Category: Retreat Security

Letter Re: FCC Eliminates Morse Code Requirement for Ham Radio Licenses

Hi Jim and Family, I thought I would pass along a bit of news for Hams. The FCC has done away with the Morse code requirement for all U.S. Amateur Radio Licenses. The current No Code Tech license will change to include the Tech Plus license privileges. I can see advantages for knowing Morse code for communications. One thing it will punch through almost all interference and cover more distance on less power. However the FCC must have thought that the code requirement had become more of a hindrance to Hams as opposed to a benefit for each level of …


Letter Re: Is Radio Direction Finding a Potential Threat for Survivalists?

Mr. Rawles: Hey, I was just wondering what everyone with radios is planning in order to conceal the location of their transmissions from people who could potentially use the signal as a beacon to guide them right to your antenna. It might be fairly difficult to build a tracker, but I suspect there are pre-made devices to direction-find a fairly strong signal (e.g. ham radio). Thanks, – James D. JWR Replies: The only people that have effective radio direction finding (“DF“) equipment and the requisite expertise to operate it are A.) The NSA and a few other government agencies such …


Letter Re: First Hand Observations on the Recent Pacific Northwest Wind Storm

Background: I am an 11 year veteran peace officer and survivalist, or in more politically correct terminology, a POP – Preparedness Oriented Person. I work in a moderate sized city in the Seattle area. On 14-15 December, the Tacoma-Seattle-Everett metropolitan area suffered one of the most deadly and damaging windstorms in recorded history. The storm easily eclipsed the last major deadly blow on Inaugural Day, 1993. That storm had been identified as a “once in a century” type storm. At the peak, over 1 million people did not have power. This storm was modeled and forecasted with accuracy five days …


Letter Re: Advice on Affordable Yet Reliable Night Vision Scopes

Jim: Who makes the best Gen 1 and Gen 2 night vision optics? I am not sure I can afford to purchase Gen 3 for five people at this time. I can afford Gen 1, maybe Gen 2. Thanks, – Martin JWR Replies: I’d recommend that you purchase a professionally re-manufactured U.S. military contract Gen 2 scope such as the AN/PVS-2B. Beware the many “kitchen table” re-manufacturers out there! Buy a full mil spec scope from a reputable vendor such as Ready Made Resources or STANO Components, that will have a genuine, new, Gen 2 image intensifier tube with a …


Letter Re: MURS Alert Intrusion Detection System Product Review

Jim, I received my MURS Alert intrusion detection system last week, and have given it a good preliminary test. So far, so good. I am very impressed with this unit. All I had to do was turn a couple of dials to tune it to the channel and sub-code that I wanted it on, and it was good to go. Although I did disable the red “walk test” light, because with it turned on, it looked like a one eyed beast at nighttime when it tripped. The only other thing I did and that I highly recommend is that you …


Letter Re: Pepper Spray Trip Wire Alarms

Dear Jim: Nothing beats living at your retreat, but there is one burglar repelling device that can actually stops a burglary in process (without an alarm or monitoring): Pepper Spray Alarms – either trip wired or set off by electronic sensor. These can fill a room with pepper spray in seconds. You can even get one that can fire up to four times in sequence! I have used them (and tripped them accidentally). They really work – and it only takes about an hour of ventilation to get back in the room comfortably. As an added bonus you get to …


Letter Re: Communications for Disasters–Are Scanners Useful?

Jim, A very good shortwave portable is the Sony ICF-2010. It is an older portable from the 1980s but is a very strong performer with its synchronous detector. It is often found on the used market and eBay. One fact that many sellers don’t know is that you need to have fresh AA batteries in them for memory retention or the unit will not even function. Many sellers believe that their radios are broken when in fact only need fresh batteries. The unit can be run of D cell batteries or via an AC adapter. Another thing that “goes wrong” …


Letter Re: Communications for Disasters–Are Scanners Useful?

James: The hot thing in scanners right now is digital trunking. Most public-safety services use this approach, without scrambling or encryption. Analog scanners are useless, but the new generation of scanners include direct support for digital trunking. I recently bought a Uniden/Bearcat BCD 396T, which totally restored my ability to listen to common public-safety traffic where I live. Some more sensitive government agencies use encryption on top of digital trunking, but there’s no strong survival-oriented motivation to listen to their transmissions. Unless you’re trying to survive an FBI manhunt, I suppose. In an emergency, being able to monitor fire and …


Letter Re: Yukon Gen 1 Night Vision Rifle Scope – A Product Review

Jim, I had delayed writing a review of the Yukon night vision rifle scope because I have to wonder who else is reading your site. I don’t want to do a disservice to all the good folks that visit your [blog] site. I surely don’t want the bad guys knowing the following. Unless they stumble on it themselves. If they are going to use one I would rather they use one of these gems. I may buy a few other night vision scopes just to see if the problem is in the design or I got a bad one. Here’s …


Letter Re: Product Review on MURS Radios

Jim, Hail and well met. – I purchased two of the handheld MURS transceivers from MURS Radios. (A SurvivalBlog advertiser.) First off, they arrived really fast. The shipping only took a few days. They were also packaged very securely. Although you can tell that these radios were used, they do not look abused in any way. I was impressed right off the bat by them. For one thing, they do not feel like a toy in your hand…they have some heft to them. They also came fully charged. In the box along with the radios were the chargers and good …


Four Letters Re: Prowlers and Lighting

James: The subject of handheld lights is as long as it is wide. Ask 20 people what is best, get 40 answers and recommendations! As with many things, today we live in a great time for flashlight technology. My recommendation is to immerse yourself in www.candlepowerforums.com. Some guys there are truly on the cutting edge of lights. Some of the modified lights are incredible. Have fun and enjoy a winter’s worth of reading. – Straightblast   Jim: Just enjoying a last respite prior to retiring in my mountaintop isolated home and read the letter on Prowlers and Lighting at SurvivalBlog. …


Letter Re: Prowlers and Lighting

Jim: What do you and your readers suggest for someone living in a rural area who needs a good strong light for prowlers? I live on top of a mountain in a cove surrounded by three sides by hills. On occasion, we have trespassers at night riding the ATV trails along the hills who are out to steal tools, gas, etc. There have been more than a few occasions when I’ve walked out to my car late at night to get something and realized there were people in the trees. One night I turned my rather anemic Surefire 6P [flashlight] …


Letter Re: MURS Radios, Dakota Alerts, and PIR Sensors

Jim, I for one I’m very happy that your novel “Patriots” back in print. For a long time I gave this book away to friends who I thought might like it, and to some whom I wanted to “feel out” as to whether they thought preparedness was a good idea. I had to stop this of course when your book went out of print, and the cost went skyward. Now I can stock up again. Also I wanted to thank you for turning me on to MURS Radios. I just made an order with Rob, and will be making another …


Letter Re: Tire Spikes for Home Retreat Defense

Hello James, In regards to the recent post toward driveway security strips, or "spike strips" I think of another possibility to the construction in using a 2×6. I would consider fabricating the base out of treated 3/4" plywood. Not only is this already somewhat camouflage, it will take the years of abuse that weather will give it. I envision a design in which the upper three or four layers that are glued together with construction adhesive, (preferably a polyurethane adhesive like PL Pro), and then drilled for insertion of spikes. Then, apply an additional layer with a width of approximately …


Product Review of the MURS Alert Motion Detector/Alarm from Dakota Alert

Mr. Rawles, I saw a mention on your site of the Dakota Alert system, and since I’ve been using one for about a year, I thought I’d sent you a few comments. First, I had tried a previous Dakota Alert system, several years ago, and found it unreliable, then tried several others and also found them either too short ranged or unreliable. I have a 1500′ driveway, about one half of which is blocked by a hill and trees. I ran across the MURS system sold by a company in Canada, and didn’t even know until I got it that …