What do Ham Radio and fitness have in common? Nothing. That sometimes is a problem, especially if we are talking about prepping, which is the ?other half? of this site. Let's face it, the Ham population is rather large, and I don't mean in numbers... All those hours calling CQ eating doughnuts does take it's toll. I know, I know, there is SOTA and all, but I feel that we need to address the problem, or at least, mention it, at the risk of being chastised.

Let's not forget that the goal of emergency preparedness, the way I like to promote it, is about survival. Sure, playing with radios is fun, so is building them. But we are talking about ?radio prepping,? not just Ham Radio. There are other excellent forums that do that such as Eham or QRZ. They have ?emcomm? boards too, but those are more about you helping various agencies in dealing with emergencies. It works too, but I prefer a more direct approach, namely, getting information to save your own ass as well as family and friends. Which brings me to the question: ?How far and how fast can you move the former??

Prepping is not a selective activity. You work on the whole spectrum or nothing. I have seen videos of Preppers/Hams with all the equipment and food you could dream of but unable to run a hundred yards without busting a major blood vessel near the heart. We all have our medical problems and limitations, but there is always something to be done.

After I broke my femur in a motorcycle accident in 2004, I needed rehabilitation but could not afford it. So, I signed myself up for a Russian Martial Art class taught by an ex Russian Spetsnaz soldier. Yes, I do things a bit to the extreme sometimes.. I could barely come up the stairs to the classroom. I asked the guy ?Is my leg going to be a problem?? He looked back at me straight in the eyes and replied ?I don't give a shit.? There's Russian martial art for you.. To make a long story short, I worked around my injury. It was hard and painful, but now, I occasionally teach the class. I can do a one-legged squat on that side. I have other problems, my back in particular, but I don't force anything. Back hurts? Fine, I'll work on my legs or arms.

Getting older I noticed one thing: I move less, and I put on weight really fast. For me, that means no bread, no pasta, no sugar, and as little processed foods as possible. Sometimes, I break down and eat a whole can of ice cream. But all in all, I try to stay at a healthy weight, 190Lbs for 6'2''. I don't quit because I strayed a few times. It's not easy. Things that really matter usually aren't.

Why going through all this? For one, health. I don't have the greatest heart, and I want it to keep ticking as long as possible. Second, an emergency might mean relocating to a safer area. More often than not, that means on foot. I have a pretty heavy bug-out bag, carrying first-aid gear, water, emergency food rations, and a bunch of other stuff. It isn't very big, but it is packed full. Now I am adding radio to the mix, more weight. I want to be able to carry that bag for miles without excessive strain.

Like me, you probably tried dieting multiple times, or had bouts of frantic exercising, then gave up. When I decided to do the Beach Body P90X program, I almost gave up after a month. Though I felt better, I looked just the same, didn't lose much weight. But I kept on going. Two months later, what a change! I had never seen my abs before. I went from 205Lbs to 186Lbs, and added muscles. But boy, did the whole thing suck. The reason I was able to do it was because I used an exercise program, kept track of my food intake on fitday.com, and stuck to it long enough to see results. I try to keep my food  proportions at 20% fat, 30-40% carbs and 40-50% proteins. It's much easier to do by having a protein shake once a day. Eat small portions five times a day, drink a lot of water. Stay far away from sugary drinks! Drink wine, not beer.

Like I said, I do things to the extreme sometimes. You don't have to do P90X! If you can, great, I recommend it. Diet and walking might just be enough for you. Just know that your body is not set in stone, and that no matter your age or current injuries, you can change it. Make sure you see your doctor and ask for advise on any medical conditions you might have. You don't want to make things worse. I also very highly recommend Yoga. No, it's not for girls only, and you don't have to dress like Ghandi. Yoga will give you strength and mobility you thought was a thing of the past.

There are many aspects to living a healthy and long life. We don't have the space here to elaborate. What matters is that your family should be able to count on you in a crisis. You might have to carry equipment, even an injured family member to safety without putting yourself at risk of a heart attack. Unless you are a paraplegic, I can guarantee you that there are ways for you to exercise. Ask a professional if you don't know what to do, or shop online for a program you might like. Remember that easy won't cut it. I hate exercising, but I force myself and I feel better for it. I know it will keep me alive longer than otherwise. That is why I don't plan of having a shack. I'll take my little K1 outside in the woods.
The human body is amazing. It can go from couch potato to mean-lean-killing-machine in months. The key is to keep at it, and not expect quick visible results. However, when a friend sees you after six months you might get a ?Woah!? or not even be immediately recognized. The grin on your face when the SHTF, priceless!

Gil.

Thanks, that K1 is CW only, but I might get an MFJ 9440 for SSB!

Gil.

Hello Keith,

Welcome aboard, and thank you for your input. It is nice to have experienced Hams here!

My idea of preparation is to learn the skills necessary and gather the essential gear required in a prolonged, at least state-wide crisis. Most likely, Nation-wide or larger, for a long period of time, months or years, no matter the cause. Communications is of course just one aspect of this type of preparedness, but an important one. The role of Ham radio is this scenario would be information gathering and sharing, with other Hams, and even emergency services sometimes. I however do not plan to pay for classes to provide a service. So, we are assuming here that there is no internet, no cell phone service and no power. We could also assume that emergency services might not be operating, or operating with a reduced staff (most people have a family to take care of). The military would probably be operating, but would likely be overwhelmed. There certainly wouldn't be an FCC... What could cause such a situation? A solar storm like in 1859 would. So would an EMP. A pandemic, sure. A total economical collapse would be pretty bad too.  I used to think it was very unlikely. These days, I am not so sure. There are many doomsday scenarios, many of them extremely unlikely, even sometimes ridiculous. Some however, you can learn about in history books, and history does repeat itself..

Let's look at the World population growth:



When did the spike start? When we started using oil. Remove oil and the line goes back down as fast as it went up. I wouldn't call oil production "reliable." The economy is of course linked to the oil market.

What kind of information? First, the cause and extent of the damage, including listening and possibly forwarding any official broadcasts. Learning about the development of the situation in other locations could warn people about what to expect. There could be coordination between families to form larger groups, for security purposes. While continuing to monitor the situation(s), the primary use of local communications would probably center itself around security. 2m would indeed be great for that purpose. HF of course would be a must-have for beyond line-of sight. Why security? When I see what people do on Black Friday to get a discounted laptop, I have no doubt as to what they would do to get food. We are always a few meals away from chaos.

A main consideration about the type of radios to be used in my opinion is current draw. In the absence of power, and after gas runs out for generators, there would be only solar power... Current draw also dictates the size of the batteries you might need to carry, on foot, if traveling becomes necessary. Sure, you could have a big rig at home with a generator and lots of gas. The sound of a generator though would attract looters looking for a well stocked fridge. For me, light, QRP type radios are a necessity.

Thanks again and have a great week-end,

Gil.

Amazing what the human brain can do!

You prob can handle 3, 4, & 5 char words in your conquered char list of 15, right?

Maximum, yes, but then the code coming after that distracts me...

One comment in one of the videos is very interesting:

You need just practice and you start hearing it. Not consciously, but unconsciously. You just write it down and you see that your guess was correct. You are surprised. It's like your brain does not belong to you. You type what you consider right, and you are amazed that your brain told you to type this variant and not the other.

I will definitely try to build my speed up as soon as I get all the letters.

We'll have to set-up a QSO once you get on the air, but you'll have to slow down for me 

Gil.

Hi Brian,

Yes, I have done my homework on the radios. I can't buy anything without knowing I made the correct decision. I am not sure of my "target speed" The problem with 8-10wpm, is that it still allows you to count dits and dahs. So, some letters, I know by sound, some I cheat and visualize the dots and dashes. Not good. I would be happy with 15wpm to start. I downloaded a program called "CW Freak," which gives you call signs one by one, and speeds up every time you succeed, slows down when you miss. I still need to first learn all the letters at least. I'm up to 15 letters, but before adding more, I think I will try to increase my speed to 15wpm.

I think the record is about 140wpm, insane!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxt4ccI6B7Q

About head copying, I read a good article last night about a trick to increase your capability. You ask someone to read a book/article to you by spelling the letters, and you assemble them in your head. You can do it with a metronome... 100 characters per minutes I think might be 20wpm. Listening on my K1, I can only add up 3-4 letters before my "buffer" runs out of memory!

If you can already head-copy half the letters at 20wpm, my hat is off yo you! Stick with it.

Gil.

Hello Brian,

I haven't tried QRQ yet, but heard of it. I have listened to 2m traffic, and I have a list of repeaters saved in my handheld. Not having my license yet, I can't transmit. Actually, except for the K1 I built, which can receive 40mLSB, I have no SSB radios. I can't justify buying more gear before getting my ticket. Up to 14 letters now with the Koch method...

Thanks for joining!

Hello, I know this is a bit specific, but I am sure some new K1 builders might find it useful.

I heard about Spectrogram on the Elecraft email reflector, the PC version. Problem is, I wouldn't touch a Microsoft product with a ten foot pole. To my surprise though, there is an iPod application for $9.99. Bingo!

First I needed to set my transmit offset correctly. I first did it by ear, but it turns out that I was 50Hz off. Pretty good, but I like things to be "just so." I removed both top and bottom covers and flipped the tone switch to "Tune." I could hear the faint tone. I placed my iPod running Spectrogram near one earbud and could see the tone on the screen appearing and disappearing as I removed or replaced the earbud. I slowly turned C13 until the line perfectly aligned with the 600Hz mark. Next, I made sure my sidetone was also set to 600Hz under the Stp menu. Don't forget to flip the switch back to "Oper." Et voila!

To make sure your display shows the correct frequency, You can listen to either W1AW broadcasts on 7,047.5 or 14,047.5 kHz. See the ARRL web site for schedules. With Spectrogram on, you move the tune pot until you align their 750Hz tone with the same frequency on the screen. Then you go to the Cal menu and use the up/down buttons to set the displayed frequency to end in 47.5.

With WWV on 10mHz (30m), you move the tune pot until their tone matches your sidetone frequency on the screen, meaning, if you did set your tone to 600Hz, you move the tuning pot until their "main" tone (thicker line) shows on the 600Hz mark on the screen. If your display shows 10,000.6, you're right on.

I used W1AW first, then verified my setting with WWV. I was spot on. For $9.99, you get the assurance of being right on frequency. You can also use your app for zero-beating any station you hear. Priceless