Keeping in contact after shtf

[Bypass]

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

Depends on the situation. Personally I wouldn't be trying to communicate with anyone. Would just mean I would have to go out of my way to save them as well. But, I will give them a hand if I find anyone in need along my route. "Never be in to much of a hurry to play the hero. People have a tendency to try and drag you over the cliff with them."

But if you had a need;

War= Comms will be blocked. Any enemy we confront will most likely have the same technology we have . Because some greedy POS sold it to them.
We can block almost all forms of communications. We can make your gps believe you are standing on the north pole while you are in the middle of a desert. You might as well paint a target to you forehead if you turn on a ham radio. Count to 45 and wait for the flash.
Natural disasters;
Hurricane=s powers out, phone lines down, cell towers down, Sat phones will still work depending on cloud cover and battery life as long as your calling out of the area. With no power charging may present a problem. Short wave or ham radio would help.
Earthquakes= possible loss of all of the above. Sat phones with be the best option if all other infrastructure is down. Local calls are still an issue. A phone has to be there to receive your call. Short wave or ham radio would help.
Volcanic eruption= Cell towers will be up until the blast hits or debree destroys power supply or transmission equipment. Falling ash will disrupt most forms of communications. Short wave or ham would have better success cutting through the ash. But, broadcast distance would be greatly decreased.

Rescue personnel and military /law enforcement use short wave/ham type comms. But, civilians not so much anymore. Most civilians won't go out of their way to help you. They have their own problems. Your best bet will be to try and contact military/rescue personnel they will be monitoring all bands.

 

[Two-Dogs]

Cell phones and landlines are very dependant on the grid which is increasingly fragile and overloaded. In a natural disaster the would likley fail or become unreliable. Also in a un natural scenario they could be the primary target. Or the phones could be very easily turned into one way information conduits by the authorities or turned off to prevent panic and rumors or organized protests as in Egypt etc.

In eleven years I have not found a cell phone company that works really well at the house in the hinterlands of Kennesaw. With 50watts going to an antenna that should be in a dumpster I can talk to a ham in Cleaveland Tn. +/- 70 miles.
With his real antenna and altitude he talks to Ohio. And this is on a Tech license and about $300 of equipment on my end. A better radio and antenna would strech this out much further without a perportional increase in cash outlay if you build your own antennas.

Three things you need to be able to do are shoot, move and communicate.

 

[jcountry]

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

That's exactly my point. I have lost power and phone for almost a week here during an ice storm. I understand that power and phones were down for about 2 and a half weeks in large parts of Alabama after the tornadoes. You just never know what the future holds, but there an awful lot of events (EMP, even possibly computer worm or virus) in which all this stuff could go down-permanently.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/En...-in-Australian-power-grid/UPI-65111254514968/

We are on the cusp of a new world where combat can and will take place with computers, switchers, routers, etc. It is not at all far-fetched to imagine something which would take out large parts of the grid. Remember, we are not the only ones in the world with people smart enough to pull something like this off-against one of the most hardened facilities on the face of the earth:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12465688

Our phones would be cake compared to what stuxnet did.

-You never know.

 

[83rdrecon]

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.

lol! well you go mine your sulphur and hope to get the consistancy right. ham radios allow for organisation now before shtf. and give greater flexibility than cb frs or no comm gear. your statement is obviously from a position of ignorance of the capabilities of the platform.

btw a big bore caliber airgum would be much more useful than your ss bp gun. only need to cast the projectile... air is free and plentiful.

 

[CCW]

EPIC.

 

[83rdrecon]

Cell phones and landlines are very dependant on the grid which is increasingly fragile and overloaded. In a natural disaster the would likley fail or become unreliable. Also in a un natural scenario they could be the primary target. Or the phones could be very easily turned into one way information conduits by the authorities or turned off to prevent panic and rumors or organized protests as in Egypt etc.

In eleven years I have not found a cell phone company that works really well at the house in the hinterlands of Kennesaw. With 50watts going to an antenna that should be in a dumpster I can talk to a ham in Cleaveland Tn. +/- 70 miles.
With his real antenna and altitude he talks to Ohio. And this is on a Tech license and about $300 of equipment on my end. A better radio and antenna would strech this out much further without a perportional increase in cash outlay if you build your own antennas.

Three things you need to be able to do are shoot, move and communicate.

agree completely. i have on a handheld 5 watt 2 meter radio from a top a 2500 ft mountain hit a repeater 190 miles away atop mount hood oregon and talked with a guy 80 miles into the state of washington. all of this when the power grid was down. repeaters on emergency power.
i'll place my faith in it as a backup thank you. good to see fellow ham radio operators here.

 

[sovietak474u]

EPIC.

yeah.If SHTF im sure cell service will be the first to go. Takes a lot of work and people to keep them going. Those people go home, no more cell phone.

 

[Outlander]

Smoke signals!!!!!

 

[Bypass]

lol! well you go mine your sulphur and hope to get the consistancy right. ham radios allow for organisation now before shtf. and give greater flexibility than cb frs or no comm gear. your statement is obviously from a position of ignorance of the capabilities of the platform.

btw a big bore caliber airgum would be much more useful than your ss bp gun. only need to cast the projectile... air is free and plentiful.

Easy troop,
Was joking in the first part of the comment. I know the capabilities of the platform. But, until civilians all get AN/PSC-5D TAC/SAT or AN/PRC 151s at the minimum- which will never happen. You are talking about unsecured communications. I was looking at the topic from a different perspective of SHTF (wartime). My outlook was " If you start talking on a HAM radio you have just become a target."

As far as your idea on the air rifle it sounds pretty good. But, do they make an air rifle that has the power to take down a deer?
If they make one with those capabilities please put up a link. Because, I want one!

 

[Bypass]

Looks like they do make air rifles that will take down a deer. To bad they require a scuba tank to charge them to fire. Says you can use a hand pump. But, charging to 3000 psi with a hand pump doesn't sound like much fun.

Balistics aren't bad considering everything.

Ballistics .458cal 430 gr. LRN 732 fps

Range (yards) Muzzle 50 100 200 300 400 500
Velocity (fps) 732 714 696 662 630 600 570
Energy (ft.-lb.) 512 486 462 418 379 343 311
Trajectory (100 yd. zero) -1.5 7.8 0.0 -70.3 -219.9 -457.0 -790.6
Come Up in MOA -1.5 -14.9 0.0 33.6 70.0 109.1 151.0




http://www.quackenbushairguns.com/index.html