Keeping in contact after shtf

[Two-Dogs]

Go with ruggedized Ham equipment if you want to talk RELIABLY more than a mile or two.

I have two radios for trade, search my posts if interested.

Go to the Ham Radio Forum on arfcom for the best info on shtf commo broken down for knuckledragging gun toting types.

 

[Ballplayer]

Why worry about having a legit license when SHTF ?? the government policeing the air waves will be a joke and who'd worry about legalities anyway in a time like that ?

 

[Two-Dogs]

I'll put it this way, if you lived downtown and could walk anywhere you needed to go but wanted to have a vehicle for shtf would you buy a Hummer and put it in the garage without driving it? Get a good AR and put it in the closet with some ammo in case the Zombies come, who needs a good zero we'll just throw some rounds out and HOPE?

Also while shtf would most likley qualify as an emergency with FCC and you wouldnt need a lic, when you break out that radio and figure out the instructions and call out on it a bunch of folks who DID go get a licence are gonna assign helping the un prepared a rather low priority.

It's $14 and lasts ten years, it's worth it. I know when the weather goes to **** well before Glenn Burns does.
It's a lot of fun at times also to talk to someone 70 miles away and know you can get out when every other means of commo that we take for granted is tits up. Ask some of the folks on north Alabama about the tornados last spring.

The other, cheaper and non licenced modes such as frs gmrs and cb have a place and I have all of them covered but would not rely on any of them when for a few mor bucks and a little study time I can have vhf and uhf comms.

 

[83rdrecon]

I'll put it this way, if you lived downtown and could walk anywhere you needed to go but wanted to have a vehicle for shtf would you buy a Hummer and put it in the garage without driving it? Get a good AR and put it in the closet with some ammo in case the Zombies come, who needs a good zero we'll just throw some rounds out and HOPE?

Also while shtf would most likley qualify as an emergency with FCC and you wouldnt need a lic, when you break out that radio and figure out the instructions and call out on it a bunch of folks who DID go get a licence are gonna assign helping the un prepared a rather low priority.

It's $14 and lasts ten years, it's worth it. I know when the weather goes to **** well before Glenn Burns does.
It's a lot of fun at times also to talk to someone 70 miles away and know you can get out when every other means of commo that we take for granted is tits up. Ask some of the folks on north Alabama about the tornados last spring.

The other, cheaper and non licenced modes such as frs gmrs and cb have a place and I have all of them covered but would not rely on any of them when for a few mor bucks and a little study time I can have vhf and uhf comms.

Here here! Agreed - not bothering to get the license is about as smart as buying a gun you don't know how to use and just sticking it away untested...

It's nothing more than an excuse to be lazy. Take the time to properly prep now.

Another aspect - I am less likely to "trust" an on air contact that has no real callsign.... as will many HAM operators after the balloon goes up. Just too many varibles there. Get it now, learn to use it now and make your contacts now. Don't be a lazy ass. That attitude is the same one I hear daily "if something happens, I'll just take what I need" or "I'll just go to so and so's house, they have everything" ....

 

[Bypass]

You are all going to die. Sitting around talking to each other on radios. What are you going to talk about? How your stuff got stolen while you were chatting over the air waves. Looking for news from the outside world? Trying to communicate with fellow insurgents about plans to organize an offensive? Try doing it face to face and save your time and money for something more useful.

Buy yourself a few stainless black powder rifles and pistols. Learn to make black powder from raw ingredients. You can make bullets from lead tire weights and a cheap mold.

 

[Moonpie]

Okay I'm going to be slammed for this but all you need to do is buy the book with the full question pool. Study the questions and only the correct answer. Read question...read correct answer.... After a few times through go take the test. You will have plenty of time to learn the technical side and yes it's well worth it. Besides the technician class license is only 35 questions and your allowed to miss 6...

 

[jcountry]

You are all going to die. Sitting around talking to each other on radios. What are you going to talk about? How your stuff got stolen while you were chatting over the air waves. Looking for news from the outside world? Trying to communicate with fellow insurgents about plans to organize an offensive? Try doing it face to face and save your time and money for something more useful.

Buy yourself a few stainless black powder rifles and pistols. Learn to make black powder from raw ingredients. You can make bullets from lead tire weights and a cheap mold.

Have you read "One Second After?" Something like a ham radio (or the ability to listen to the freqs) would have been worth far more than its weight in gold. I think the emp scenario is waaay up there on the "very bad" scale, and something like that would realistically put the affected areas back into the 1400s far faster and more throughly than a financial meltdown ever could.

Ham radios are important-and not just for a serious national calamity-but for Katrina type situations, and all those tornadoes we had last spring. When the grid is gone, and the phones are out, the modern world ceases to exist-and that is where HAMs really could come in handy. Injured people could (and have) been evacuated from affected areas with the help of HAMs

http://w4hmc.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/alabama-tornado-outbreak/

Check out the multiple "sitreps" near the bottom of the page. HAMs really helped out in this situation. Calling in all sorts of medical evacs and such to the areas where every other form of comm was down.

-These guys are aces in my book!

 

[Bypass]

Yeah, I see your point in that type of scenario. I was thinking more in line with a war type situation. Would just make yourself a target then by turning it on. But, in a national emergency they would definately be handy. Get yourself a hand generator for comms. Batteries wont last and power will be out and gas generators will eventually run out of gas.

 

[jcountry]

Yep- You are pretty much right about that, but there are caveats.

I just read Patriots (late to the game, I know) and there is some good info in that book. (I was disappointed in the plot, and some of the conspiracy theorist stuff,) but there was a great section in there about how to broadcast without being DF'd. The author put in a character who used to be a navy signal corps guy and he was all into ham stuff. That character explained a lot of good stuff in detail. That was really interesting.

I am not a ham yet, but maybe one day, I will invest in a set. It would be awesome to have something portable which could be used in many situations. I could imagine plenty of natural disasters (and some man-made) in which a handi talkie could really be a lifesaver.

 

[Dynamis]

I'd probably just use my cell phone or home phone. Wouldn't you?