Communication « Thread Started on Jul 19, 2012, 1:24pm »
Ask yourself what civilization and society is, once you strip away the ability to communicate. Some people like to say that the reason we're not monkeys is the opposable thumb, but I think it has much more to do with our abilities in complex communication. It allows us to work together in a small group with great efficiency, but one could argue wolves do that very well too. But a complex language is more than effective team work. It is what turns every single human being into a data transfer system. What we learn we can take with us over long distances and long times, and then share them with the people we meet. That in turn turns each of them into another data transfer system, allowing huge amounts of knowledge, information and ideas to traverse the globe.
Once upon a time, humans were relegated to verbal and visual forms of data sharing. When we developed the written language, it became possible to transmit more complex information, as we were no longer limited by the function and scope of our internal memory. A real boost came with communication over a distance. The need has been recognized probably as long as we've had any form of verbal communication. Many cultures developed specialized forms of shouts and yelps that could convey preset information snippets over larger distances than could be covered by normal loud speech. Runners and riders were employed as an early type of mail to convey important news over great distances. Then the telegraph changed everything. Now even remote areas were for all intents and purposes directly in the loop, and the entire world shrunk. Places that were previously considered wild or at least untamed were suddenly just an extension of modern society.
How does this relate to the end of the world as we know it? Well once the power goes, so does your phone. Many cell towers have backup generators, but that obviously won't last for long, especially not with everybody trying to use their cell phone during the actual disaster. This leaves survivors, including any remaining communities, cut off from each other. Not getting help is one thing, but not even knowing if it's coming is another strain on planning, as well as on the psyche. Ask yourself how your disaster plan would change if you knew the next town down the road was unaffected. How about if it's a hotbed of disease? Do you have enough people in your group to have scouts go find out?
All across the world, on literally every continent and in space, right now, are people who choose to make a hobby out of communicating without the involvement of a third party. This hobby is amateur radio, also known as ham radio. The equipment ranges from cell phone sized hand held radios (HTs), through 12V mobile rigs and the small amateur radio transceivers on the International Space Station to huge transmitters that fill basements and shacks at homes around the world. Power levels range from milliwatts to kilowatts, and antennas from giant arrays to speaker wire slung over a tree.
In most countries, amateur radio transmitting requires a license. Obviously this won't matter at all in a situation without rule of law, but I recommend any and everybody who is in any way interested in preparing for the worst to get a license today. The practice you'll get from using the radio as a hobby every now and then will be absolutely invaluable after the fan has been properly covered in poo. Also, it's pretty easy, you don't even have to learn morse code in the USA anymore. Because of the obvious uses for amateur radio in a post-apocalyptic scenario some friends and I have founded an FCC licensed ham radio club that is trying to reach out and teach postapoc fans about off grid comms. We'd love to hook you up with a local group that can help you get licensed etc.
The amateur radio community in the USA and Canada (as well as many other places in the world) even has a huge exercise every year where it comes together to develop and test communications without the advantage of home bases and mains power. It's called Field Day and for 24 hours tens of thousands of amateur radio operators head to mountain tops, mall parking lots, beaches and fields and set up temporary stations. There they try to log two way communications with as many other stations as possible, and then the logs are submitted and points assigned to each group.
Want to know more? Feel free to post questions here, or contact the club directly via our website or facebook!
TL;DR - Amateur (ham) radio is super awesome for SHTF situations, let me help you get involved!
Re: Communication « Reply #1 on Jul 20, 2012, 11:45am »
I have thought long and hard about communication, So I got together with a few of my closest friends and we come up with a Portable CB Radio rig that has a range or 10 miles. The power supply is a Car battery. Yes heavy I know. But we devised a plan for it. There Are ten of us. So we decided who would be scouts and those would have the pack on them while they scout ahead while the rest of us sit back and wait for the all clear.
We are also trying to get handheld CB radios to the range we desire.
Re: Communication « Reply #2 on Jul 20, 2012, 12:56pm »
That's a very good start! CB radios have a few issues that should be talked about though. First off, the 10 miles you state assume a lot. The CB rig I use is a pretty good one, and I'm skilled with tuning antennas. With that in mind, most of the time I am hard pressed to get more than 5 miles of real world distance. Let's compare that to the small "screwdriver" type antenna I have connected to the ham radio rig I use in my daily driver. Last weekend while driving I spoke to people in Portugal, England, South America and all up the eastern seaboard of the US from my location in California.
The reasons here are multitude. Ignoring the obvious power restrictions on CB rigs (4 Watts vs 1500 Watts on ham bands) you are limited to a single frequency band. Varying situations and communications requirements dictate the need for more versatility.
That being said, CB radios, even handheld ones, can be very useful for short distance collaboration. What you will probably not be able to do is effect any kind of reliable communications with people outside your immediate vicinity. There are ways to increase the range of CB radios, with (illegal) in line amplifiers, large antenna setups etc.
I personally started my foray into prepping with radios with CB radios for myself and my wife, so we could collaborate in case we got separated. The thought was they could also come in handy for meeting up if a sudden disaster were to strike while we were at separate locations. After some testing we came to the conclusion that these radios were just not up to the task.
Joined: Jun 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 81 Location: Clarksville, TN, USA Karma: 1
Re: Communication « Reply #3 on Jul 23, 2012, 7:32pm »
I would run a CB radio in a vehicle of some sort, and use a ham radio at a stationary headquarters, like a survival camp/community. Ultimately, I would try to start a small survival community with a handful of trustworthy individuals (that would grow over time with more trustworthy individuals), so I would use a ham for a central com point.
Re: Communication « Reply #4 on Jul 23, 2012, 10:25pm »
What is your reasoning for using a CB instead of a ham radio in the vehicle?
You could easily use the same radio in both locations as practically all semi-modern ham rigs run on 12VDC. Many smaller units also come with detachable control panels for vehicle mounting.
Re: Communication « Reply #5 on Jul 24, 2012, 1:35am »
Woah the article is way too long to read till the end. I read a book that had a section on making your own FM radio using a wooden board and resisters and copper wire. While drivers can get orders from the radio station, A consistent way for drivers to send messeges to the main base would be to use carrier pigeons. They were used throughout world war 1 and 2
What is your reasoning for using a CB instead of a ham radio in the vehicle?
You could easily use the same radio in both locations as practically all semi-modern ham rigs run on 12VDC. Many smaller units also come with detachable control panels for vehicle mounting.
Actually, couldn't I run both CB and ham? Switch back and forth? That way I could communicate with anyone who has either one or the other. That, and the ham would keep the vehicle in touch with the community HQ. Would that work?
Re: Communication « Reply #7 on Jul 24, 2012, 10:37pm »
Most ham radios that include HF bands will happily transmit (or can be easily modified/programmed to) on CB bands. But yes, you could easily mount both
Joined: Jun 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 81 Location: Clarksville, TN, USA Karma: 1
Re: Communication « Reply #8 on Jul 25, 2012, 8:47pm »
Very well then, sounds like I have a solution!
Actually I've never really looked into ham radio, but I'd like to. Is it inexpensive to get started? What's a good resource I can read up on, about getting started with ham radio?
Re: Communication « Reply #9 on Jul 27, 2012, 9:36pm »
It's really no more expensive than CB, especially if you are willing to buy used stuff etc. Most of my ham gear over the past couple years has been FREE either from people on craigslist who don't know what they have or leftovers from other ham operators who have bought something newer and fancier.
The absolute best way to get started is to talk to your local ham club. In your case I would check out these guys : http://www.k4ore.net/
They should be able to tell you where you can take the licensing test or perhaps take a class. It's very simple stuff but there is a bit of studying involved. My wife got her Technician class license after an afternoon of studying, and she has absolutely no prior electronics or technical knowledge.
If the club is a dud get back to me and I'll track down the info for your local area!
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