Preppers to be treated as terrorists

[KC9TNH]

raybiker73 is spot on. As I said, both trails led to the same place. The only reason I mention categories is because they do exist - take it to the bank. But, that once acknowledged, pick your elephant (economic, domestic tranquility, natural disaster) and let that inform what you do, rather than just how the elephant perceives you.

For those not yet licensed, do so. Even w/o equipment you could help setup for a field day in a club and get some airtime from a control operator who is. You may even find a deal on some equipment that may not be of importance to another operator. If all you can afford for awhile is a Chinese dual-band h/t, go for it and get searching for your repeaters in a larger area than you might normally think about in case you have to move.

Even if you can't get into HF yet, the APPROACH to fleshing out what you need doesn't have to stop. Sit down and answer some simple questions, like:

• who do I need to talk to (and what kind of traffic needs to get there)?
• how far are they?
• do I have more than one need or "audience" (family cross-country vs. nearby friends who can help)?
  
• does the other end that I need to communicate with have any comm skills?
• if I have a "circle" of people within "radius x" what's the lowest common denominator? What method is likely to insure that we can all stay in touch, in SOME manner?

[gil]

HF can be as cheap as a Chinese HT. It does involve learning Morse code however, but I would suggest any Ham to do that anyway...

Gil.

[KC9TNH]

HF can be as cheap as a Chinese HT. It does involve learning Morse code however, but I would suggest any Ham to do that anyway...

Gil.

Quite true in that sense. It still depends on what the actual need is in my $.02 view, devalued yesterday in terms of the drachma.

[gil]

Well, given the choice between a 2m HT or a CW HF radio, I'd take the later any day...

Gil.

[White Tiger]

Excellent post Ray - I agree with you. if the other guy had won, he promised to fire the fed president...or at least slow him down...the economy would have - in the short term - tanked. Interest rates probably would shoot up at the very least.

I do think being able to make contact, and being self-sufficient in generating enough power TO communicate, would be very key to communication. I really do think it could be a necessary/valuable skill, but it will require power.

...I know I havesome food, but I need to learn to depend on what I grow...so I will need to acquire that knowledge, because I know next to nothing about gardening...but my Dad does.

It is essential to the acquire types of skill you think you will need...and then something exceptional...radio is that for me,

[White Tiger]

What I have become stunned by....I've spent so much time getting my license, working with others to attain the knowledge to pass the test, working to understand the why's and wherefore's of learning the different types of radio, the frequencies, which one's I am drawn to...what types of antenna's I need for the radio I've chosen, the practicality of setting up said antenna's...postmortem on equipment failures...(i.e., what I did/planned wrong)...

...when just yesterday, while trying to arrange a contact with Gil, to try out my new 2m Chinese HT...he asked me to go to a frequency with "no tone"...and I had no idea what he was talking about...

I realized I'm completely ignorant of HOW to operate!?

I mean, calling CQ is easy...but how did I miss "tone"?

...Sheesh, do I have a LOT to learn!

[gil]

The tone thing is fairly simple once you learn about it. A repeater receives on one frequency and transmits on another. The displayed frequency on your HT is the listening frequency. The frequency you will transmit on is offset, usually by 600kHz above or below the listening frequency. So, for example the Verna repeater on 145.43: The repeater listens on 144.830, so you need to transmit on that frequency. Usually, HTs do that automatically. On your IC-271A, you press +DUPLEX or -DUPLEX, in this case, minus.

Now the tone: Some repeaters require a tone to trigger the transmitting. That's because you don't want them to transmit on band noise, interferences, etc. So, your radio needs to transmit a sub-audible tone mixed in with your audio. You can't hear it but the repeater does and starts transmitting when it receives a transmission containing a tone. I don't know how to set tones on your HT, but with the 271A, you need to enter a code for the correct frequency (100Hz for Verna). There is a table and instructions in the manual. Then you press the tone key to turn the tone on.

When I mentioned the 146.640 repeater, which should be close to you, this one has no tone requirement. So, you either just press -DUPLEX on the 271A or just set the frequency to 146.640 on your HT, and hopefully it will deduce the offset automatically (my FT-270R does it). If not, the manual should tell you how to set that up.

I hope this helps  :)

HF is simpler!

Funny thing is, some people don't even know how to use simplex anymore on VHF!

Gil.

[White Tiger]

I appreciate that Gil, it is a bit embarrassing, but that is NOT why I didn't say anything at the time...I figured the HT would handle it.

Not only does that sound lame as I say it, but I realize that the HT probably can do it. Due to my eagerness (and maybe some hubris, due to thinking passing tests is some kind of substitute for experience) to test the equipment without reading the instruction manual (which I have begun to do)! I can state that unlike the horror stories of early models, this one seems to be written fairly well.

I feel safe enough here to be completely honest, because I want to learn. It's why I became a member here, I expect to be embarrassed - because this is NOT my strong suit, I am theleast technical guy I know - but it is something I feel so strongly about, that Im willing to endure looking like the idiot in the room (not that anyone here has ever made me feel that way - just my head trash). I really think being able to communicate and send messages will be incredibly necessary in the near future.

So, I joined ARRL, and ordered the "ARRL Operating Manual"...

...and I'll probably be asking some NEW questions of you guys soon.

[gil]

Don't beat yourself up Tim, nothing to be embarrassed about.

[White Tiger]

Like I said Gil, it's my head trash, everyone here has been very helpful, prior to that I was wearing Luck WA4STO out with questions...but he's pretty good at the elmering thing. Actually, Luck introduced me to this forum, and along with all the help he's given, the members here have been very good about helping and answering questions.

When I think about it - I've come a long way from thinking that all I needed was to add a HF radio in my preps ([/i]"...10m mobile unit, check...antenna...already have one on the car, check..."), waaayyy back in August (when I began seriously thinking about the benefits of proper training), then studying for the exam in September, and taking and passing the test in early October - it really has been a bit of a whirlwind...

..I guess I always was the one in the backseat that kept asking if we were "there" yet...

Never felt so dumb as when I figured out that I still didn't know, what I didn't know...regarding ham radio...yesterday.

Like the man told me years ago - there is a limit to how smart you can be...but NO limit on how dumb you can be!

[RadioRay]

 ... begins when we realize that we have so much to learn and that we cannot learn it all in this phase of our existance.


I look forward to eternity.



>Ray

[White Tiger]

RadioRay - kinda hit me the same way. While discussing the outcome of the election - I told my wife & son (attending university from home) that it struck me - that we're at the "back of the book"...(so to speak), and we're living through the last chapter at the back of the book...

[WA4STO]

Never felt so dumb as when I figured out that I still didn't know, what I didn't know.

Heh, it gets worse.  Much worse.

42 freakin' years into this stuff and I still get confused as to why I don't know this or that about amateur radio.

It's all everybody else's fault, ya see.  If they didn't keep designing and building these fabulous pieces of equipment and downright miraculous chunks of code, I'd still know everything.  Hmmm...

73 de WA4STO

[KC9TNH]

Don't beat yourself up Tim, nothing to be embarrassed about.

Bingo. White Tiger it's just learnin'. You would have enjoyed me being "slick" once my latest h/t arrived, having already scoped out every repeater & offset everywhere I might travel (including surrounding states) including the UHF WINET stuff that works really well for long distances up & down the state's highways, and including some 'other' frequencies that are part of a scan routine. When it got here, I just hooked it up to the Commander software and - voila' ! - nothing on my local monster 2m repeater. The 817 worked, the scanner was workin' - Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over!!!
:o
Apparently my first attack of lysdexia (that's my story & I'm stickin' to it) decided to make its first appearance by having me put all xmit freqs in the s/w receive column and vice versa for the recv.

G I G O.
As Bugs would say, "oh, Brudder."
::)

[Frosty]

Whether or not Soldier X is telling the truth, it's a sure bet that preppers/survivalists/III percenters are getting flagged as potential domestic terrorists based on their activities (online and off). 

If you see something, say something:
http://publicintelligence.net/fbi-suspicious-activity-reporting-flyers/

You might be a terrorist if:
http://usawatchdog.com/when-honest-americans-are-cast-as-criminals/

Tracking online activities:
http://texaspreppersnetwork.blogspot.com/2009/03/must-read-from-urban-survival-silently.html

Tracking your travel and purchases:
http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/10/fbi-data-mining-programs-resurrect-total-information-awareness/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13739_3-9812473-46.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,59262,00.html

So it's just a question of how, and under what circumstances, they might act on the information they already have. 

Would love to see how different activities are scored, and which combinations result in your profile getting singled out for further review.