Survival - Communication Go Kit

Hi everyone,

I've two Emergency Communication Go Kits.

The first one is the following:

- 20W Max Power on HF
- 5W Max power 2M and 70CM

Specs
FT-817 ND
LDG Z-817 Autotuner
HF Packer-Amp
7 Amp hour gel battery
Tekkeon myPower ALL Plus MP3450-10
Bag: JUMBO S-TYPE VERSIPACK from MAXPEDITION


i440.photobucket.com...

With that station I've been working the entire USA, Canada and part of Southern America, Japan and almost every repeaters in the area.


The second one is the following:

- 100W Max Power on HF

Specs
Power Supply Samlex SEC 1235M
IC-7200
LDG IT-100 Autotuner
One extra power cable with alligator clips for 12V battery


i440.photobucket.com...

I've been using them with various portable antennas that can be find here:

[gratuitous links removed]

Videos

www.youtube.com...

www.youtube.com...

www.youtube.com...

What is your Emergency Communication Go Kits?

Cheers,

Carl

Here is my communication go kit:


Here is my backup kit:


And this is my favorite kit with all the fancy attachments:


Sorry for the sarcasm, but I'm making a valid point. The vast majority of us can barely keep our head above water, much less afford this expensive stuff. Every time I see a thread like this I feel terrible, both for being unprepared and for being so poor. I wish desperately to join the fight with you, to survive like you, to be useful to the people the way you will be, but I have nothing, and I can't squeeze blood from a stone. So... I simply won't survive. I will be one of the big majority who dies pointlessly. And it makes me very angry to know I won't be able to save the ones I love or to even help my fellow man in any way. All I want is to be helpful, useful, but those in power decided to destroy this country economically for their own reasons, and as a result, I have been rendered useless.

So you can bash this post if you want, or delete it as being off topic, or delete my entire account if you so choose, but what I am saying is very valid, and on-topic, and meaningful, and I think you will see a lot of other people are in the same boat as me.

So what can WE do to be a part of this? What can WE offer to this cause? Because near as I can tell, without disposable income, I can't even begin to fight back. I can't even begin to survive.

Does it work during an strong CME ?

reply to post by DieBravely


you can build your own HF-stuff quite cheaply, you know? you just need to learn a bit of electronics, and some skills with a soldering iron. Join any local radio-ham club, and there will be more than enough knowledge to help you build your own stuff, and who knows, maybe the bug bites you enough to study for your ham-license, and build your own radio's.

reply to post by DieBravely


I too used to get frustrated about all these expensive items that people claim you need to survive.
You know what? It is mostly bullcrap.
The people in the mountains of WV have survived 100's of years all while being dirt poor.
You want to know how to survive? Skills. Learn how to make traps and snares. Learn how to clean and cook rabbits, squirrels and learn to fish.

Basically, read. A LOT! Then practice what you read about, every chance you get.

Originally posted by Trueman
Does it work during an strong CME ?

ALL HF radio communications depend on the ionosphere for propagation, that is physics, and VHF doesn't, but if some mishap takes out all repeaters, VHF and UHF is gone ..... then you need HF, which requires a bit more knowledge... with HF, if you know your stuff, and know about propagation, and how the ionosphere affects it, and know about MUF, LUF and NVIS, and dead zones, and ground-wave propagation, and sky-wave propagation, you can get your signal out to somebody, somewhere .... rofl ....

reply to post by chiefsmom


yes, but after you have survived, and want to know if there are other people alive, that is where radio's come in

reply to post by chameleonwalker


I don't see in your list any NVIS antennas. if you don't know about them, I would really suggest you read up on them, invaluable if you want to communicate in the dead-zone of your HF-rig .... and don't always look at bought-out items, it is fun to make antennas and other stuff from junk just lying around

Great job, you definitely have some nice equipment. I'm an old Army radio op myself.

My question not only to the Op, but to everyone is this:

In an ELE, I've read that one of the biggest things to survive is the survivors who have no food and equipment. The one's who do have weapons of some kind could get pretty aggressive to save their own. Now certainly, a communication device such as the OPs might not be targeted as something they could use in it's intended purpose. It would however make good trading material for food. I often wonder about things like this, because I don't want to endanger myself by having something someone else is prepared to kill for.

I'm still trying to figure some of these things out, because my life may depend on it someday as well.

reply to post by Hellhound604


For NVIS I'm using a Chameleon V4 with 25' wire or a Chameleon Zepp (75' long). They're not in my list but I've other antennas too.

Originally posted by Hellhound604

Originally posted by Trueman
Does it work during an strong CME ?

ALL HF radio communications depend on the ionosphere for propagation, that is physics, and VHF doesn't, but if some mishap takes out all repeaters, VHF and UHF is gone ..... then you need HF, which requires a bit more knowledge... with HF, if you know your stuff, and know about propagation, and how the ionosphere affects it, and know about MUF, LUF and NVIS, and dead zones, and ground-wave propagation, and sky-wave propagation, you can get your signal out to somebody, somewhere .... rofl ....

Thanks for such a good answer. So, in simple words you need to have a lot of knowledge and good luck to use this equipment successfully under CME conditions. Besides that, I think batteries will be a problem right?

reply to post by Trueman


Knowledge comes with practice, reading and experience. This is what Ham is all about! I've solar panels and other larger batteries.

reply to post by Trueman



Well, there are always hand-cranked generators, don't laugh, but the military actually buys them (if they ever use it, that is another matter), like these : hand cranked generators, or solar chargers available to charge you batteries ..... but yes, you need a bit of knowledge to get HF comms running, but it is not rocket science. You just need to study it, and understand HF propagation, and you can run predictions beforehand (of course, it depends on sun-cycles, and sun-spots and so on), but there are general rules-of-thumb that applies, i.e. what general frequency bands to use at different times of the day, etc.... I've had some experience with some of my clients, that insisted on using a specific frequency at night, and I could just look at them, and tell them, that that is impossible. If we shift the frequency just 1MHz upwards, we can have comms..... there is a LOT of literature available on HF propagation. Of course, if you live in extreme latitudes, it becomes a different ballgame yet again, due to auroral effects, but that shouldn't influence most people.

reply to post by chiefsmom


About 90% of the people in 2011 live in urban area vs about 5% to 10% in rural. Yes snares and traps will help in a rural area but not very usefull in urban area. If you live in a city you've to know about "Urban Survival" which is totally different from common wilderness survival.

If you leave the city with your 4 X 4 because you want to reach to camp in the wood:

How do you which road to use or which one is safe and/or which one who doesn't have a roadblock or something?

Are you going to google it?

Call your buddy with a cell phone?

Why do you think that Federal/States GOV, the counties and the militay are investing so much into HF communications? Because they know exacly what is the end-game.

Originally posted by Trueman

Originally posted by Hellhound604

Originally posted by Trueman
Does it work during an strong CME ?

ALL HF radio communications depend on the ionosphere for propagation, that is physics, and VHF doesn't, but if some mishap takes out all repeaters, VHF and UHF is gone ..... then you need HF, which requires a bit more knowledge... with HF, if you know your stuff, and know about propagation, and how the ionosphere affects it, and know about MUF, LUF and NVIS, and dead zones, and ground-wave propagation, and sky-wave propagation, you can get your signal out to somebody, somewhere .... rofl ....

Thanks for such a good answer. So, in simple words you need to have a lot of knowledge and good luck to use this equipment successfully under CME conditions. Besides that, I think batteries will be a problem right?

Honestly, I wouldn't even try to use HF under CME conditions, then I would just listen to background static, and when the static dies down to a normal level, or goes up to a normal level, only then I would try to communicate.... but of course, you could argue that CME could cause and EMP-like effect, so, if I feel like that, I would rather leave my antenna disconnected, until the sun normalizes again ..... Hey, connect your antenna once a day and first listen for signals, and then try to transmit if you are really scared.

Originally posted by DieBravely


Sorry for the sarcasm, but I'm making a valid point. The vast majority of us can barely keep our head above water, much less afford this expensive stuff. Every time I see a thread like this I feel terrible, both for being unprepared and for being so poor. I wish desperately to join the fight with you, to survive like you, to be useful to the people the way you will be, but I have nothing, and I can't squeeze blood from a stone. So... I simply won't survive. I will be one of the big majority who dies pointlessly. And it makes me very angry to know I won't be able to save the ones I love or to even help my fellow man in any way. All I want is to be helpful, useful, but those in power decided to destroy this country economically for their own reasons, and as a result, I have been rendered useless.

So you can bash this post if you want, or delete it as being off topic, or delete my entire account if you so choose, but what I am saying is very valid, and on-topic, and meaningful, and I think you will see a lot of other people are in the same boat as me.

So what can WE do to be a part of this? What can WE offer to this cause? Because near as I can tell, without disposable income, I can't even begin to fight back. I can't even begin to survive.

Just a great post my friend.

Well what can you do? I recently listened to the audiobook One Second After, which details what America would be like, if a nuke was detonated in the upper atmosphere and the electromagnetic pulse from that bomb was tuned to fry electronics, it would fry all the electronics in the country sending America back to the dark ages.

Within a couple months there would be roving bands of misogynist cannibals terrorizing even the remotest areas of the hills.

So what you might do is carry salt and pepper in your pockets.

Originally posted by chiefsmom
reply to post by DieBravely

 

I too used to get frustrated about all these expensive items that people claim you need to survive.
You know what? It is mostly bullcrap.
The people in the mountains of WV have survived 100's of years all while being dirt poor.
You want to know how to survive? Skills. Learn how to make traps and snares. Learn how to clean and cook rabbits, squirrels and learn to fish.

Basically, read. A LOT! Then practice what you read about, every chance you get.

im a wvian.........this is so true. read, learn, watch, practice......learn.......practice. its not what you have . here we take junk and make stuff. true we can't make a radio. but really.......survival is about food water shelter, warmth. safety sure......communications sure. safety in a group.....yes. and all contribute. if the shtf......really there is little we can do...........if the radiation doesn't kill you or the poisons........you may make it. then there is infections.....ect.
do the best you can.......stay warm, dry and clean as possible. do basic first. don't worry about the fancies......if you need a radio, steal it later. a good gun,knife. axe, rope, fire shelter will start. some water containers..........good friends and family. that the basics. before you get a radio, get some good boots, shoes. use parachute cord for laces.......some good stuff on that. harden yourself up....hike, gets used to the elements....cuz if it happens and you are weak.......no good radio will save you. that is for sure. if you got the money great. if not do the basics. if in a city.....keep a low profile......vicious there...blend into what ever environment you are in..

Originally posted by chiefsmom
reply to post by DieBravely

 

I too used to get frustrated about all these expensive items that people claim you need to survive.
You know what? It is mostly bullcrap.

I'll suggest you to watcht the following YouTube Video:

www.youtube.com.../u/34/yLmuI2fu6Gk

This guy explains very well why it is important to have good communication.

reply to post by chameleonwalker

You know, when I went into RF engineering, everybody told me it was a lost cause, because we have satcomms, and VHF/UHF, and I was quite surprised to see the huge return HF has made lately. A huge eye-opener for me was after the Tsunami in 2004, on an island, where all the VHF/Cell phone infrastructure was taken out, they managed to dig out some of my company's HF equipment, jury-rig an antenna, and let the world know that hey, we are still alive, and we can do with some help..... I can't tell you how proud I felt on the day, when I heard it was a radio that I designed, that brought out that island's message.....

reply to post by speaknoevil07


sorry, if you steal a HF radio, you wouldn't be able to make it work without some knowledge ....... to use HF is more of an art than a science, if you don't have that, sorry .......