How does prepping affect your hobby?

[NWARadio]

I want to do more than make contacts. I'd like to get to know people in different parts of the country, primarily in the middle of America. That is where the news that I'd be interested in would be coming from. I'm also interested in QRP. If we ever experienced rolling blackouts, I'd be able to run a QRP rig off of a marine battery and solar charger without worrying too much. I'd like to learn more about NVIS propagation, too. That'll require someone fairly close and it seems those of us here are kind of far apart. But that's how prepping affects my hobby. Just about the only reason I turn my radio on is for stateside contacts. I'd like some Canadian contacts as well, though. I've also got a couple of books on shortwave listening and I'm trying to figure out when certain programs are on and how I can best receive them. I've also made a regen receiver once to work on my solder skills in case I ever had to work on a radio (and actually knew what to do), but I screwed up one little part of it and scrapped in. (I know this post rambled a bit. I was trying to stay on point but was also watching tv while I was doing it)

[Joe]

For me my hobby is part of prepping. Prepping doesn't not only includes storing items but also learning new skills. To me learning CW, tuning in the shortwave, and making new contacts is part of prepping.

I am the first one to say my radio skills have taken a back burner lately, but I am working on making more time for it. It also helps to have a supporting wife. ;)

[RichardSinFWTX]

Same here!  For me, my hobby is part of my contribution to my prepping group.  I'm the communications/intelligence guy on the team.  We've all got "weapons" covered.  One of the wives is a nurse so there's our medic and we've got couple other more unique skills in our merry little band.

I was an signal intel specialist in the Army...also worked as a translator once East/West Germany got back together and I couldn't work against the DDR any more.  I still like working the bands to see who's out there.  From here in Fort Worth I've worked contacts as far East as Poland.  I'm hoping to get into Ukraine or Russia this weekend while I'm assembling my "Mk II - Heavy" communications rig.

I got into ham radio after Hurricane Rita seeing hams in action.  I work with my local RACES group too.  I think it's a perpetual learning process.  There's always something else out there cool to learn!

[WA4STO]

I'd like to get to know people in different parts of the country, primarily in the middle of America. That is where the news that I'd be interested in would be coming from.

For me, amateur radio was a very useful part of prepping.  Like KF5RHI, I was an intel specialist and a linguist at that.

I'm content with the cadre of known-to-be-friendly hams that I have on my list of friends.  At present, there are just over 300 on that list.

But the way I do it may be interesting to you.  First off, I don't do any voice modes, and while I do a LOT of cw, for me, it's just not one bit useful since I can't have guaranteed accuracy with either voice or CW.  But with Pactor and Winmor/WL2K, I've got guaranteed accuracy AND I don't have to run a boatload of power nor have neighbor-hating massive antennas.  I let the network do the heavy lifting.

Instead, the Pactor and WL2K networks allow me to send and receive SHTF-related inquiries to the group of friends, so as to determine what the 'situation' is at any given time. 

The group consists of folks all over the continent as well as a growing number of European amateurs who share the same concerns that I do during pre, post, and during SHTF conditions.

Guess I'm not surprised to see the number of related articles on the TAPRN/AMRRON site.  Lots of folks are seeing that particular light.

73

Luck, WA4STO

[Geek]

I think this forum is a mix of folks who were interested in radio and it led them to prepping and folks who were into prepping and decided they needed to get into radio enough to cover the communications aspect of prepping.

Depending on what your orientation is you get a different answer.  For instance for me prepping doesn't affect my hobby at all.  However, my hobby is genealogy.  :-)

[Luigi]

For me it was communications and power outages from ice and wind storms that influenced my decision to get licensed. We were getting one bad week long outage every winter. I got tired of the isolation used by communications blackouts.

[cockpitbob]

Luigi, what part of the country do you live in?  I'm in New England where it gets pretty bad, but not a week each winter.

[Luigi]

I am in the Northwest. When we get freezing rain, power lines snap.  If we get a bad windstorm, trees fall into power lines. No one can repair them because of icy roads of trees blocking the roads. My location is higher in elevation and hard to get to in bad conditions. I am not in a rural area.

[gil]

I have always be interested in electronics and radio, since I was a child playing with little walkie-talkies and later CB radio. Prepping has definitely influenced me towards ultra-portable rigs and antennas. If I can't stuff it in my backpack and forget about it, I'm not interested. I use the same gear at home, which is of course most of my operating, but I can grab-and-go my station in minutes. Batteries are charged and a pelican case is at the ready. Not that I expect to have to flee my house, but since we are only 26ft. above sea level here on the coast, you never know..

I have never felt I needed more power than a few Watts. Of course I use CW mainly, so power is a moot point, so to speak. 2W gets you pretty much anywhere, 5W is QRO.

Gil.

[Luigi]

Prepping has affected my hobby by using it to help others. I became a volunteer examiner (VE) in order to assist others in getting licensed.

As a VE and I come across a lot of people who are preppers when they are taking their tests. The preparedness notion is what gets them into the hobby. I like the fact they they utilize their radios more as a utility rather than a pure hobby. Having more personality types on the air using the radio bands for communication and less contester type activity is better in my opinion.

Also one of the places where I go to oversee tests is at an LDS church. I am not a member but I am impressed with their prepardness skills. They will be one of the last groups standing in a disaster like situation.
Luigi

[Ritzville]

I'm Mormon and that's where I  ended up getting my license. We do a weekly regional emergency comms net that pretty much covers a large chunk of Eastern WA and into Northern Idaho through a linked repeater system. There are also HF nets. I had an interest in ham radio dorkdom since I was a kid but this gave me the excuse I needed to find the time to get it. I started a tech prep class and got bored with it so I went to the general prep class instead. I had self studied enough to be able to make the transition. I tested tech and general at the same session.

Ya, we are pretty much prepper minded. The church likes to call it "being self reliant."

I've been involved in volunteer based emergency services for a couple of decades in the small communities that I have lived in and I have seen first hand what it looks like to be totally unprepared to handle a day without "essential services", let alone an extended period of time. Not a pretty thing to see. I wouldn't want to experience it. My wife and I started small, 72 hour type of prep and we just build on that.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

[RadioRay]

For me - back in the stone age we had to whittle our own transistors by hand from a chunk of rock.  Tube rigs were the standard, so homebrew solidstate QRP was the ONLY way to take ham radio with me on backpacking trips.  My first radio contact ever, was from a mountain top in the Sierra Madre' range using a friends little rig.  That set the hook.  I loved wilderness exploration and talking with the world about it, usually at night before sleeping.  To me, talking with friends in Morse was as normal as others using a phone or in person.

The military, overseas deployments and etc. - I used ham wherever possible and it GREATLY enhanced my official communications exploits, int he same way that a competition shooter who is also armed for work, is likely FAR better at it than the guy with an issued weapon who is minimum qualifications only.

Prepping - what cemented it for me was when we had two explosions and a fire at the Moss Landing power plant in California while I was going through language school.  It was black as far as the eye could see - except some generator power on Ft. Ord , across the bay there was no sky glow at all.  The local AM stations were telling my battery radio that 'all is well' and that it was strictly local.  I ran my ham transceiver on a motorcycle battery and learned from listening to hams first-hand that at least 7 western States had massive or total loss of commercial power.  So much for the 'all is well' lies on the commercial/controlled radio stations. From that point forward I made a point of always having a serious radio capable of running on alt-power. Governments and the controlled media will lie to us during emergencies. Consider carefully what it would be like during a national emergency.

Teamwork is a force multiplier.  If you are not communicating, you're not going to be able to coordinate as a team, so ham radio is a natural choice.  For information further than we can see/hear, radio listening is a great raw information tool and if you KNOW and trust the qualifications of a friend on the far end of the radio link, their information upgraded to 'intelligence' at whatever level you deem fit.


73 de RadioRay ..._  ._

[NCGunDude]

I got involved in amateur radio as part of my preps. It was more of a bucket list, really, since getting a license requires for effort, forethought, and planning.

I've met my initial goal of getting licensed and proficient at basic communication. I've also upgraded to General and will add HF capability at some point. I'm involved locally and doing public service. My goals are adding HF and getting registered for ARES.

Personally, amateur radio has opened a new world for me, and my only regret is not having gotten involved sooner. Yeah, I was around during the CB craze, but I didn't have enough sense to appreciate what it represented.

Again, personally, the challenges which face all of us at all levels are resolved with faith and trust in the Almighty, and it is an honor and a privilege to be involved with local communities, online, and on the air.

73's

[DCJon]

I'm building my BOL/retirement home in a mountainous region.  No one has landlines so VHF and HF are the cell phone backups for residents, police and fire.  That's peacetime. 

Should something bad happen, ham is an entirely different animal.  Besides, it's fun. 

[Jim Boswell]

     After hurricanes in South Texas, tornados in West Texas, ice storms in North Texas and a lifetime of camping, fishing and hunting, the lines between prepping, amateur radio and life just kind'a fade. Like a country song, I can skin a buck, run a trotline, make an inverted Vee antenna or repair a radio with equal skill.
      I live where I want to live. I love my job. This morning I stepped out on the front porch and I could hear the elk and wild turkey.
     Two weeks ago I butchered a lamb I bought from one of my neighbors. This Fall I will be hunting deer, dove, goose and ducks. Sunday we will enjoy a first class dinner of dove breast wrapped with bacon and slowly grilled with a beer and butter sauce.
     Bug in or bug out, the best made plans will have to change as conditions shift. One problem with the prepper movement, people just want to buy guns and stuff, they should be working on building skills. I feel I am much better prepared than 80% of the people and I am still progressing. Am I ready for SHTF, NO!