How Plastic Saved Our Homestead – Part 1, by H.P.

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A Disclaimer: I have zero commercial interest or connection to the plastic industry or any link contained herein. All links and references below are provided for informational and educational purposes only. I strongly encourage readers to use locally owned suppliers and make your purchases face to face for all of the products I recommend. Or better yet- source them via second hand, scrap, or salvage. All photos are originals and taken at my property.

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Plastic has been getting a lot of bad press lately. Plastic pollution in our waterways is certainly a problem that deserves our attention. Leaching of toxic compounds from plastic containers into the food supply should concern us all. However, what if plastic could save farming by reducing the need for toxic pesticides and herbicides? What if plastic could increase yields and help feed you and your family? Plastic as a material, is widely available, lightweight, relatively shelf stable, and easy to work with. Plasticulture is an agricultural practice that deserves consideration.

What is plasticulture? Wikipedia defines it as:

The term plasticulture refers to the practice of using plastic materials in agricultural applications.

The plastic materials themselves are often and broadly referred to as “ag plastics.” Plasticulture ag plastics include soil fumigation film, irrigation drip tape/tubing, nursery pots and silage bags, but the term is most often used to describe all kinds of plastic plant/soil coverings. Such coverings range from plastic mulch film, row coverings, high and low tunnels (polytunnels), to plastic greenhouses.

In his book Plasticulture | Farming for Everybody, Otis Lester Bray presents plasticulture as an opportunity to transcend the problems associated with modern agriculture.

What is plasticulture to me? Plasticulture is abundance in my pursuit of maximizing food production for my family. Embracing plasticulture has been the single biggest difference maker for the development of our homestead (buying a tractor being a close second). Being the co-owner of a commercial building firm and father of two, my spare time is quite limited so I need every edge I can get as we develop our homestead.

First, some background

Shortly after moving to our rural homestead 7+ years ago, my wife and I hastily began building our garden on the site of what was once a pole barn. Completely overgrown and waterlogged, the site was the sunniest area of the yard. Once the remnants of the barn and surrounding rubbish was (mostly) cleared, we set out to see what would grow. Without any plan whatsoever and using basic hand tools, I built rows and beds and Mrs. P planted them. Many long sweaty evenings later, things started to grow! It was fun and exciting to experience the fruits (pun intended) of our labor, albeit with modest results.Continue reading“How Plastic Saved Our Homestead – Part 1, by H.P.”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I got busy with a few non-ranch projects and with meeting an out-of-state consulting client this week, so I only hunted one day. Mea culpa. But I did have time to make a minor repair on our reliable old Troy-Bilt Horse rototiller.

I also replaced a garden fence post that had rotted out. When I built  that fence 12 years ago, I used red cedar trees from here on the ranch, for the posts. Most of those trees were 12+ inches at the butt, so they made dandy posts, 12-feet tall (with 3.5  feet, buried.) The biggest ones went in the corners. But for the intermediate posts, I also used some of the next-higher 12-foot sections from each of those trees–and those posts were mostly under 8″ in diameter. That was a mistake. It is those smaller ones that are now rotting out. Lesson learned.  I should have over-built all of that fence!  If you build something right from the outset, you save yourself follow-up labor, in the long run.Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.

And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.

Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.

And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God,

And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.

Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.

And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,

Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.

Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.

And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;

Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?

O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.”  – Ezra 9 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — November 8, 2019

Today is the 105th birthday of actor/director/producer Norman Lloyd.  He was born November 8, 1914. His most recent film role was in 2015. Hang in there, Norman!

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Natchez Shooters Supplies (one of our affiliate advertisers) just announced a four-day special promotional sale:  10% Off Orders of $99.99+. Be sure to use Promo Code:  P191108. And if you want to order a lot or primers and powder, they are also running another promotion: Free HAZMAT On Orders $150+. For that deal, use Promo Code:  FH191108. You must pick one promo, or the other–you can’t use both. Though they are best known as a seller of reloading supplies, I’ve found that Natchez has an amazing inventory of other firearms-related products, at great prices.  This sale ends on November 11, 2019. Don’t miss out!

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 85 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  7. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 85 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

One Last Chance, by J.W.F.

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And the Lord God said: ”Hear my children a father’s plea; the beginning of wisdom; is to get wisdom. At the cost of all you have, gain understanding” (Emphasis mine. Though the Word of God itself is enough for emphasis).

I am 63 yrs old. My ‘awareness’ that something was not right came about some time when I was a teen. It was an imperative enough sense, that from that moment, I began to read as much as I could. Not just books with inspiring tales, but tomes which held information pertaining to Faith. As well as prophecies, and conspiracies. Including a few that claimed to contain the ‘meaning’ of life.

In my later teens I became involved in politics. Protesting for migrant workers and such. And getting in touch with a local lawyer running for Congress and won. Twice. A Democrat. One who was considered a potential for one day becoming President.

You learn that the machinery of politics is controlled. By powerful, unseen entities.

Surprisingly, this particular man decided it wasn’t for him. Perhaps for us this was a good conclusion.

It was a difficult period for me. Trying to grasp what is going on with the world and find my place.

Example:  My girlfriend at the time was experienced with shooting a rifle. A .22. And she was good. For me, I was neither anti-gun, nor pro. Because guns were meant for one purpose. To kill.

And killing was not something I had any experience with. Yet the right to own a gun was Constitutional. And therefore a necessity. A choice. Accepted.

I later married, fathered a son, and wanted to be the best father I could. He taught me, that when love, given honestly, is forgiving. Despite bad decisions I made, he never stopped loving me. Nor I him.

Time moved on. I learned that there was an intentional activity to destroy our country. We, Americans, were the only force standing in the way of global governance. Why? Because of the 2nd Amendment. Well, that, and the fact that during WWII and Korea, we faced outnumbered forces and prevailed. So, we had spirit. Combined, these two aspects stood as a threat to stop socialistic forces from taking over. Continue reading“One Last Chance, by J.W.F.”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the risk of buying faked antique guns. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Stocks:

Lance Roberts, over at Seeking Alpha: 15 Extreme Risks And How You Can Navigate Them

o  o  o

Uber Loses Another $1.2 billion, Stock Dives Again

Economy & Finance:

Berkshire Becomes Global Cash King: $128BN Cash Pile Bigger Than Apple, Google. JWR’s Comment:  Berkshire has doubled their cash holdings in the past  18 months.  Whenever Warren Buffett heads for the equities market exit door marked “Cash”, then watch out!  Recession must be on the way! (A hat tip to H.L. for the link.)

o  o  o

At Zero Hedge: Turning Japanese? Growth In $9BN US Adult Diaper Market Explodes, Topping Baby Diapers

o  o  o

Debt-Maggeddon: $6.2 Million Per U.S. Birth In 2019

o  o  o

At Wolf Street: What’s Behind the Fed’s Bailout of the Repo Market?

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — November 7, 2019

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November 7th is the anniversary of the death of actor Steve McQueen (born March 24, 1930, died November 7, 1980). The many well-publicized exploits in his tempestuous life and his enduring persona are well known. However, the end of his life is actually the most noteworthy part of his legacy, even though it seldom gets much publicity outside of Christian circles; he came to Jesus after he had been diagnosed with mesothelioma. He died with his forefinger pointing to his key verse in his Bible– Titus 1:2.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 85 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  7. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 85 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

My Ankle Ammo Rig, by Spotlight

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It may sound crazy but I can routinely carry over 50 rounds of ammunition on my person at all times without it being obvious, uncomfortable or hampering my normal activities. After more than two decades of law enforcement work and now nearly seven years of a combination of private investigation (PI), private security work, and consulting, I have come full circle. I started out in the late 1980s as a small town cop and was issued a Ruger Security Six .357 Magnum revolver. As with most law enforcement agencies, we went through a series of semi-autos starting in the early 1990s. First, in 1991 we went to a S&W 9mm (the model number escapes me). We carried those from 1991 until around 2009 when we switched to S&W M&P .40s. Just after I retired in the early 2010s, my old agency switched to Smith & Wesson .45s. Basically, we followed the trend of most of the agencies in our area and in particular the state police.

Once I retired, I carried what had been until that point my standard off-duty gun, a Smith & Wesson 3946 9mm single stack semi-auto that holds 7-8 rounds depending on which magazine you have. I always called this my “wedding gun” because shortly before my wife and I were married, she commented to me that when we got married money would probably be a bit tight for awhile so if there was something I wanted I should probably buy it before the wedding, hence the 3946!

To be honest, I had never really shot that gun that well. I could pass the required course with it to carry off duty but I don’t have a lot of confidence with it beyond 10 yards or so. Like most cops I don’t consider myself a “gun guy”. I am very familiar with the guns I carry and never leave home without one, but I couldn’t talk very long about ballistics, the differences between various grains of ammunition, etc. I enjoy shooting as far as preparing to defend my family, or myself but it’s not a hobby for me, just a necessity for my chosen field of work. On the job I carried the ammo they gave me. Now that I’m retired I did some research on the best self defense rounds and stick with those.Continue reading“My Ankle Ammo Rig, by Spotlight”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at Google’s newly-announced photo OCR technology.

Google Can Now Search for Text in Your Pictures

Regular content contributor G.P. sent this: Google Photos can now search for text in your pictures, copy and paste it. JWR’s Comment: Never forget that the Internet is an enormous vacuum cleaner, sucking up data. Whatever goes there often ends up ends up in persistent databases. This technology is probably already being misused by malefactors–both state actors and non-state actors. In addition to using a tool like ExifPurge to remove GPS tagging from your personal photos, it is very important to not post any close-ups that reveal your fingerprints and to not let things like firearms serial numbers, credit cards, personal correspondence, bills, receipts, or car license plate numbers be seen in any uploaded photos. OCR technology is progressing rapidly. And with AI now increasingly being used to cross-correlate data, the implications are huge.

Maunder Minimum? Central England’s Chilly October

SurvivalBlog reader A.D. spotted this news: Central England experiences Historically Chilly October. The article begins:

“The UK’s October 2019 sure felt like a chilly one, but now official Met Office temperature data has confirmed it — Central England just experienced a month on par with those of the mid-to-late 1600s.

The Central England Temperature (CET) record measures the monthly mean surface air temperatures for the Midlands region of England, and is the longest series of monthly temperature observations in existence, anywhere in the world.

Its mean reading for October 2019 came in at a nice round 10C — that’s 0.7C below the already cool 1961-1990 average (the current standard period of reference for climatological data used by the WMO).

In the 360 years of CET data there have only-ever been nine other years with an October average temperature of 10C — these are 1659, 1660, 1663, 1668, 1669, 1670, 1672, 1679, and 1722.”

No Power = No Phones

Peter sent us this: PG&E blackout knocks out quarter of Sonoma County cellphone towers. JWR’s Comments: California’s regulations don’t require backup power–even for some land line phones. This underscores the need to have both our own power generating  capacity and to have ham radio gear and practice with it.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — November 6, 2019

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Today in 1977, the Toccoa Falls Dam in Georgia gave way and 39 people died in the resulting flood. The dam was an earthen dam constructed across a canyon in 1887 and had a 55-acre lake that was 180 feet deep. The dam had recently been inspected and approved, but in the early morning hours it gave way. Water flooded down the canyon at speeds approaching 120 mph. Below, residents of the Christian and Missionary Alliance College had no time to evacuate as the small community was wiped out.

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To finish paying off some family bills, I’m auctioning one more of my original pre-ban HK91 rifles. This one is woodland digital camouflage dipped! The opening bid is just $2,200.  This auction ends on the evening of November 10th. Get your bid in soon!

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 85 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  7. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 85 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Signals Intelligence for Regular Folk – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

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(Continued from Part 1.  This concludes the article.)

A $20 SDR-UTL dongle can cover 1.8MHz to 1.2 GHz, and see and hear the entire 220MHz Ham band, or the entire spectrum with the right software. Yet who would use precious power to monitor a band with no traffic on it anyway? The more expensive Dongle covers most everything else including frequencies that drones would use… With the $20 dongle, a poor man’s frequency analyzer, one can see weak transmissions even though they cannot hear them. And one can spot spurious transmissions, secondary harmonics, that can lead to the identification of those using the notorious Baofeng UV-5R. Having a Baofeng or two, I’ve tested this.  If the user is using something besides a Baofeng, I would consider them the more serious threat.  So even you-guys with a Yaesu, Kenwood, or whatever fine radios, can be identified by their lack of spurious RF!

Detection, DF-ing, and Intrusion

To better detect threats using low power radio, rip the television antenna off the chimney that is actually this often dual band UHF/VHF antenna horizontally polarized receiving antenna, but mount to pole so that is vertical (that is up and down orientation), and point it in the direction of the most likely avenue of approach.  Using the old  cable that is on the old television antenna, strip and push one of the bare wires into the scanners antenna plug, and attached the other wire to the body of radio or ground of that antenna base of the scanner.  This is the tricky part, but the correct connector and a 50 ohm, or even 75 ohm cable TV cable without the proper connector can be run from the antenna to the scanner. It is of course best to plan ahead, and do it the correct and reliable way. Program the scanner with only GMRS/FRS, MURS, and even CB frequencies, and others if you can.  Use a second scanner on the same cable to sweep the entire 2 meter Ham band.

The common as dirt radio out there. is the ubiquitous GMRS/FRS radios and represents the most likely radio that Bubba and his gang might use if knocking off preppers. CB radio will be their second choice, and possibly even 2 meter. GMRS/FRS radios have a very short range, so we use a direction antenna that will pick up the weakest signal. and exclude signals that are not as much of a threat.  We would want to hear all traffic in the area as well, but our focus should first be at the front door, and primary avenue of approach.  If any traffic is heard they are very close by, and so is the threat. It would be best to put a patrol out to confirm and gauge the threat, or at least put eyes out on the approach, and ready the defense.Continue reading“Signals Intelligence for Regular Folk – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week I have a special recommendations column devoted to countersurveillance references and products.

Books:

Claire Wolfe: The Freedom Outlaw’s Handbook: 179 Things to Do ‘Til the Revolution

o  o  o

Techniques in Countersurveillance: The Fine Art of Bug Extermination in the Real World of Intelligence Gathering

o  o  o

Bench-Tested Circuits For Surveillance And Countersurveillance Technicians

o  o  o

This one is dated, but still worth reading: The Privacy Handbook: Proven Countermeasures for Combating Threats to Privacy, Security, and Personal Freedom

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“As to the present value of old technology in stoves, look for a moment at Finland. Finland is an advanced country, known for fine workmanship and good design. The Finns are international traders. Their products have to be good, especially in regard to heating because their climate is like that of Alaska. Today, [1984] Finland’s government actively encourages the construction of masonry stoves through tax policy. About two-thirds of Finland’s new houses have built-in masonry stoves. Most of the rest have wood-fired masonry baking ovens which can also be used for space heating. This government policy says a good deal about Finland’s confidence in an old technology, even in the space age. It says something as well about the country’s assessment of the energy situation.

Masonry stoves can sharply reduce wood-burning safety problems. The iron stove is frequently so hot that it will burn anyone who touches it. The masonry stove is commonly designed in Europe with benches attached, so that you can sit and lean against the stove. There is a world of difference in safety between a stove you can lean on and one that burns at the touch.” – David Lyle, The Book of Masonry Stoves — Rediscovering an Old Way of Warming