Sir,
I want to pass along a recommendation for field telephones. Coleman's Military Surplus is selling Swiss army surplus field telephones (made by Ericsson) for $19.95 plus shipping. I have purchased some of these and have good luck with them.
They use a crank for ringing the bells and "D" cell batteries for voice transmission. They can also be hooked up in a common battery / switchboard set up if a person is lucky enough to have one. - Matthew in Kansas City, Missouri
Most people wouldn’t keep .22 shells on hand for their .30-06 rifle. They likely wouldn’t waste space in their pantry, storage, garden or go-bag for foodstuffs that were not calorically or nutritionally dense compared with the space they occupied
Each serious or well-intentioned survivalist knows how precious resources, energy, space and time can be, and would likely strive for a high level of efficiency. Being well prepared and resourceful is a cornerstone of success when it comes to survival. And yet, there is a fundamental tool that is oft overlooked- effective communication strategies.
The tools in a survivalist’s arsenal should reflect necessity. The select items and materials one keeps on hand can ultimately mean the difference between success and failure, between abundance and poverty, and ultimately, between life and death. One of the most functional assets the strategic survivalist can have on hand is effective, constructive communication skills.
Effective communication is an important skill for all humans, and should not be undervalued. Ones ability to communicate well can positively impact and change the trajectory of many a conflict or social dilemma. Its development is useful in all types of interpersonal relationships and settings. Crisis, conflict, courtship- it matters not where one imagines he or she might want to use these skills- we need only understand that we most certainly will.
Good communication skills are a fundamental component of human success. When anthropologists study immediate-return foraging cultures, untouched by civilization, they often note a social dynamic which most often comes with unyielding emphasis placed on cooperation and problem solving. It has been termed “fierce egalitarianism”, it makes sense- living in small bands, at the mercy of nature and highly dependent on one-another, humans likely developed solution-oriented communication tendencies in order to be successful in the face of the danger and uncertainty of their world.
The devolution of our disposition for solution-oriented, cooperation-directed communication skills is likely to be a relatively recent phenomenon- one associated with the development of systems of food production and storage that over time required or lead to greater divisions in labor, status, population growth and land ownership. Agriculture cropped up years ago and the division of labor and society in ever-growing social groups has undermined the egalitarian mindset of our ancestral, tribal forebears- the emphasis of common ground- amongst the population ever since.
There is clear evidence, both currently and historically, that without the skills necessary to find resolution to conflicts which are nurturing to the group’s moral and promote cooperation and positive outcomes, the resentment, distrust and hardships which arise give way to deterioration rapidly.
Daniel Balliet, of Singapore University, conducted a meta-analysis of much of the available research on how social dilemmas are enhanced by cooperative communication. In the paper, which appeared in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Balliet looks to a number of studies to find out what strategies enhanced conflict-resolution. He writes that while “there is no magic bullet… the single solution that has harnessed the most support and reduced the most conflict… is [effective] communication.” (JCR, 40)
Conflict is everywhere. As social, highly emotional creatures with many variable forays, inevitably, toes are stepped on, walls are put up, hearts are broken. Even a decision like “what to make for dinner”, or an off-handed remark can lead to conflict. The interlocking web of opportunity for conflict-resolution is endless. Cultivating effective communication strategies will be as useful to you as stocking up on toilet paper or finding out which plants won’t give you a gnarly rash when you have to go without.
So, how does one begin in their quest to advance their communication skills? The first objective in this process would be realizing that cultivating better communication skills takes time and patience- with oneself and others. Patience is a virtue, and this adage could become a mantra for to assist you in advancing your communication.
As for the how-to, fortunately, there has been much research into the field of what makes communication with others strong, and what makes it go sour. Various researchers have come up with more or less the same basic tenets. If understood and practiced frequently, the skills a person develops can change the course of their relationships with others fundamentally. So, if you feel up to the task, read on for a primer on what will likely be a rewarding investment of your energy and time.
A few books stand out which shed light on the subject of bettering our communication skills. The three that I am most familiar with, and that are very easy to digest, are “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
These authors’ work is based on many years of research observing human communication, across cultures and in different scenarios, from spousal discourse to business deals.
When we think of communication, we think of speaking, generally. Funny enough, one of the most critical facets of being an effective communicator is listening well. We are not raised in western culture to listen well… many of us come from family dynamics where people heard what they wanted to hear, and based their responses on that.
We have also been conditioned by the culture at large to be impatient and hasty with our responses and assumptions. These ways of relating are unlikely to produce positive outcomes… when an “agreement” is struck, and the aforementioned ways of listening were a large factor influencing it, then it is likely that one party simply acquiesced or gave up- which creates resentment and does not deepen understanding, nor does it further positive feelings amongst the participants.
So, how does one become a good listener, and ultimately a good communicator? There’s not a special formula. There is, however, a need to be objective, empathic, and to cultivate a sense of joint effort to find a common ground.
The authors of the book “Getting to Yes” advocate some fundamentals that are easy to understand. It may seem trite, but they really are simple ideas. It is getting past your enculturation and habits that is the difficult part.
First, don’t bargain over positions- it is inefficient, it endangers a relationship, and it gets worse the more parties that are involved. Positional bargaining is the most common pitfall in social dilemmas… each party in a conflict adheres rigidly to their own desires, thereby invalidating the ideas of those around them. All elements of communication, like salt roads to Rome, lead back to the position of the party espousing their views in contrast to another’s.
It’s a no-win situation. If listening is a key ingredient to good communication, then it follows that objectivity and flexibility would work well, too. After all, what are we listening for if not to gain insight into the ideas of the other party?
The next concept outlined in Getting to Yes is to “Separate the People from the Problem”. Remember that negotiators are people first, and that every negotiator has two kinds of interests: The substance and the relationship. The relationship, however, tends to become entangled with the problem. Since positional bargaining (where one is fixated on a particular idea or outcome, and orients all attempts at resolution toward that end) tends to put a relationship in conflict with the substance, its best to keep them separate. Deal directly with people.
How do you deal with people directly? Seems like an easy task- many people are probably scratching their heads, because this seems like the only thing that you are doing when engaged in a discourse or argument with another person. But without some alterations to the approach, many of us may find ourselves squabbling, yelling, and ending up sans solution, and mired in frustration and resentment.
The authors suggest we start this by changing our perceptions. We must change the way we are viewing them, the other, and take the opportunity to influence how they are viewing us.
We start by putting ourselves in the other person’s shoes. That’s where we try to understand their position, or why they might feel a certain way. If you were in a survival situation, and came upon others that were looking for food, ill, or frightened, you could attempt to see things from their vantage point. Doing so might keep you from making a rash decision.
There are many people in the survivalist community who take a “me and my own” stance when it comes to dealing with outsiders, especially in a SHTF scenario. And, while this concept certainly has its place, this type of mentality makes it likely that if there is a person with valuable skills who comes along, information or ideas, say a doctor or engineer or perhaps just an individual with an able body and sound mind, they will be obscured to the group that cannot adequately address confrontations by utilizing empathy. In other words, sharing a meal with an outsider who comes looking for food, as opposed to chasing them off with sticks from the get- go (and yes, this is a metaphor as well) can be a tool in and of itself.
When dealing with social dilemmas, its also important to try not to deduce their intentions from your fears. This is a strange phenomenon, yet we all do it from time to time. It is an aspect of communication that takes on an almost magical or paranormal quality, where we assume their intentions based on how we feel. It’s a slippery slope, however, and best to be avoided. Why? Because we are not (most of us, anyway) equipped with psychic, infallible capacities of deduction for the intentions of others.
Its best to get past the blame hurdle as well. This has got to be one of the most difficult pitfalls that many of us learned- blaming others. It feels “right”… they did or said something. The problem is, if that is the angle we come from, the human tendency is to recoil or become defensive. Neither produces the results we want- which is a solution, right?
There is a show on television right now that centers around a survivalist/ SHTF scenario, and it couldn’t be more perfect in its depiction of how not to communicate effectively during social dilemmas. Secrecy, positional bargaining, even murder… its all there. Now, while I haven’t had a television in my home for the last 10 years, I was recently at a friend’s house. They are apparently avid fans of this show, and asked me to take in a few episodes that were being played back to back.
Its called The Walking Dead, and it airs on AMC. The characters, catapulted from normalcy into an apocalyptic, zombie plagues nightmare, travel the countryside, trying to evade harm and zombies. Far more then a gore-show, the greatest conflict is the drama which unfolds socially, aided by the characters’ utter lack of efficient, cooperative communication. The characters undermine, with each new episode, the quality of their groups cohesion, by approaching interpersonal and group dilemmas with dysfunctional communication skills.
The overwhelming tendency toward blame and self-centered perspectives on conflicts that arise likely causes more zombie-related skirmishes, bites and battles then just trying to navigate a world of zombies in an of itself would portend. The characters are utterly inept at effective communication- they bicker, yell, attempt to kill, and constantly quarrel with one-another, to no avail. The show is entertaining- but the way that the characters communicate is baffling.
As a survivalist, it seems outrageous that petty arguments could take the attention of the characters away from… well… zombies around every turn. Yet many a character has had a flesh-eating, roaming, gimpy corpse creep up behind them, nearly chomping a bit of shoulder, even in broad daylight. Why? How? Its really simple- they’re always arguing, and their debates are littered with the worst communication patterns imaginable.
Sadly, admittedly, the communication patterns used by the characters in this show are often used by real-life people not being pursued by hoards of walking dead. All of us fall prey from time to time, to the ineffective, messy, hindering patterns of communication that we were conditioned to believe was normal. Part of that narrative of normalcy includes not really caring to find out another’s perspective.
By discussing each other’s perceptions, we open new doors. We shatter our old habits. We can use it as an opportunity to act inconsistently with their perceptions. (And example would be listening when they have stated they feel like you don’t.) And, by making sure that they participate in the process, you give them a stake in the outcome. Now you’re working as a team.
But with all this objectivity, we don’t want to lose sight of what’s really driving much of our misunderstanding, anger and conflict. Emotions.
Take the time to recognize and understand their emotions and your own. Talk about them. Acknowledge them as legitimate. Allowing the other side to “let off steam” is a great way to diffuse tension and hear what they’ve been feeling without taking it personally. If they have emotional outbursts, do not react to them. This keeps the tension low, and it’s a strength in character to work towards this end.
Once you are identifying with your co-communicator, despite your differences of opinion, you can make good headway towards a solution. If you listen actively and acknowledge what is being said, if you speak well so that you are understood, and clarify when you are not, then you will go far. Speak for a purpose. And all-importantly, speak about yourself, not them.
Some people may be thinking “Well, this sounds nice, but how does it look in practice?” These strategies are used by businessman and women world-wide. They are used amongst union members who attend mediation groups to work out settlements. They are used by teachers, by colleagues, by spiritual communities, and by families. In short, we know the principles, when utilized with earnest, tend to work well, because they are used so universally in settings where there is group cohesion, community health and finances at stake.
To each their own- remember that adage? A critical step when approaching conflict is to recognize that each side has multiple interests. Their interests define the problem at hand. Despite the presence of opposed positions, there are many shared and compatible interests mingling with the conflicting ones.
The most powerful interests are basic human needs, and for some communication scenarios, a list can be made. By putting both parties interests and needs down on paper, it helps you to look forward, not backwards. It acknowledges their interests and your own. Yet, it can make it easier to mutually identify which interests you or the other party have that may actually be part of the problem.
When you’re working towards a solution, try to avoid premature judgment, searching for the single answer, or thinking that solving their problem is “their problem”.
When we look at a situation through another’s eyes, when we detach ourselves from what we assume might be another’s thoughts, and when we focus on meeting the person where they are, as opposed to “having our way” (positional bargaining), we tend to have great success when resolving conflict.
Engaging in conflict resolution with an open mind, and a conscientious while assertive approach, makes our argument or ideas more appealing to others, and opens the door to concepts or issues we may have overlooked or had yet to grasp. When people feel respected, they often feel more flexible- more generous with their interests.
For most of us, its not difficult to imagine a scenario in which the communication takes a turn for the worst- where things break down. Much of our arguments and discussions go in that direction. Even if we “come out on top” or as “right”, much of the time, a poorly communicated discourse or debate leaves parties feeling unsettled, angry, anxious or hurt.
We can engage with others in a way that validates our own feelings and interests, while simultaneously supporting a solution-oriented interaction with someone we might be at odds with. This is the substance of a healthy community, relationship and general philosophy of life.
There are many more things that can advance your communication skills, and they are best practiced regularly, in all types of scenarios or conflicts, in order to really develop them solidly. I recommend the aforementioned books; many of us were not taught adequate ways to communicate with others, and reading up on the subject can be rewarding.
Remember- effective communication should be a fundamental tool in your arsenal for survival. It is not enough to have the best bug-out bag, the most complete fall-out shelter, or the most serious stash of weaponry. Even if you had not an item to your name, not a tool on your person, just knowing how to communicate well can be a valuable asset to get you out of a hairy situation.
We need to acknowledge that we are human, and that there are skillful ways in which we can influence our relationships and social encounters that can transform outcomes in a positive way, can serve as the binding glue for our community, and ultimately mean the difference between life and death for ourselves and others.
References:
Balliet, Daniel. Communication and Cooperation in Social Dilemmas: A Metanalytic Review, Journal of Conflict Resolution 2010, 54:39
Ury, William. Fisher, Roger. Patton, Bruce. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Penguin Books, 1983.
Many preppers and other radio communications enthusiasts want to be well equipped for receiving and transmitting under adverse conditions, but most modern hams, shortwave listeners (SWLs), preppers and observers are not familiar with the evolution of receiver and transmitter designs and how that progression can give us a useful advantage in gearing up for different scenarios. Old tech is, after all, appropriate tech when the going gets rough-the rougher, the older in many instances.
I want to start with receivers because a transmitter without a receiver is useful only for broadcasting, and in our endeavors broadcasting is generally our last goal. One concept I want to make clear is that in the design of radio communications technology, 'Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny'. The most simple and easiest to implement systems are usually those that in fact evolved early on, and they are often the most resistant to failure. But they also tend to have limitations which were why they were superseded: however, in extreme circumstances knowing how to implement them and having a few key items on hand could mean the difference between success and failure.
The primary steps or changes in the design of radio receiver construction are, the "crystal set" or Passive Tuned-Radio-Frequency (TRF) receiver, the Active TRF, or 'straight', receiver, the Regenerative ('regen' or 'howler') receiver and the superheterodyne (superhet, or mixing) receiver. There are other designs such as the 'superregenerative', 'direct conversion', and 'homodyne', but they are not significant for our purposes and are used today, if at all, for specific niche purposes. The four main categories each may have a use but only one, the last, will generally prove practical for a modern, all purpose radio and constitutes 99% of all commercially manufactured sets. All are worth knowing about and may have some specific application depending on the resources you have and what you are trying to accomplish.
The Crystal Set
The first radio receiver to be available in any quantity, and the first radio construction project for three generations of schoolboys and hobbyists, was the "crystal radio". It had no vacuum tubes or other active devices, and consisted of an antenna, an earth ground, a tuned circuit to select a particular 'wavelength' or frequency to pick up, a 'crystal' detector to turn the modulated signal into an audio voltage, and some type of transducer to enable the listener to hear that small voltage. There were no batteries or any power source, other than that provided by the signal itself. There were no active devices to power either. The 'crystal' was not, as in modern electronics of all types, a small piece of resonant cut quartz used to provide a frequency reference but rather a semiconductor junction made up of a chunk of certain kinds of rock or mineral and a small needle or 'whisker' of dissimilar metal. Galena was the preferred detector, usually mounted in a holder with a convenient gizmo to make putting the whisker on a certain part of the little rock where it would work best, but many materials would work and a rusty razor blade and a stick pin or wire often saw service as well. Modern crystal radio builders usually just use a regular diode, preferably salvaged from a junk television, computer or what have you: Most any diode or transistor will work but germanium or Schottky diodes are preferred for best sensitivity.
Almost any old boy's electrical or science book will have diagrams of crystal radios and some instructions on building various types. There are many different circuits but the keys are always the same: a good antenna, a good ground, a sensitive transducer, and patience.
The transducer, or speaker, bears some comment. A modern loudspeaker will not reproduce anything, usually, with a crystal set. Even modern headphones are useless. The little crystal ear-bud they used to include with the old transistor radios will provide some results, but best is the old, high impedance, "watch case" headphones. They are very sensitive and have many uses for electronic servicing and antique radio use besides crystal sets. They were made up until the 1960s or early 1970s for the military, and can be found at hamfests or online. I have found that piano and organ stores often have a set or two lying around because for some peculiar reason Wurlitzer used them, with a matching transformer, with their home organs, most of which have little value today and will be parted out by organ servicemen.
The upside of the crystal set is that it is eminently suited to do-it-yourself construction, needs no batteries, and will enable users to hear local AM stations during the day and a number of clear channel stations at night. In rural areas, with enough antenna and a really good ground, many AM broadcast band stations and, with the right tuning coils, even an occasional shortwave broadcast station can be heard at night.
There was a good reason it fell into disuse except as a novelty or boys' project after the mid-1920s: it couldn't be used to listen to CW (Morse code) or SSB signals, it only got strong stations in the day (and when it did, often more than one at the same time), and you had to listen carefully with headphones. In other words, poor sensitivity, poor selectivity, and low audio output. Also, it was infeasible to build a crystal set useful above roughly 40 meters, unless you were monitoring the transmitter next door.
Under ideal conditions, though, it could provide superb fidelity and that's why crystal sets were manufactured commercially again in the 1950s, as a tuner for high fidelity buffs who wanted good AM reception. When FM became popular, this ended. Another later use for crystal sets was on ships as an emergency receiver, if for some reason all else failed. Since they were light, small, inexpensive and consumed no power, they were usually built into the ship's radio equipment.
My recommendation for more information on crystal sets is to obtain, if possible, the first three volumes of Alfred P. Morgan's Boys Books of Radio and Electronics. These are somewhat scarce, in contrast to his "The Boy Electrician" whose early editions are now public domain and therefore reprinted widely. Modern publications include those sold by Lindsay Publications, such as "The Impoverished Radio Experimenter" and the books put out by The Xtal Set Society . Ed Romney's 'How To Fix Up Nice Old Radios' has useful material on these and later sets as well.
The TRF Receiver
People wanted better selectivity and sensitivity and above all they wanted to be able to listen to the radio at a normal volume, without headphones. Amplifying the signal, tuning it carefully, and feeding it to a loudspeaker solved those problems and an invention called by the British a "Thermionic Valve" made that possible. We on this side of the Atlantic know it more commonly as a vacuum tube.
The valve, or tube, started out as a light bulb that had been fitted with a metal plate across from the filament. If the light bulb was running and a second voltage was applied from the filament, which became a cathode, the plate became an anode and current would flow in one direction but not the other. Thus it could rectify alternating current and act as a detector for modulation put on a transmitted carrier. It could not amplify a weak signal, though, until it was found that if a "fence" or grid was put between the filament and plate, a third voltage would in effect open or close the gate and cause current to flow, or not to flow. Moreover, it could make the current flow a lot or a little, like the throttle on an engine's carburetor. (Remember those?) A small change in voltage could cause a large change in current, so in effect it could amplify weak signals. And it could do it at DC or as high as many megacycles, meaning it could amplify both audio and radio signals.
There you have the TRF receiver. It consisted of one or more stages of radio frequency amplifiers, each with a tube, and with separate tuned circuits in between so the desired radio frequency would be received at the exclusion of others: then, a detector that just as with the crystal set changed the modulated RF signal into an audio signal: and then one or more untuned audio amplifier stages that made the signal, louder than before but still no match for a loudspeaker's needs, big enough to drive a speaker that everyone in a room could hear. Of course you could still use a headset, but only hams and "night hawks" or "DXers" did that. The TRF set meant that radio was now a family affair, and Dad tuned the set so everyone could listen. The TRF set was expensive and delicate enough that in most families, the kids (and even Mom) were not allowed to fool with it. Radio had changed a lot.
Although most houses had electricity, except on farms, most TRF radios ran on batteries, because no simple and cheap method existed to turn AC into smooth and quiet enough DC to run a radio set. Two, and sometimes three different kinds of batteries were needed: a low voltage high current supply, usually 6 volts for the filaments (called the A battery) and a high voltage low current supply made up of a lot of small dry cells in most cases. The A battery was usually borrowed from the family car if they had one. (More did than not, except in New York.) The B battery was bought new and discarded and this made for a considerable expense. So did the tubes, which at first only lasted a few dozen hours if that.
The TRF became obsolete within a few years, around the same time AC powered tubes and usable capacitors made batteries obsolete and tubes began to last longer and cost less. A few were built later on, again occasionally for "hi-fi nuts", and in Britain especially, they were used for surveillance by MI5 and MI6 and so forth because they had no local oscillator to give their presence and location away. Spies, real or imagined, would listen to what were then "regular" radios and the counterintelligence service would monitor their local oscillator emissions to catch them. American military and intelligence services had a different solution, which didn't occur to the Brits. Then again, they put the plumbing on the outside of the building so they can get to it easier when it freezes up.
I can't think of any circumstance where you'd want one today, but the TRF does exist and did work.
The Regenerative Receiver
The regenerative receiver, often called a 'regen' or a 'howler', is based on another property of the vacuum tube, and amplifiers generally. If you feed some of the output of an amplifier back into the input, in phase, it will start swinging back and forth electrically, or "oscillating". A radio transmitter, in its most basic form, is an oscillator. Its frequency is controlled by a tuned circuit or by some other kind of filter.
If you set up a vacuum tube as an oscillator, and fed in a radio frequency signal, and adjusted it so it was just barely ready to oscillate, it would make a really sensitive detector. The regen was cheap to build, it had a single tuned circuit, and it was sensitive and it became a really popular homebrew project. Never popular as a broadcast receiver, the regen made listening to short waves possible for anyone who could scrape up a tube, a headset, and enough wire to wind a coil or two plus some batteries. Since there was a Depression on, and since people were (even so) throwing out stuff with wire and tubes you could salvage, building a regen was the stuff of schoolboys and impecunious hobbyists.
The one tube regen wasn't a great radio. It would pick up a lot of stations, often more than one at once. The sound quality was poor, because the detector distorted. The antenna was part of the tuned circuit so any wind or movement near it made the frequency wander. And since it was still an oscillator, it would transmit as easily as it received, causing interference and neighborhood fights. (Today it still might, and with guns rather than fists in a real disaster.) And, it would sometimes oscillate at audio frequencies as well as radio ones, causing the listener to be blasted with a sine wave so loud he'd rip the headset off and throw it.That's why they were called howlers.
Later regens, commercial or homebrew, improved somewhat on these problems. An RF amplifier and tuned stage, as on the TRF set, was added, both for more sensitivity and to keep the regenerative detector's RF inside the set where they belonged. A stage of audio amplification was also added after the detector, to reduce the load on it, help stop howling, and give more volume. And the set was shielded and a precise tuning and regeneration controls added. Probably the best regen ever built was the National SW-3, which would still be a nice thing to have today, even with its limitations, for a serious prepper. But compared to a modern superhet communications receiver, it has poor selectivity, poor audio quality and good sensitivity only up to about 10 megacycles. (They call them megaHertz, MHz, now.)
But building a regen is good experience and could be a lifesaver in a situation where no other radio is around. You can use transistors instead of tubes, as well, should you have any that still work. (And if you correctly stash away a few dollars' worth of them at surplus prices now you will have hundreds of them that work). They quit building regens commercially just as soon as the superhet became understood and the patents didn't stop them, except for hobbyists and a few kits in the late 1950s for kids. The exception: Marine suppliers made and sold regens as late as the 1960s for 500 kHz marine service on ships. Even though the Germans sank ships with them by listening for their characteristic emissions, homing in on them and torpedoing them in WWII.
The Superheterodyne
Major Edwin H. Armstrong invented a new kind of receiver and patented it in 1918. (He had also invented the regenerative and the superregenerative receiver and would go on to invent frequency modulation later. ) It solved the problems of making a good radio that could be tuned to different frequencies by having a variable local oscillator-in other words, a small generator or transmitter built into the radio itself-that could be tuned easily and that would convert the received signal into a second, intermediate frequency, that could be filtered, amplified and detected. This meant that with a single knob, a mass produced, inexpensive set could be as sensitive and selective as the most complicated and fussy precision TRF set, and it could detect the signal cleanly, with great fidelity.
Superhet receivers became utterly dominant by 1930 and still are. They could be built with as few as two or as many as 40+ tubes and when transistors came out they could be built cheaper with those. Modern superhet receivers may consist of just one integrated circuit or 'chip' with a few, tiny, inexpensive capacitors and coils around them.
One of the most popular early types of superhet radio you should be aware of is the famous "All American 5". It can run on AC or DC, has no power transformer, and was called that (it's sometimes referred to as an AA5 in print) because it had five tubes, in a particular layout. There was a converter tube that acted as an RF amplifier and a local oscillator in one, an IF amplifier, a detector and first audio amplifier tube, a power output tube and a rectifier tube. They were often offered as a kit for hobbyists or for training in vo-tech schools from about 1940 to as late as 1975 or even 1980. (Yes, tubes were obsolete, but government funds weren't.) They were also sold by the tens-maybe hundreds- of millions in every country with 100-130 volt power. Most of them were just for the AM broadcast band, and they gave good local station performance, but a few AM and shortwave versions and even a few VHF aeronautical band versions exist. These radios have one dangerous characteristic: One side of the chassis is hooked to the AC power line, and if it's the hot side the radio will work just fine, but if you come in contact with any metal parts connected to the chassis you will get a severe shock. The radio must be repaired or junked if the case or knobs break or the chassis is exposed. If it is a metal case radio then it should only be used with an isolation transformer no matter its condition.
All of the communications receivers and transceivers you will use are superhets and with that exception, most have a power transformer and are isolated from the AC line, or in the case of solid state radios they may run from 12 volt DC. Building superhet radios from scratch requires intermediate frequency transformers and other specialized parts, as well as test equipment to align them, and will not be something you'll do on a field expedient basis. Even experienced hams quit building their own superhets because they could buy them commercially made cheaper than the parts cost and because most were too cheap to buy good test equipment: by 1960, kids had other interests and ham radio was mostly middle aged guys whose ham shacks were a diversion from nagging XYLs and an excuse to buy expensive stuff to impress their ham friends, just as it is now.
What you will want to do is to buy the good radios now while you can, learn to use and maintain them, and to be able to select the good ones from the not so good. You will definitely want to buy some tools and test equipment while they are cheap now, because few want them. You will want to stash away those parts you can get cheaply, and acquire at least the skills to know what you don't know and where to go to change that. (More to follow in Part 2.)
Capt. Rawles,
I enjoy your blog very much, however, I have read several times that you need a physical mailing address to get an amateur (ham) radio license. I don't believe that is correct. If you look closely at FCC form 605, line 15, they ask for a "P.O. Box, and/or Street Address". The FCC needs a "address of record". One could rent a box at a UPS Store (which gives a street address) they just want to be able to reach you by mail. You can also register as an "Entity", i.e. a business, corporation, LLC, etc. I recently went through the process. I used an old business that has not been active in years, along with it's EIN, instead of my social security number. It should not be very difficult to keep ones actual physical address out of the FCC database, without lying or doing anything illegal. - The Shiny New Tech
David in Israel warned of a possible "kill shot" CME after the latest impact.
As quoted by UrbanSurvival.com, here it comes, possibly on Sunday night:
"SOHO/LASCO detected a full halo CME in association with the M6.3 flare in Catania sunspot group 65 (NOAA AR 1429) this morning. The CME first appeared in the LASCO C2 field of view at 04:14 UT and had a speed around 750 km/s. We expect the CME arrival at the Earth late on March 11 - early on March 12. An evaluation of the possible erupting flux rope orientation on the basis of HMI photospheric magnetograms and AIA images of the post-eruption arcade gives the south-east-north (SEN, left-handed) configuration. Due to the position of the CME source region close to the solar central meridian, we expect a nearly central encounter of the resulting ICME, which will probably be a magnetic cloud with leading southward field. A strong geomagnetic storm (K = 7 or higher) is probable."
- J.B. in Tennessee
I'm writing to remind readers that the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) that began March 8, 2012 will sweep away low speed particles clearing the way for a few days for a somewhat possible 1859 Carrington Event style kill shot should there be another large CME. I suggest that SurvivalBlog readers keep up to date on SpaceWeather.com though utilities and emergency services will also be watching this. Even if there is another larger CME and the utilities disconnect to save their equipment any long conductor can act as an antenna for the radio waves produced by an ionospheric event. So be ready to check electrical connections to any large metal objects, disconnect antennas and even pull removable power supplies. Good grounding is always a good idea even if there is no EMP/CME worries [since lightning is a day-to-day risk.] Purim Somayach - David in Israel
JWR Adds: SurvivalBlog reader Randy K. sent a link to a blog post at A Survival Plan with a fairly comprehensive list of very useful web links: Large X-Class Solar Flare – Resources and News. And here is an AP wire story: Biggest solar storm in years hits, so far so good
I admit it. I’m woefully unprepared. Recent events have caused me to “wake up”, much like Neo in The
Matrix who takes the “red pill” and awakens to the painful reality. When you first awaken it’s overwhelming. You feel that there is so much to do and so little time. My resources are limited and I expect they will become more so over time. Rather than succumbing to the paralysis of analysis, and constant study without action, I feel it’s better to begin chipping away at getting prepared. I suggest you start today and get a toe hold on being prepared. Starting small is better than not starting at all. There are many small things you can do that will get you going in the right direction, and will give you an advantage should you find yourself in an emergency situation. You could build your first 72 hour kit bag. You could attend a free Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Academy. Or, like this article suggests, you could spend one day of your life in a “Ham Cram” class for $5 -$15 dollars and walk away with a skill that you can use the rest of your life. Getting your first Amateur Radio License allows you to use some pretty powerful equipment with capabilities beyond what you can legally use as a non licensed citizen. Ham radio is infrastructure independent, is used by those interested in emergency preparedness and has gotten a lot less expensive in the last few years.
The Back Story
Recent events got me interested in prepping for the next emergency situation. The first event was the San Diego Blackout of 2011. Unlike others I stayed at work for three hours after the power outage started. Everyone else left work immediately and jumped on the freeway right into a park lot. For some people that just lived a few miles way away from work it took hours to get home. I spent those three hours at work on a project I had put off for far too long and left work when it got dark. I had waited out the traffic, but I didn’t know what was going on until I heard the mayor give a speech on the FM radio in my car. After the event I talked to a buddy of mine who had a handheld ham radio at work and he said he knew within about 2 minutes what had happened and the extent of the blackout. He used a handheld transceiver (HT) commonly called a handi-talkie. While the cell phones had gone offline, the ham repeaters were up and working fine on backup power. After talking with him I was impressed with the amount of ‘intel’ he was able to gather over his ham radio in such a short amount of time. I would have done just about anything at the time to know what was going on and talk with my wife. If I had already owned a ham radio, I could have.
The second event was camping in Joshua Tree National Park with my kids. They were climbing on 2 and 3 story rocks like mountain goats. Our campground was 10 minutes away from cell phone coverage. I kept thinking if anything horrible happened there would be no way to contact emergency services in a reasonable amount of time. I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if one of the kids got hurt and I wasn’t able to contact emergency assistance immediately and provide my GPS coordinates. It’s my responsibility as a parent to be prepared and protect my children, and for that trip I feel I came up short.
So with those two events fresh in my mind I signed up for a course to get my amateur radio Technician license.
Getting Your Amateur Radio License Is Easier Than You Think
Getting your amateur radio license is easier than you might think. One of the best things about ham radio is that the classes and tests are almost free. In my case, the all day class was free and the fee for taking the test was $5. In our area they have a 90% pass rate for people that take the class. Many don’t even study before taking the course and do well. My wife failed the exam on her first attempt, but was able to retake the test a second time in the same sitting and passed. I think she would agree there’s no reason not to spend one day and $5 to get your license. If you do a little up front study there is no reason you shouldn’t be able to earn your first ham license for a modest investment of your time.
At the class I attended almost half of the participants were from one CERT program or another. That ham class is how I found out about CERT. Going to a ham class is a good way to network with others that are interested in emergency preparedness (regardless of their motivation). It’s also a great place to find out about local civilian and government organizations that will be active in your area during times of emergency. If you are hooked into ham radio you’ll be in the know. The information you learn using a ham radio during a crisis situation could be invaluable.
Get Field Tested and Emergency Appropriate Equipment
Local emergency groups are also good sources of information regarding what equipment is actually used and reliable in the field. The most active CERT group in my county uses the Yaesu FT-60R. After doing quite a bit of research including reading the Yaesu FT-60R spec sheet on the product I discovered why they like that radio so much. This is the radio I purchased for my wife and myself. The radio has a very low current draw during transmit and receive, and it can transmit at a full 5 watts using AA batteries. Many modern Handi-Talkies (HTs) have become very small and use proprietary batteries that can only be used in a few models and are very expensive. You can get factory AA battery adapters for most ham handhelds, but since the battery adapters are the same size as the original battery and are limited to the number of AA cells that can fit inside the adapter. This forces manufacturers to use AA battery adapters with a limited number of AA batteries, so they have to reduce the transmit power to half a watt when running on AAs. Using the Yaesu AA battery adapter (part #: FBA-25) with the FT-60R adds quite a bit of flexibility in emergency situations as you can use six AA Alkaline batteries or the latest rechargeable battery technology and still transmit at a full 5 watts. Regardless of which radio you choose, make sure that the AA battery adapter will allow the radio to transmit at maximum power and uses a large number of AA batteries. Also, check the receive (RX) and transmit (TX) current draw on the spec sheet and compare it against other handheld radios you are considering. Make sure you are using a radio that uses power efficiently since it’s in short supply during emergency situations.
Ham Radios Give You Options
Although the FT-60R is only dual band (2M/440MHz) for transmit, it has wideband reception from 108-520 MHz and 700-999.990 MHz. This allows it to be used as a poor man’s scanner in emergency situations. While a dedicated scanner is recommended, “one is none” as they say. It’s good to have back up and some redundant functionality should your dedicated scanner get lost, run out of batteries or fail.
The FT-60R can monitor the FRS (Family Radio Service), GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) and MURS (Multi-Use Radio Service) radio frequencies. MURS is adjacent to the 2M band while, FRS and GMRS are adjacent to the 440Mhz band. Many ham handhelds transmit at 5 watts, while FRS is limited to 0.5 watts and MURS is limited to 2 watts.
You’ll notice that FRS/MURS radios have short little stubby antennas called ‘rubber duckies’. Legally FRS radios cannot have their antennas modified, so they don’t make it convenient to do so. MURS radios can have external antennas, but they are limited to 2 watts of total power output (TPO). Unlike FRS and MURS radios, ham handheld transceivers have a wide array of options for antennas. This allows you to attach antennas that are longer, get better reception, and have more gain which can allow you to reduce power output needed to transmit. You can also attach a ham handheld to a wide variety of external antennas like those small magnetic ones you can put on the roof of your car. The fact that you can easily and legally modify your radios prior to an emergency situation is a quite an advantage. If you can’t get the range you want it’s easy to add a new antenna. You can even add an antenna as a way to increase the gain and increase battery life. If you need even better battery life, you can use a AA adapter and the leverage the latest battery technology without having to buy a new radio. This also allows you to standardize on a particular battery form factor. When camping I do my best to stick with equipment that uses AA batteries whenever possible. This allows me to move my usable power to the device where I need it the most if I’m low on power.
You can even modify your FT-60R to allow it to transmit (TX) on 137-177MHz and 420-470MHz. Make sure you only transmit on frequencies for which you are licensed or are prepared to face the consequences if you need to use those frequencies during a life threatening emergency.
Over the last few years competition from inexpensive Chinese radios sold under the Wouxun (pronounced Oh-Sheng, like "ocean") and Baofeng brands have caused name brand handhelds to come down in price. It used to cost $200+ to get a decent handheld. Current competition is pushing the prices down toward $120. The Yaesu FT-60R used to be a $200 radio. You can now get them retail for $160. On eBay you can get the FT-60R in ‘like-new’ used condition with no tax for around $120. The point is that you can get a great radio and the bottom tier price levels. Personally I’d rather have for $120 radios, than two radios that cost twice as much. “One is none” and backups are critical, especially in an emergency situation where buying a replacement at short notice is impossible or impractical. Ham radio equipment holds its value reasonably well compared to other electronic devices, so if you change your mind in the future and need to sell some of your equipment to get something else or upgrade you should be able to recoup a good deal of your investment. In a grid down situation I would expect ham radio equipment to be worth its weight in gold.
It’s important to note that brand name accessories are expensive compared to the price of the radio. Each accessory for a band name radio costs an average of $30. If you do buy your radio used or on eBay it’s possible to get the radio/accessory bundle for almost half the retail price.
Ham handheld radios are often purpose build for emergency communications, so they are durable, are often waterproof or water resistant and have factory accessories for 12v support. Yaesu even sells and accessory (Part #: E-DC-6) for the FT-60R that has a DC plug for the radio on one and bare wires on the other for connecting the radio to a DC power source.
Repeaters
If you’re new to ham radios you may not be familiar with the concept of a repeater, and I keep throwing that word around so I’ll cover it briefly. A repeater is a radio station that receives a transmission on one frequency and outputs it on another. The purpose of a repeater is to boost the signal of the incoming transmission to increase the range and help radio signals get around terrain obstructions. Repeaters often reside on the tallest mountain tops in your area that provide good ‘line of sight’ coverage to the surrounding areas on both sides of the mountain. This way, a person on one side of the mountain can communicate with someone on the other side. It also extends the range of the radios greatly. Using a repeater you can communicate with people 20, 30, 50 sometimes even 100 miles away! Also, repeaters can be linked to create ‘networks’ that cover an entire city, county or state. A detailed discussion of repeaters is beyond the scope of this article, but it’s important to know that repeaters are one of the biggest advantages of going with a ham radio. It’s amazing to be able to talk with people over such great distances with a little 5 watt handheld. And when the cell phone system is down the ham repeaters are usually still working on backup generators or battery power.
Turn your 5 watt handheld into a 50 watt handheld
If you do get a ham handheld radio make sure it’s dual band and supports cross band repeat. Cross band repeat will allow you to use a mobile ham radio in your car or home to boost the signal of your handheld. Basically with cross band repeat you use two frequencies on two different bands to bounce communications through another mobile ham radio. This will allow you to stay mobile with the handheld but leverage the power output and larger antenna installed on the house or vehicle. A typical mobile ham radio in a car is 50 watts and can have a full size antenna. If you position your car at the top of a hill you can use it to communicate with radios where your handheld doesn’t have ‘line of sight’. Used with a radio in your house “sky’s the limit”!
Final Words
While all the ‘hams’ I’ve met in local clubs so far have been kind and helpful, they really didn’t seem too concerned with battery life. For me [as a prepper on a budget] battery life and affordability were the toptwo issues. Long term I want to have many back up radios, and $120 a pop they add up. I’m really glad I took the time to get involved in ham radio because it introduced me to CERT and others involved in practical emergency preparedness. I hope this article lands you in a ham class sometime in the near future and gets you involved with your local CERT group. Knowing what is going on around you will allow you to prepare quickly and make good decisions as information during a crisis as it unfolds. The next step is to get my General license so I can access the High Frequency (HF) bands and take my ‘intel’ gathering to the national and/or global level.
Summary
1. Getting into ham radio can be inexpensive and easy.
a. Ham classes are often free, and run by volunteers.
b. Ham exams cost $5 or $15, and can be taken the same day as a class.
c. Great ‘like-new’ brand name radios can be had for as little as $120.
2. Getting involved in ham radio will provide a network of people interested in emergency preparedness (i.e. CERT).
3. Ham radios are much more powerful and configurable than retail FRS or MURS radios.
4. Ham radios can be dual band (2m/440Mhz), while MURS is just above the 2 meter band and FRS/GMRS is in the 440Mhz band.
5. Dual band ham radios can monitor FRS/GMRS and MURS bands.
6. Ham radios are 5 watts while FRS and MURS radios are half a watt to 2 watts.
7. Ham handhelds have great power options and some can provide full capability with AA batteries.
8. Battery life can be increased by getting a better antenna.
9. Repeaters can extend the range of ham handhelds to the county or even state level.
10. Cross band functionality using a mobile ham radio in your vehicle or house as a repeater can increase your operational capability.
Useful Links
Jim:
I would like to begin this story by telling you why I felt it was needed. I was reading the blog and saw the post from R.H. "When the lights went out in the southwest" and how they had a very hard time getting in contact with his nephew. And also a recent post on CME and nuclear power plant failures and grid down type situations. And it got me thinking about how little some people know about how the traditional communications grid in this country works.
To qualify my position on this subject I will tell you that I'm a network technician for a very major telephone company (Telco) that serves all of Jim's American Redoubt states and many others. I have 11 years here and love my job and I have been everything from an installer/repair tech to the guy that splices the cable and installs high speed data lines.
So where to start? I would like to tell you all there is to know about how this stuff works, but I don't want to bore you all to tears so I'm going to leave most of the technical terms and stuff like that out. I'll start with R.H. and his trouble getting in touch with his nephew.
In his story he talks about getting texts and some calls on his cell. So we can assume that he had a signal from a cell tower and his cell phone was in good working order. But there was a problem with one town not getting or sending cell calls and texts. This was possibly a tower that served that area had lost grid power and had no battery or generator back-up. Or it was over loaded with call volume. See in a typical cell site there are pretty much three major components that make the whole thing work.
1. The tower, This guy sends out and receives radio like signals to and from your cell phone.
2. The switching equipment in the building on the ground. This takes the signal and turns it into a call or SMS message and routes them out to the world.
3. The tower's connection to the world. This is typically a couple T-1s or a fiber optic connection.
Sometimes part #2 or #3 will become over loaded with volume and that's why you'll get that message "sorry but all circuits are busy" when you try to make a call. The switch may not have enough spots free to connect you out but the tower can make a connection to your phone. Or the T-1 or fiber connection to the world doesn't have enough bandwidth to handle all the calls if its being overloaded with calls. This is why sometimes you can send a SMS message but not make a call. Because the message needs less bandwidth to send compared to a voice call.
Visualize bandwidth like a pipe. If its big enough to handle the traffic on a normal day but all of a sudden you start cramming more stuff in it it just can't fit sometimes. Like trying to use a garden hose to fight a house fire, its just not big enough sometimes. Now land lines are a little bit different, and have some advantages for preppers over the cell phones. Don't get me wrong they both have good and bad sides. If you have a land line great but if you don't I'll let you know why you might want to consider getting one.
First off the whole problem of signals and battery power on your end are almost nil. If you have a hard wired or "corded phone" it will use the electric signal that's on the line from the Telco's own equipment. Assuming everything is working correctly at the central office, or some of the more rural areas are served thru what we call "pair gain" or a R.T. (short for Remote Terminal) more on this set-up later as there is a difference between Central Office (CO) based and R.T./pair gain based services.
Second, the whole bandwidth issue is not as bad because the CO for your area is where most cell towers get their fiber/T-1's from. Now CO switches can also become bogged down buy call volume also but most of the time they have extra capacity built into them because of this. And if you are making a call to another line that is from the same office the switch will make the connection in the same office. A long distance call or one that has to be sent to another office is more susceptible to volume problems due to the trunk lines used to connect the CO's to each other becoming overloaded.
Third, The COs have a big generator that kicks in when the office loses grid power. The offices I work out of have either a 72 hour supply of diesel fuel or run on utility-piped natural gas. But the diesel is most common as you can see the disadvantage to the gas option, I only know of one that is like that. Additionally, hey also have a 8 hour back-up battery bank.
This is where the difference between CO-based service and R.T.s kicks in. First off the R.T. is usually connected to the CO by a dedicated group of T-1s that have one time slot per line in the R.T. so you don't have the problem of "all circuits are busy" or a fiber optic connection that is for our sake the same. The trouble kicks in when these guys lose grid power, They typically have a 8-to-24 hour battery back-up in them and that's it. We have to go out with our trucks and charge them back up with the gensets on our trucks. You can see where that could get tricky. Most newer DSL service is provided by a R.T. and some of them don't even have a battery back-up as the companies are not required to have it on them by most regulations. My own line is like this, the dial tone is provided straight from the CO but my DSL comes from an R.T. So when my part of town loses grid power the phone still works but my DSL doesn't. This is something you might consider if you are using a VOIP type system.
The next thing you might think about is 911 service, your land line is tied to your address so if you call 911 from your land line the dispatcher on the other end knows where the call is coming from as soon as it's received. This is why a 911 hang-up still brings the cops to your house. The cell phones are getting better about knowing where you are with GPS and other things being used to tell where you made the call from.
I'm not to well-versed on how reverse 911 works with the cell's but I do know it works well with the land lines. This could be a double edged sword for preppers as the cell or land line could give up your location if you want to be all secret squirrel, but I have personally installed lines to addresses that are something like: "County Road 21 pole 5 second gate on the left." We don't care where the house is, just where the N.I. (short for Network Interface) is. I have seen these little gray boxes on fence posts and we take it to there and the customer takes it past that point. There are other ways around this but it usually requires you to use VOIP to get a fake area code and number. I know of guys that use this type of stuff but that's for another post.
This is just some info on why, during a short term SHTF you have problems using traditional communications. Be it a hurricane or another 9-11-01 type situation you'll be better prepared for them. In a TEOTWAWKI type of scenario your pretty much doing the YOYO thing but I hope this helps for the minor emergencies you run into in you lives.
And you can always stop one of us out on the road and ask questions to find out info on your setup. I would have to say that maybe 50% of the guys I work with are preppers and even more are ex-military so we would not think it strange at all if you wanted to know how it works! Hope this helps, - The Phone Guy
Southern California, September 8, 2011, 3:45 p.m.: Crud, my computer just shut down. It had been an uneventful day at the ranch studio to this point. I was finishing the day’s work on a project and looking forward to riding my horse before it got dark; now my computer flat-lines. Great…, what next?
Hit the television power switch on the remote, nothing... Power light on the plotter is off too, Huh? Went to the main breaker to see if the circuit to the studio had tripped. Nope, the wheel-of-debt inside the meter was not turning so the solution was not going to be “just the flip of a breaker away”. The problem just ratcheted up a notch.
Called San Diego Gas and Electric (SDGE) but could not get through, circuits were overloaded. Living in a rural area it is not unusual for the power to go out from time to time and take it in stride. We also have those raging Santa Ana wildfires every year, but a quick scan of eastern mountains showed no hint of smoke and living near the airport where the tankers stage, I didn't hear or see any tanker or helicopter activity.
Walked out to my truck and turned on the radio but no information about any power outage. Strange, must be a local power outage, or maybe just the transformer to my place.
Using my iPhone, I called a couple of neighbors. One not home, the other had no power either. The ratchet turns another notch.
Ok, so this is starting to look a little more serious than a tripped breaker.
Called my wife, who works in a corporate office downtown, and their power is out too. With no backup power, everyone was told to go home. A few minutes later, she calls back to say the security gates to the underground parking garage have no backup power so all the cars are trapped inside with no way out. Great...this situation is escalating from mere inconvenience to a "what next" event.
Cell phone rings, wife says a few of her co-workers with cars trapped in the garage had decided to stay in the building (being a biotech company they have good security), overnight if necessary, until someone could get the security gates open to the underground garage (or I come to pick her up). I reminded her that she had her Get Home Bag (GHB), just in case. Whenever we travel beyond our rural community each vehicle has a pack loaded with gear so we can hike back home (dreaded EMP event) and hers was in her truck. That meant she had MREs, water, first aid, hiking boots, sleeping bag, change of clothes, etc.
Now I am hearing sirens in town (a mile away). Even though I do not let my diesel tank get below the half way mark, I thought I would run into town to see what was going on and top off my tank anyway. What a shocker when I got to Main Street, to see the stoplights not working and lines already spilling out of the service stations into the street. There are only six stoplights in town and with none of them working the main street (small town and we really do have a Main Street) was a complete parking lot with stopped cars.
The parking lots for the two grocery stores in town were filling up too. I later heard that transactions could only be made in cash as the computers were out and they only had battery back-up lights. My ‘alert flag’ colors are starting to change.
Having been through the wildfire drill quite a few times, but well along in the Beans, Bullets, Band-Aids (BBB) departments I was comfortable as I drove back to my ranch watching others scramble to get in line at the few gas stations and two markets. The gas station lines were particularly futile since the pumps had no power anyway. Waiting in line was for the desperate people that were so low on fuel they had no choice but to park and wait.
Wife calls before I get back to the ranch to say someone managed to get the security gates open but now she is stuck in the gridlock of everyone trying to get home and every single stop light was out. What normally is a 40-minute commute turned into over a four-hour stop and go nightmare.
I now hear on my truck radio that the power outage extends beyond my small town and into other areas of San Diego, as well as east and north of the downtown area. However, no news on where or how it started the extent of coverage or estimate of when it will be back on. Fog-of-war starts to set in.
The radio newscaster talks in general terms about the power outage, but again no specific or useful information, just as it always is during the wildfires. During those, I did not evacuate and stayed to protect my property (yes, we did have looters). During those fires, one of the most frustrating things was the useless news coverage. Then, while watching the television news coverage (when the television had power), the smoke outside was sometimes so thick I could not see ten feet let alone down to my horse corals. I needed specific information (street names would have been nice) on where the fire was in real time to make go-no go decisions. Instead, the news broadcasters spoke of the fire only in general terms. Kind of like tornado news coverage on Fox News about a tornado in Oklahoma. Nice to know about as you casually watch television, however, a bit lacking if you are living the event and need information to make critical decisions, fast. Local news needs to do a better job at this.
After the last two Santa Ana fire experiences, I realized that Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aids did not address what I consider another critical category- Communications (comms). Consequently, I went down the ham radio road to fix that deficiency. I have my General license, which gives me access to High Frequency (HF) bands not available to a Technician license, a two band handheld radio, plus a HF mobile rig that will really reach out and touch somebody on HF bands. My son has the exact same license and gear and we routinely communicate with our dipole antennas (aimed at each other) from southern California to where he lives north of Los Angeles, without the use of repeaters, or computers. This met our comms goal of not having to rely on anyone to “help” us with our comms. All we need is our gear and a 12 volt DC battery.
Now it is getting closer to sunset. Check on horses to be sure they have water and feed. Filled extra water barrels for horses since during the last big Santa Ana fire the local water department generators stopped working. Set out flashlights throughout the house and studio. Also, set out candles and several kerosene lanterns just in case.
It is a warm evening so decided to set up comm center outside on the deck where I had a view of the surrounding area. Lit the kerosene lantern. Grabbed my handheld ham radio, car top magnetic antenna and a cookie bake sheet. The magnetic antenna centered on the bake sheet acts like the roof of the vehicle, which provides much better reception than the standard rubber-duck antenna. This way I can set up my UHF/VHF station remote from my vehicle. Added a writing tablet and pens, several flashlights, snacks, comfortable director’s chair and switched on the radio to see what was really going on.
As it gets darker, the reality of the situation starts to set in. Being a rural area, when it gets dark, it is not like being in the city, it is a lot darker. We also have dark-sky restrictions for outdoor lighting because of our proximity to the Mount Palomar Observatory, and with the power out everywhere, tonight, dark has become pitch black; the occasional vehicle on the road is the only light I see. I hear a few generators running and now see a few dim lights in the distance.
Scanning my programmed repeater frequencies, I find that someone has set up an unofficial network ("Net") where, finally, some useful information is being provided. I quickly learn that the power outage extends beyond the San Diego area, into Mexico, east to Arizona, and up to the southern part of Los Angeles. The cause is still under investigation. Time to get the grid back up, unknown. Not good. Wife is still in traffic so using the “Find My iPhone” app, I monitor her progress in real time on the map display of my iPhone.
Listening to my handheld, I check FaceBook on my iPhone and see many postings about the outage, mostly questions and speculative assumptions being posted compared to the verified info I hear on my FT-60 radio.
The fellow acting as Net Control is doing a good job of fielding questions and passing information. Requests are coming in for ham operators to help out at a hospital; someone needs a prescription delivered to their house; is the local CVS pharmacy still open for prescriptions, can anyone stop by such and such an address to check on an elderly couple; water is needed for the volunteers directing traffic at the stop light locations.
A local emergency assistance group (ham operators) break out their generators and lights and set them up at the stop light intersections so those directing traffic are more visible.
The Net traffic is increasing and one of the owners of the repeater keys up her mike to say she is monitoring this frequency and eventually steps in as the Net control to give the first fellow a well-deserved break. A question is asked about the backup generator for the repeater and she tells everyone that it would run for at least a week with no problem. Later, things ratchet up another notch as she is replaced by a fellow who takes over as Net control and announces that this frequency will be restricted to essential communications only. At this point, we are very close to the repeater being commandeered for official emergency communications only.
As new information is transmitted, there was the recurring questions of “where did you hear this?” What is your source? Can you confirm, etc. Because it is the nature of ham radio operators to be precise in relaying accurate communications the information being passed was specific and useful, not at all like the local news. So having been monitoring Face Book while listening to the ham, I started posting information I thought useful to Face Book. Before I know it, I have quite a few Facebook friends posting that I am their source for useful and reliable information.
My wife finally drives up and describes the traffic nightmare she just went through. She sits and listens to the ham radio traffic for a short while then goes to bed. It has been a long commute home for her.
I stayed up monitoring the radio until after midnight. By then the radio traffic had slowed and there was still no information on the cause of the outage or when the grid would be back up. Nothing left to do but get some rest and see what a new day brings.
As we all know the power started being restored in the early morning and everything pretty much returned to normal by the end of the next day.
After Action notes for this short-term event:
While this did not turn into a BBB event, having those preps adequately covered made this much less stressful.
I later heard that the grocery stores sold out of water and ice faster than anything else did but other shelves were starting to look bare as the night wore on.
On another note, a friend of a friend who owns a precision gun store in another city (AR and high-end sniper rifles) had to call the police because of attempted break-in attempts during this grid down episode. Were just these opportunistic thieves or more desperate types looking longer-term at the situation and opportunity?
This event was just a hiccup. It lasted less than 12 hours. It took everyone completely by surprise and happened as people were getting off work. Those that were prepared were able to focus on important tasks, those that were not prepared stood in line. Having BBB is fine. Having comms provided invaluable real time information about the situation.
There are three stages humans go through to make decisions in stressful situations: Denial, Deliberation, and Decision (DDD). How long a person lingers in the (Denial) “this can’t be happening to me” stages depends on many factors. Spending too much time in this stage can lead to bad consequences. Once they realize it is really happening to them, people will naturally Deliberate on how serious, long term, threatening their situation is. Timely and accurate information is critical at this stage. Do not let the ‘Paralysis of Analysis’ tendency creep in at this point. Get reliable information since it is important to get to stage three quick. Like stage one, Denial, the faster you get though the Deliberation stage, the faster you get to the most important stage. Now it is time to make a Decision. Good or bad, this is where the rubber meets the road; go-no go, bug-in, bug-out. Not having real time, accurate information can lead to wasting too much time going through the first two of the DDD stages or worse yet, not making any, or making the wrong Decision based on completely inaccurate, or out of date, information.
If you are reading this, someone thinks you have some interest and understanding of the need to be prepared. Regardless of where you are in your journey, have your basic BBBs covered. Consider though, how important it is to also have comms so you go through the DDD process faster, and make the correct Decision in phase 3. We all know knowledge is power. Good comms could be that knowledge that saves you or your loved ones life. Just ask any leadership military person about command and control.
Consider budgeting some time and money and get your ham license and some gear. I see more and more articles appearing in the blogs about ham radio. There are good reasons for this. I have never regretted going down that road and having the fourth leg of my prepping table supported by good comms. A four-legged table is a lot sturdier to stand on than a three-legged stool (Beans, Bullets, Band-Aids, + comms). Hope for the best, but plan for the worst!
James:
With reference to the Comprehensive Crisis Communications Planning for the prepper, by Hammer the portion where he described the Dakota Alert using the MURS frequencies is very good, to say the least.
I have the system and anywhere I go around my property or further I carry the the transmitter on my person. If the barrier is broken according to the audible alert voice system telling me which zone has been broken I can check it out. It is a very reliable system, not cheap but reliable. Each zone can carry whatever amount of receivers you want to put on that zone. So a large area can be covered with many receivers. You can add extra receivers when you are able to do so.
We have two transmitters, one as I leave to go outside and one inside for my wife. We can talk to each other without always having to use the cell phones.
I have never had outside interference with the system. False alarms are rare.
I have a friend that put me onto this MURS as he lives way, way out and is well protected by this system. He is always aware of anyone coming through the barrier to his property. - H. in Central Florida.
JWR Replies: As I've mentioned several times in SurvivalBlog, I'm also a big fan of MURS handheld radios. We use them here at the Rawles Ranch. Not only are they interoperable with Dakota Alerts, but you can also program your local National Weather Service frequency as one of your presets. These are of course "listen only" limited frequencies.
