Eham Forum: Video about Preppers Using Ham Radio

Started by RadioRay, October 23, 2013, 03:18:56 PM

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RadioRay

This just showed-up.  Might be fun to watch,  It's CERTAINLY fun to comment on...


http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?410175-HamRadioNow-Hams-and-Preppers-%28Be-VERY-Prepared%29



de RadioRay ..._ ._
"When we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can."  ~ Matthew Henry

RichardSinFWTX

I caught this earlier this morning.  I kept looking for the interviewee to jump up and doe-slap the guy!  I thought he was pretty patronizing.

RadioRay

#2
Yes - the interviewer seems to be overly attached to the comfort he derives from government chains. All this talk of individual responsibility sans politicians, frightens many. It was a pretty slow interview, but because of the subject matter it's worth a watch.


de RadioRay ..._ ._
"When we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can."  ~ Matthew Henry

RichardSinFWTX

It'll be interesting to see what the magazine's like.

gil


Archangel320420

#5
AMEN to N7WR who commented in the comment section of that forum. A sane voice of reason in the wilderness that has become the USA. I think non-preppers are the ones with only one oar in the water.  :)

KC9TNH

Quote from: Archangel320420 on October 23, 2013, 05:04:02 PM
AMEN to N7WR who commented in the comment section of that forum. A sane voice of reason in the wilderness that has become the USA. I think non-preppers are the ones with only one oar in the water.  :)
LOL. Going in a circle keeps one from straying away from the window where they hand out the free schtuff.
;D

KK0G

I like this guy, he's not even a ham and he's already figured out our Achilles heel................... forcing electrons to flow from a source through conductors to our radios, in other words; POWER!! here's what i goy out of his comments - get a very low power consumption QRP CW rig, batteries and solar panel. 8)
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Benjamin Franklin

KK0G

RadioRay

"...get a very low power consumption QRP CW rig, batteries and solar panel. 8) " - KK0G


but, But, BUT! THAT's going to RUIN CONTESTS!!!  (Gil will be heart broken   ;^)



de RadioRay ..._ ._




"When we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can."  ~ Matthew Henry

gil

Quote(Gil will be heart broken   ;^)

:'( Crying a river  ;)

It is interesting how our goals do change the way we approach modes and learning Morse code as well as the types of radios we use. The teacher of the CWOps class I am taking right now focuses on contests for the class. He said he went QRP when going from 1500 to 500W; "life is too short," etc. To each his own. He did suggest that I type what I hear on the keyboard.. I explained that I didn't take a computer with me in the woods and that practicing typing while listening to code was useless to me. BTW he had an excellent advise, to listen for syllables instead of letters before being able to hear words. Some lessons do not apply to prepping or QRP. The same way, general Ham radio is not well suited to prepping. There are limitations we need to consider, mainly power requirements, as Chris points out. Which means low power, low loss, etc. There are weight constraints, antenna size and visibility constraints. It's a different ball game.

I was a bit disappointed with the interview, as the host first has a slightly mocking attitude.. He did come around a bit later though. There was pretty much nothing about operating, only about prepping basics and that new magazine. I guess the assumption is that "Ham radio" is good for prepping.. Sure, but that's like saying a car is good for crossing the desert. Well, yes, but what kind of car? The guest indeed hit the nail on the head though when he mentioned power requirements. That magazine might be interesting.

I have seen other web sites talk about radio prepping, notably The Prepper Chicks (http://prepperchicks.blogspot.com) but again, they missed the mark even though the articles were written by a Ham. Some of those readers will buy a Crown Vic for the Paris-Dakkar.. I'd want to tell them "sure, buy that 'ionoblaster 9000' if you want, but don't forget the small (2)50mAh-on-receive rig just in case, and a solar panel.."

What's regrettable is that people think of the most down-to-earth, law-abiding and safety-oriented individuals (us  8)) as nuts. That is pretty sad, and only because of a few extremists and unscrupulous TV show producers. Even the label "prepper" is now tainted, the same way "survivalist" was tainted before it. What's next, "blithe-challenged?" to be politically correct as well as apologetic?

Anyway, there are inevitable conclusions as to gear and operating that some of us have come to realize when it comes to prepping. Most remarkably, we have come to the same conclusions separately, before this site existed. Some because of military experience, others by trial-and-error, or much brain-storming. I observed the same phenomenon in the cave-diving community many years ago. To be blunt, those that came to the correct gear configuration and training did not die as often as the others (obviousely I survided too, because I listened to those guys).. In our case, the consequences at this time are only monetary, and even when the SHTF, might not be lethal. In any case, one would be ill advised to ignore those conclusions IMHO.

What are we prepping for? My martial arts instructor used to talk about a fictitious guy named "Steve." Steve is an ex military guy, saw a lot of sh-t in Afghanistan and came back pretty messed-up. He's 6'2'', 250Lbs of muscles. He started using drugs. He goes to the gym every day, shooting range once a week. He also practices MMA. Steve drinks a lot. Today Steve lost his job and when he told his girl friend she dumped him. Now he's roaming the street drunk and high on meth, and he's very angry. He wants to take it on someone. Steve bumps into you on a street corner. :o How are you going to handle Steve? "that's what we train for." my instructor said, "not for the regular Joes." Same goes for prepping. Are you prepping for a modest tropical storm, or for Katrina? For a three-day power failure, or a nationwide EMP blast? Why not prep for the one-in-a-thousand? Have your regular hobby-rig, but think of the unexpected...

[/diatribe]

Gil.

RichardSinFWTX

That's why you're in charge here. Gil!  You summed things up pretty decent!

;D

KK0G

Quote from: gil on October 24, 2013, 12:37:43 AM
It is interesting how our goals do change the way we approach modes and learning Morse code as well as the types of radios we use.
Yep, practically any contester, emcomm type and probably even the average ham would think your and my approach to ham radio is nuts, but of course our approach meets our end goal almost perfectly. The only other group of hams aligned closely to our methods would be the trail friendly, backpacking, QRP, SOTA types.


Quote from: gil on October 24, 2013, 12:37:43 AM
I guess the assumption is that "Ham radio" is good for prepping.. Sure, but that's like saying a car is good for crossing the desert. Well, yes, but what kind of car? The guest indeed hit the nail on the head though when he mentioned power requirements. That magazine might be interesting.
True, but coming from a non-ham with no experience that's to be expected. Heck we know that the majority of hams have some big misconceptions about ham radio being good for prepping. I sort of half heartedly considered authoring an article for the magazine aligned with our (my) 'concept' here on the forum but I have a feeling it would be far to specialized of a subject for their target audience.
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Benjamin Franklin

KK0G

RadioRay

#12
This should probably be in the digital part of this forum, but it's related to this discussion as well.

Form fits function. 

One of the most exasperating things I see from "preppers" when they write about 'ham radio' is that they are virtually always discussing HandiTalkies.  HT's are - welllll, "handy". but frankly there is little difference between a 2 meter HT and a MURS HT (though ham HT's are usually good scanners).  Both are mid-VHF , FM HT's.  It's often missed that we hams have many different tools for different tasks. I like the layered approach.

For baseline, high reliability and low cost of entry and sustaining, there is nothing like CW QRP and etc. This works very well for both high mobility scenarios, when a person might have to be on the move (a BAD situation, BTW) or from home.  The next layer is more of a 'social layer' and is found in the various HF SSB voice nets which are on the air right now and the general conversation with hams from your area and also distant regions.  Whether for strictly listening or for interaction, I've found voice comms handy when getting local area reporting about an event, as opposed to wha tthe controlled media will tell you.  However, the information is only as good as the source - or less...

The next layer up is one I prefer to just jump directly to, and that is the HF e-mail over radio.  If you are in the situation where you can keep a laptop alive and have a rig capable of running sound card modes, you are entirely able to participate in e-mail over radio. There are tremendous advantages to this in convenience, because you may not be able to meet at the same time and same frequency every day.  Secondly, because it's true e-mail you can link with both hams and non-hams, if the internet is operating outside of your impacted area.  If the internet is down universally, then you can either send/receive your message traffic automatically through a digital 'mailbox' or directly with the station your choose to communicate with.  Naturally, because the two prime e-mail over radio modes are full error correcting modes, there are NO GARBLES, you know when a message is delivered, you can send ANY digital file which you can currently send over internet, including pictures, .doc files and etc.  That can be handy. An e-mail over radio system allows you to send/receive your radio traffic when it's convenient for YOU.  The #1 killer of skeds and nets is people not getting on the air at the right times/freqs and the propagation not being good for everyone in the net.

>>>  If you want to do more than point-to-point communication with a few people, then the e-mail over radio is a superb solution (WINMOR is FREEware) >> if << you are able to make use of both a radio transceiver capable of HF sound card modes AND keep a laptop alive. That last part can be very difficult on the run, but  not so tough from a stable location.

All this being said, you do, Do, DO want to keep your 'baseline communication' operational.  If the computer dies, if it locks-up due to stray RF from a quick-up antenna and etc. you'll want to be able to reach for the key and continue to communicate.  It's also a matter of how much message traffic you are going to be NEEDING to exchange.  If you're like Gil and I in our CW skeds, with conversation and the occasional SMS LIKE short message being passed, then CW will absolutely support that and a lot more, allowing the tiny QRP rigs to be your easily maintained baseline.  If on the other hand, the goal is to relay news and information (intelligence) verbatim, to several stations and to do it efficiently, then the e-mail over radio can send those bulletins for you auto-magically when your network stations check-in.  This works - it's been going on for decades on the HF bands.

In short - use what works but ALWAYS keep a last ditch (base line) communications method that requires very little in the way of energy budget and etc. so that you can communicate enough to keep in touch with those you must and also to have the occasional chat one the air with others as you see fit.  Radio communication is a powerful tool - the fact that we enjoy it as a 'hobby' is simple icing on the cake.


73 de RadioRay ..._ ._
"When we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can."  ~ Matthew Henry


gil

Excellent indeed Ray. That is exactly why I got a Signalink USB interface for my KX3. The KX3 is my base radio and my MTR is my bug-out radio. I would of course try to take my KX3 with me because it does all modes, but better have a backup.. I still have a RockMite 40 also.

Gil.