal of MURS band Dakota Alert intrusion detection sensors–and other low power transmitters. — To begin, here’s some ground thruth on perimeter security: Security will be Job One. Everything else supports that objective. Manpower for most tasks will be greatly lacking. Every trick, hack, or tactic should be considered. If we don’t see’em, hear’em or smell’em coming, then it is over before it starts. You lose. Organizing with your community is the best defense for those without their own manpower. Defend at …


Elements of a Security System – Part 5, by J.M.

Observation As I mentioned earlier, direct observation of an intruder approaching is another form of detection, but I’m focusing on situations where you may not be able to have eyes everywhere 24×7. However, if an alarm does go off you’ll need some way to get ‘eyes on’ to determine what caused the alarm without unnecessarily exposing yourself to potential danger. There are a number of possible options to enhance your ability to observe a potential intruder. The simplest and most obvious option would be magnified optics, such as binoculars or a monocular, assuming you have a line-of-sight to the area …


Elements of a Security System – Part 4, by J.M.

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(Continued from Part 3.) The second type of alerting – remote signal back to a centralized alarm console with a wired or wireless connection when the tripwire is tripped – can be a bit more complicated. In either case you can use something as simple as the clothespin switch to connect two wires to close the circuit, or to ‘press’ the button on a remote transmitter to trigger a relay that set off a light/buzzer. Regardless of the use of local versus remote alerting, if there are any electronics or other components that could degrade when exposed to the elements …


Elements of a Security System – Part 3, by J.M.

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(Continued from Part 2.) There’s another potential option for alerting that could be categorized as ‘mobile centralized’ – it’s possible to set up a radio transmitter connected to a centralized console that would transmit a pre-recorded voice alert (e.g. ‘Alert in zone 3 North’) to a radio that you carry around with you. Some of the sensors I’ll be discussing later have this capability built-in, but you could implement a similar function using a Raspberry PI computer to monitor the sensors, connected to a RTL-SDR software-defined radio to transmit pre-recorded audio alerts. Implementing this would be moderately complicated and is …


Elements of a Security System – Part 2, by J.M.

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(Continued from Part 1.) The final aspects you need to consider when planning a security system are the types of threats you need to be able to detect. If you live in a wooded area where there are a lot of experienced woodsmen and hunters, you’ll have to consider how to detect people that know how to move silently and effectively and are more likely to notice things like tripwires or trail cameras. On the other hand, if you’re in an area that may primarily experience urban sheeple migrating in search of resources after a disaster, your security situation will …


Elements of a Security System – Part 1, by J.M.

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Editor’s Introductory Note: This detailed article series is by J.M., who you may remember as a SurvivalBlog Writing Contest First Prize winner in March, 2018, for his five-part article: Perspectives on Patrolling. (This is the first installment in a five-part article series.) — When you talk to people about preparing, one of the most common themes you’ll encounter is that they want to ensure the safety and security of themselves, their families and their friends in the event something disrupts the ‘rule of law’. The reality is that even with active law enforcement in normal times there are thousands of …


Post-TEOTWAWKI: Groups and Retreats, Pt. 1, by E.M.

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There are many articles on the internet concerning the benefits of forming a group of like-minded individuals who could support each other when times get “spicy” for months or even years, either in their own neighborhood or at a remote retreat.  These groups are sometimes referred to as mutual assistance groups. These articles are based on the premise that choosing a “lone wolf” approach after TEOTWAWKI is unsustainable in the long run, and that even expecting a single family to live and thrive on a remote mountaintop after a societal meltdown is unrealistic and ripe for tragedy in the long …


Perimeter Defense Part 2, by L.K.R.

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(Coninued from Part 1.  This part concludes the article.) Defensive Equipment – Each capable team member should have an AR, AK, or similar rifle — plus a handgun. It is useful to have at least one shotgun for close in firepower and an accurate, scoped bolt action rifle if you have longer range potential threats. While handguns and shotguns are useful in or immediately around the house, perimeter defense will depend on your rifle skills. Assuming you are capable of safe, accurate and reasonably fast target engagement with your rifles, then here are a few additional considerations: Sights – While …


Perimeter Defense Part 1, by L.K.R.

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Unless you plan to live off the land in the middle of nowhere, then you will have some type of shelter. Regardless of location, your homestead can be threatened and you need to plan for security.  Some key security considerations include: Physical Barriers Surveillance Communications Defensive Equipment Tactics These elements need to be considered for three layers or rings of defense: Perimeter (property boundary) Structural (building exterior) Interior (within the structure) In a true SHTF situation, controlling your perimeter is the most critical. We normally think of security in an orderly society where people are living independently, utilities are functioning …


Commerce Model Prepping: A Re-Evaluation, by B.H. in North Idaho

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Editor’s Introductory Note:  This article serves as an update to B.H.’s original piece on this topic, published in SurvivalBlog back in March of 2013. Introduction Over the years since I first read the novel Patriots by James Wesley, Rawles and made the decision to embrace prepping my idea of prepping has changed. It started when I recognized that friends, acquaintances and strangers all had varying ideas and degrees of preparedness even within very similar prepping models. The greatest characteristic of Survivalblog.com is that there is something for everyone presented in articles and information. Regardless of your station you’ll find information …


Our Path Towards Preparation, by SBC

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On our curious and sometimes convoluted path towards being prepared for TEOTWAWKI, I have sometimes impressed, often confounded and occasionally amused myself and family with our brilliance and stupidity. Here follows the outline of the story of our adventure in the hope that it will inspire or amuse or warn you and help your own journey be a bit easier and the load a bit lighter. We began our journey after Hurricane Katrina when FEMA so effectively demonstrated how inadequate the federal support system was dealing with large scale disasters. So what began as a ah-ha moment of “perhaps we …


Budget Prepper Guns, by Pete Thorsen

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Preppers can have many reasons to own and many uses for firearms. Hunting would likely be one of the top reasons to own. Security could be a valid reason, for sure. A means to dispatch livestock might be another reason. And just for fun would still be a very valid reason. There are certainly plenty of firearm options. Firearms have been made for hundreds of years with countless variations. Well cared-for firearms can last for several generations. Personally I have shot guns that were fully functional even though they were hundred and fifty years old. Many guns have been passed …


Challenge & Password for The Prepared Family, by A. Jackson

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One of the best ways to improve your preparedness skills is by adapting military skills to preparedness uses. Today we’re adapting the U.S. Army Common Task of ‘Challenge & Password’ to the needs of the survivalist. Scenario Consider the following scenario: About six weeks ago it finally happened, the currency collapsed and since then the security situation has rapidly deteriorated. Crime has begun to run rampant as the populace grows more and more desperate to fill their and their family’s bellies. At some point most of the local police force realized that their entire paycheck couldn’t even buy their family …


From the Deep South to Northern Rockies: Pt. 2, by GritsInMontana

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(Continued from Part 1.) Critters Goats: My neighbors decided to be “goat foster parents” for the summer. (“It will be a great experience for the children!”, they said.) The plan was to return the goats to the rightful owners when September rolled around. My response was “That owner is probably three states away by now….” Sure enough, as fall approached, the owner was nowhere to be found and my neighbors now had to figure out what to do with their foster-goat-situation for the winter. You see, getting rid of a goat will almost always require some level of treachery and …