A little late to the party here, (only 9 months) but as I started reading this I was going to mention the one time pad site by Dirk Rijmenants, which "Quietguy" already did, which is excellent.  I should also tell you about

http://allworldwars.com/German-Radio-Intelligence-by-Albert-Praun.html

which was written by a bunch of Wehrmacht officers with radio intel experience in both WW-1 and WW-2.  One thing I thought was interesting was their mention of the Polish and Czechs pre-war exercises and when the Nazi's were actually on the move, the Poles and Czech's followed the same plans, complete with call signs and marshalling locations, which the Nazi's had already DF'd!  It's a long read and a little dry at times, but definitely is written by people who know their business.

We were always told in the Army to use wirelines between units in cantonment areas (I've laid miles of WD1-TT).   We were also told that about 11 seconds after pushing the mic button, the Russians could DF your position and have artillery on the way.  When we were in Bavaria for REFORGER, as long as we used speech security devices, there was terrific radio jamming from Czechoslovakia.  As soon as we went back to nonsecure and encryption pads, the jamming stopped.  Nowadays, they have frequency hoppers and I'd love to see how those work!

PS:  CW still does the job!

??  21 x 3.14159=.....wow, that's a lot of copper! 

I think it was Bob Grove of Monitoring Times that started a big discussion a few years ago about using RG-6.  I know we use it at a lot higher frequencies that 30 megs.  I'll certainly look into your suggestion.  I used RG-6 because I had about a mile of it and some connectors.

To me, light weight is good.  I'm now living in my first bug out location, but keep the camper fully stocked and ready to go. 

Just for info, radio station WLO transmits weather and pirate activity reports on 8.470.8 megs USB in RTTY and SITOR-B and are authorized to operate with emergency organizations should the need arise like in another Katrina scenario where everything is gone.  I monitored the bands for hurricane Harvey and the Puerto Rican hurricane and there was virtually nothing to hear, which shows me that we have a long way to go.

I've tried different antennas for my RV, using my ICOM-7000 with the AH8 tuner and a long wire or a Buddy Pole.  It's hard to put up an antenna with other campers around and the park rangers don't want anything hanging from trees, and I'm afraid someone will walk into the tips of the Buddy Pole.  So, I've started using an Alpha magnetic loop with my HB1B and some RG-6.  RG-8 weighs more than the loop and the radio combined and is awkward to store.  The RG-6 "seems to be" ok for this, but I'm still in the trial stage.  Also, in case I break the coax, RG-6 and connectors are available just about everywhere.

The only real problem I've had with the loop is the little tripod it came with is junk, and after about the first 15 minutes I got my regular camera tripod out and suspended a part of a tractor 3 point hitch iron from it with a bungee cord because of gusty winds.  The loop receives very well, and many time signals are so strong it's hard to tune in the exact station I want, they are all so close together.

Anyone have experience with a magnetic loop antenna? 

N5AZO/WQYX855