Communications techniques - Survival without the internet

Ok the objective of this thread is to gather ideas and techniques for critical information transfer in the event of a major disaster situation. I already have a basic survival kit that I already made but I am lacking in the communications/information sector. This survival kit is an urban survival kit and is not intended for being in the woods. It is a stay at home kit.


If you are out in the wilderness, major communications systems are having a signal mirror, flashlights, laser flare, emergency rescue strobe, even smoke.
www.greatlandlaser.com...
And a review of the laser flare:
www.equipped.org...
The other things are common and anyone can research up on the internet (rescue strobe):
www.actiongear.com...


That being said. The only backup method of communication in the event of a natural disaster and then no internet is Amateur radio that I can think of. I would plan on getting a Radio of some sort and here is a list of FCC frequencies that you should PRINT out and keep with your radio:
www.fcc.gov/oet/spectrum/table/fcctable.pdf
www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.pdf
It would be advisable to know what is going around you in the event of a blackout. Once again, Im not planning on going out into the woods or anything.


If things are worse and there is even know internet my question is what do I do? I have 90 GB of medical (I'm a health professional/student), science, matheamtics, chemistry...books, emergency manuals and 40 GB of Maps/GIS data for locating watersources/navigation via roads etc all able to be run without the internet. What if I need to communicate these things to someone else i.e. Email information/maps to a relative/friend and either me or they do not have the internet. Short of transmitting information over the radio (for security reasons), how would I relay such information across a good distance.

This is one of the reason I joined this site, and I myself tried to research more about this but didn't understand the technical aspects. I did learn that you can even broadcast video across the ham radio.

In my mind we'd need a central server to relay. It wouldn't be like the internet as we know it now, but with a central core we could keep bulletin and message boards like this semi updated.

Encryption would be the key. The central might even be a target in a shtf scenario, so a mobile unit might be best.

reply to post by Seiko


Yes very good I never thought of that. For instance ABC news broadcasts their information over the air, and anyone with the old antenna or a more advanced radio can pick up the signals and put them on any CRT/LCD screen. Thats a great Idea. There are very expenisve CB radios (i know cause i researched into it), that can display all the tv stations that still run on the air if you want to be walking/mobile.

There has to be a person who has the information ie..for instance i have some maps and put them on a USB flashdrive and give them to a person who has access to a mobile transmitting unit capable of putting the information/data out on the air. But this information will be public unfortunately anyone with a TV and antannea can pick it up. You can buy a USB antennae for your laptop and it works exactly like the old tvs in case you didnt know.

Encryption would be a whole another challenge, but im thinking publickey/private key just like email.

Yes TV broadcasting seems like a good alternative for VISUAL information, and there needs to be a central server like you said that has to be mobile.

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL


Every bit of information you have now......print it out and give to your loved ones while you still can if indeed a disaster happens.

Other ways of communicating w/out the i-net? research how they did it from the 1700's on. carrier pigeon, horseback, etc.......

It shouldn't be too hard to figure out. The internet has been around for what......30 years? Communication has been around for what........Thousands?

Personally, I'm not going to get to the point where I can't communicate or just live my life in general without a computer.

When I was growing up, the only people with computers were the military, and government. The internet didn't exist.



Peace

reply to post by Taupin Desciple


Yes I understand that static information (ie knowledge I can print out and hand), im talking about dynamic information for instance if your watersupply gets contaminated by a major earthquake and you need directions to it, or the the Rescue camp or relay this information quickly to anyone else. Or a wild idea there is going to be an ATS emergency meeting lol.

That is information that is not known beforehand, the differnce between knowledge and information. And yes I did think about riding horseback and handdelivering, but that is energy/resources/time that a lot of people cannot expend.

Several years ago I printed out the morse code and put a copy on my bulletin board, in my purse, and in my car. Here's a link to a chart of the international version including umlauts and the whole shebang.

freenet.msp.mn.us...

reply to post by ChrisCrikey


Excellent post, thanks, yes morse is a very good way to get to and give information. I'm wondering does ATS have a backup plan? Is there a gathering place like in each state that ATS has that members can come and exchange information/supplies/skills physically in the event of a MAJOR disaster.

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL


I'm glad this doesn't state survival with no electricity.

CB radio is probably the best way to communicate locally.
That, and walkie talkies. Long range, or short.
HAM radio is good to but you must have a transmitter and receiver.
That way you can listen and talk.
Any radio that can be powered with a hand crank. Best advice.
Radio's with Weather bands.
Handheld scanners would be a powerful tool also.
But, anything with DC power will eventually run out of power.

I would say that one should worry more about the lack of communication in the event of an electrical failure. When the internet is down, there will be far more extreme things to worry about. So local communication will be crucial.

I would say, before worrying about those on the internet when things go haywire, worry about your loved ones and yourself.
Make sure your loved ones at least have an idea about what to do in any event. Information is the best things a person can have to prepare.
Then, when or if things settle down, establish any form of communication with those further away from you.

I merely mention the visual aspect so it wouldn't be forgotten. If we still had access to technology and could transmit in two directions we could easily keep a message board updated. Look into the use of ham radios during the katrina disaster, and you'll see they can be quite effective.

I mentioned encryption as a tool if it was needed, but in a scenario that devastated global communications it might be advised to actually send it out unencrypted if one wanted to help rebuild some semblance of society. This is a decision that would have to be made as the situation called for it.

It might be better to ask how we can translate html code into the spectrum. Who here has an idea how to do this?

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL

It would be great to find a neighbor I could practice with. How hard could it be to memorize, and what a great skill to have.

Here's a few other cool sites for learning morse code:

www.learnmorsecode.com...

www.justlearnmorsecode.com...

The reason I do not mention electricity is that I am planning on buying this netbook (200 bucks) runs on 8 AA batteries, can put in your own rechargeable. I have a solar AA charger, so I can put small bits and pieces of information on this laptop/netbook. The great thing about it is that it last four hours. Its also meant to kill boredom, but I liked the 8 x AA aspect of it. I can be able to attach a USB TV reciever to it and will be able to still have TV emergency reception in the event of power failure. At least for a few hours a day with adequate sunshine.

www.norhtec.com...

reply to post by Seiko


Oh wow, i never knew Ham was so critical during Katrina:

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Pretty amazing skill to have I would say. I cant believe that Katrina was that bad that it got down to amateurs to do what the Govt couldnt.

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL

Thank you for that link. My criteria for a lot of purchases these days is - will it run on solar re-chargeable batteries...there are far too many new tech devices that only run on their own proprietary batteries,imo. I love my solar battery charger and use it a lot.

I'd love to get one of those netbooks run a version of Ubuntu on it.

reply to post by ChrisCrikey


Im sure you could do that, this netbook with the 8 AA batteries runs some sort of linux, but im going to install XP on it for ease and universality for now. It is made in taiwan, it is compartmentalized, but for 200 dollars plus 50 for shipping I cant go wrong, I mean its meant as an emergency device for me, and not as a primary day to day usage device.

S&F excellent thread, I was discussing this topic with a friend in the past 24hrs!

It may be a good idea to set up meeting places in each state and each county of every country to enable people to relay information without the need for equipment, messages can be left or passed on from these particular meeting points to people or other meeting points to get messages passed around, this would be a primative method but effective if planned and location chosen correctly.
Each person on here could locate a place that is easy for us to find and get to in their own county or state and agree upon the location collectively? choose a memorable or historic place? do a vote on here maybe? then relay it to family and friends?

reply to post by findlesticks


Yes very good idea, I was thinking about the county seat of each county would be good:

en.wikipedia.org...

There are a few counties with multiple county seats and that information must be decided on the people who live in that county.

A good way to be would be to have a list of:

State, County, Seat: Physical Address, as well as GPS coordinates, notable landmarks

I believe this could be a good starting point as something basic nothing crazy,something simple people can follow and agree on.

Ok I created a Google documents account with private access for ATS users:

Username: [email protected]

Please U2u me or Casing for the PW

We can use this account to create an excel file that ATS users can anonymously access and update with their preferred emergency location meeting place with the above mentioned information. Also we can add important documents that one may deem necessary as well in its own folder.

[edit on 8-3-2010 by THE_PROFESSIONAL]

SW VA. here.

A good crank radio with SAME (S.A.M.E stands for Specific Area Message Encoding.)

www.weatherradiostore.com...

reply to post by 5 oClock


Nice link, well i uploaded my emergency meeting location for now, users can update it as needed, remmember do it anonymously:

docs.google.com...

Open the xcel file and add your state and county, do it discretely and reupload the file. :-)

reply to post by THE_PROFESSIONAL


I have a map of the UK divided into counties/area boundries, if people on here are willing to put an effort into doing some work, I would also put my effort into transferring my ideas onto this map and coming to an agreement with others on meeting points. We would then need to relay the same exact info to the people we all care about.

Is anyone here willing to help do this?