10:23 – It was 51.7F (11C) when I took Colin out at 0645 this morning, sunny and breezy. The rain is finally over. We have almost 8 inches (20 cm) over the three day period starting Saturday. Barbara is off to the gym this morning. We’re working on kit stuff this afternoon. She’s making a flying visit to Winston tomorrow, leaving around 0800 and returning home in the afternoon.
Science kit sales are holding up better than I expected. We’re in our slowest period of the year–February through June–but units and revenues for each month of 2017, including April, are noticeably higher than same-month 2016 numbers. As we do every year, we’re using this slow time to build inventory of non-perishable kit components in anticipation of the rush that starts in July. By August, we’ll be shipping kits faster than we can build them, so we want to have enough subassemblies already built to let us just assemble kits on the fly.
When Barbara read my page the other day about Sam’s/Walmart versus Costco/Amazon, she said she really, really didn’t want to start going to Sam’s. She just doesn’t like it, and she doesn’t care about the politics. She says Costco stuff is better quality other than name-brand canned goods and so on, and the staff is much friendlier. I understand her position. I even agree with it. It just annoys me to support businesses that take political positions that oppose everything I stand for. Barbara is going to make a Costco run when she’s down in Winston, so I’m doing a shopping list for her that includes more dry and canned foods.
Pat McLene has an interesting article up, What do you have in your prepper radio shack?
I agree with most of what he says, with a couple of exceptions. He recommends the BaoFeng UV-5 VHF/UHF handi-talkies, which I don’t think are the optimum choice. Pat has bought a 20 pack of them, and I wish him the best. But I think he’d have been far better off standardizing on the BaoFeng/Pofung UV-82. The UV-82 is very similar to the UV-5, but it’s more robustly built. Even more important, its receiver’s sensitivity and particularly selectivity is noticeably better. The price is about the same, $30 give or take. I standardized on the UV-82 in part because I can buy five or six of them for the price of one comparable Yaesu unit. And the Yaesu is hard-wired to transmit only on the amateur bands, while the UV-82 can be programmed to transmit on any frequency within its range (136 to 174 MHz VHF and 400 to 520 MHz UHF). I have similar issues with his choice of Yaesu mobile units, which are also limited to transmitting in the amateur bands. BaoFeng/Pofung/BTech make similar mobile units with no such restrictions, and again they sell for a small fraction of the price of comparable Yaesu/Icom units.
If you do buy any of the BaoFeng HT’s, do yourself a favor and order real name-brand Nagoya 771 whip antennas for them. The supplied rubber duckie antennas are what we used to call radial dummy loads. Their performance is pathetic.
* * * * *
“…when I took Colin out at 0645 this morning…”
Do you take Colin out when it suits you or does he let you know when he’s got to go?
He wakes me, usually by whining or licking my front paws. If he’s really serious, he comes over and stands on me.
60s today here w/bright overcast; 70s next couple of days. Outside chore days while fighting off a head cold and the usual back pain. Exciting.
WRT to the paradigm where one knows one or two pretty reasonable, even nice and friendly, musloids, and therefore the other billion-plus of them must be OK, too:
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2017/04/26/are-the-vast-majority-of-muslims-moderate/
I think we already covered the paradigm where our one homegrown terrorist incident in the decades since the commie Weathermen is somehow equated with the dozens of musloid terrorist attacks. And our homegrown actors went after government buildings not children on school buses or crowds of shoppers on a busy street.
“Moderate” when describing musloids is synonymous with “silent.”
Of course, like I’ve consistently said many times for decades, how about we GTFO of those countries and stay out?
Interesting that he doesn’t even mention HF. Nor does he really talk about what the POINT of having the radios is.
Maybe that was in a different article.
n
WRT BaoFeng units.
I have been looking at several models. The price point for the UV-82 is very appealing, particularly for me as a total beginner. I plan to order a pair, maybe today.
I may be missing something, but what is the difference between the UV-82 and UV-82L models, other than the USB cable included with the UV-82L? I am thinking I get one of each and the whip antennas suggested by our host.
@terry, the chinese import radios have random and often trivial differences in model number, manf name, and capability. For ex, my baofeng UV5R+Plus. Love that “+plus”. Didn’t see any real difference noted in the eham reviews. Someone said maybe it was a longer lasting battery. No idea.
The chinese radios are a good low cost entry point.
n
President tRump signs EO to review Federal land grabs and monuments. Libturdians are up in arms wetting their panties. Confederate statues being torn down all over, zzz, zzzz, crickets on history of our country.
If I remember correctly, there are two answers floating around the Internet. Either the UV-82L has a longer life battery or the battery capacity is misprinted on some UV-82s. I’m leaning toward the latter explanation, but I don’t know.
Well, I read a bunch of his other articles. While I don’t disagree with his advice on gear selection in THIS article, I find plenty to disagree with in his others.
Especially the sneering tone toward licensing and practice.
If all you are ever going to do is listen, get a couple of cheap analog scanners, and one good trunking scanner and/or digital. If your area is digital, you need at least one digital, otherwise save the dough. Baofangs and FRS radios are lousy scanners, and I’ve yet to see an “HF scanner” that he mentions several times.
Doctrinally, (to mangle a word), I have some issues and he seems to be making some fundamentally wrong assumptions, but hey, that doesn’t mean he can’t come up with useful lists.
I think the biggest mistake is thinking that it’s easy. Would anyone anywhere suggest you could buy a pistol, pull it out of the box occasionally to look at it, then put it back, and expect it to be useful when you really need it? Does he plan to hand out high point pistols to his visiting ‘friends’ so they can patrol his perimeter and successfully fight off the zombie hordes? Then wth would he count on $3 radios?
When SHTF he’s counting on being forted up in his compound, with a bunch of unpracticed undisciplined newbies that he doesn’t even trust to not break or lose gear who are RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS CONTINUED EXISTENCE ON THE PLANET. That is a fundamental problem with his thinking.
He’s also anti-license because the FCC will be going door to door to confiscate radios from hams. WTF? If you think that’s coming you do the same with your radios that you did with your guns, get some ‘no paper’ ones and put them somewhere safe.
He prefers the low output of FRS but that’s a MAX output. Much better to dial back a more capable xmitter than need a stronger signal and not be able to get it. And if he thinks a sophisticated foe, like .gov or .mil will be looking for his emissions, what about the RF from his genset, or solar panel inverters, or all the unintentional radiators around the compound?
Meh, the list is ok but I think his overall usefulness is reduced by his other blindspots.
n
I agree with the Nagoya 771 recommendation. I will add though, with the pathetic antenna you mention, I’ve picked up a repeater from 20 miles away. The repeater in question is mounted on a tower that is also used by a local TV station. I haven’t tried, but I suspect that with the supplied antenna, my BaoFeng UV-82 can’t reach that repeater.
@rbt, what do you see as the advantage of being able to transmit on the non-ham bands/public service bands?
I’ll admit that I considered that a plus when I bought them, but only because I don’t like being told what I can do. I don’t see any practical reason for it, esp now that all the public service has moved to digital here.
n
(and almost any xceiver is easily ‘modded’ to enable that function if desired)
“Is This The End of Microsoft Office as We Know It?”
https://www.thurrott.com/office/110036/end-microsoft-office-know
I’ve been thinking that MS was going to walk away from Office on the desktop for a while now. The Cloud approacheth at warp speed whether we want it or not.
“Well, I read a bunch of his other articles. While I don’t disagree with his advice on gear selection in THIS article, I find plenty to disagree with in his others.”
I actually agree more with what he has to say about comms than I do with you. As I’ve said, I have no intention to transmit on HF other than at low power on 10/11M. I don’t WANT to be receivable over a large area. As to SW/HF, I plan to listen essentially 100% of the time and talk 0%. Locally, on 2M/70cm frequencies, I intend to listen 99% of the time and talk 1% of the time. That’s tactical comms, and stuff that never gets mentioned like standby battery life is more important to me than the issues that everyone talks about.
For short-range tactical comms, FRS/GMRS blister pack radios are just fine. You should *want* something that has very limited range for that purpose. I want to be 100% reliably audible in our house and out to our property line and maybe 1/4 mile beyond, but that’s it.
For medium-range tactical comms, I want something that’ll let me talk to our vehicles simplex when they’re within a few miles of our house, and something that’ll let me talk reliably to the local PD/Sheriff, which is about two miles north of our house. For that, a combination of 2M (or 6M/10M) mobiles or 11M SSB CBs will work fine.
And for all of these, I’d much rather have a bunch of inexpensive transceivers than one or two expensive name-brand ones. Not only are the latter not-better for my purposes, they’re actually grossly inferior because they’re type-accepted and locked into transmitting only on the amateur bands. That doesn’t do me much good if I want to call the Sheriff’s department on 151 MHz.
You obviously prefer quality over quantity, every time. I’m the opposite. You remind me of Frederick the Great (?), “He who defends everything defends nothing.”
So I have an eclectic collection of stuff. A couple of UV-82’s with accessories: spare battery, AAA battery packs, good Nagoya antennas, battery eliminators that plug into cigarette lighter sockets, earphones, handheld mic/speakers, etc. Several good FRS/GMRS HTs, as well as several cheapies. A good 40-channel SSB CB mobile. Etc. etc. Oh, and a bunch of Eneloop cells in AA and AAA, as well as several chargers in both 120VAC and 12VDC.
(Incidentally, for those of you who have UV-82’s and the AAA battery packs, note that they hold six cells and come with a dummy cell for a reason; if you use them with NiMH (1.2V) rechargeables, fill all six positions for 7.2V. If you use alkalines, insert five cells plus the dummy, for 7.5V total. If you use 6 alkalines for a total of 9V, the UV-82 won’t work properly.)
“@rbt, what do you see as the advantage of being able to transmit on the non-ham bands/public service bands?
I’ll admit that I considered that a plus when I bought them, but only because I don’t like being told what I can do. I don’t see any practical reason for it, esp now that all the public service has moved to digital here.
n
(and almost any xceiver is easily ‘modded’ to enable that function if desired)”
Are you sure all your public service has moved to digital? I know they’re probably trucked digital for routine use, but I was under the impression that all public safety organizations continue to maintain analog simplex and usually duplex repeaters for emergency coordination. Our local LE certainly does. They’re on VIPER (trunked) for routine comms, but they also have analog capability.
I want to be able to transmit on any frequency that someone somewhere is likely to be able to hear. That includes stuff like Marine band, MURS and color-dot frequencies, and even the NWS weather alert frequencies. Better to have that flexibility and not need it …
As to modding a Yaesu or Icom or Kenwood ham rig, I’m not sure how you’d do that. They’re SDR’s, but I don’t know how to get into the ROM, edit the firmware, re-burn a new ROM, and install it. Is that the kind of mod you’re talking about?
I’ve been thinking that MS was going to walk away from Office on the desktop for a while now. The Cloud approacheth at warp speed whether we want it or not.
One of the young’n’s asked last week what was the original purpose of Access. Without thinking, I replied, “Killing the Clipper cottage industry”, but then I realized that was “Mission Accomplished” 20+ years ago.
I’d say Access could go away without anyone noticing, but a lot of xBase files are still out there which require regular updates by non-technical people.
“I may be missing something, but what is the difference between the UV-82 and UV-82L models, other than the USB cable included with the UV-82L? I am thinking I get one of each and the whip antennas suggested by our host.”
Per BaoFeng, there is no difference. If you decide to go with the UV-82, I’d buy the UV-82 or UV-82L, and NOT the UV-82HP. The latter is a newer version, but it costs literally twice as much and the only real improvement I saw was boosting the UV-82 higher power mode from 5W (nominal, typically 4W actual) to 8W. That just doesn’t buy you much, if anything.
I’d also pick up a USB cable (get the official one; the off-brand ones are problematic) to allow you to program your radios from a PC. To do that, download a copy of CHIRP. I’d recommend using the .CSV file you can find here:
https://radiofreeq.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/program-your-vhf-uhf-transceivers-for-disaster-preparedness-with-frs-gmrs-pmr-murs-business-weather-marine-ham-channel-frequencies/
“Confederate statues being torn down all over…”
Same as Soviet-era and Chicom and Eastern Bloc airbrushing of historical photos. And guess what, it’s our own commies doing it and getting away with it.
Like I said, I don’t disagree with his list for this article, I just think several of his other assumptions and biases bother me, and reduce his “authority”.
“You obviously prefer quality over quantity, every time. ” Nope, I’m the king of cheap for a lot of things, but not stuff my life depends on.
I’ve got buckets (literally- I use the empty pod buckets from the dishwasher soap) of cheap FRS radios. They work from the garage to the house, or from the attic to the other end of the wire pull, but they are extraordinarily bad inside structures or thru structures. IRL under real suburban conditions they are reliable for only a block or two, if both ends are outside (tested by me in our neighborhood during the prep for George). To carry with you while you putter around the yard, ok. But to rely on them for perimeter defense or squad level comms is nuts. For any critical application, they’re not reliable. If you separate out the GMRS ones and they do in fact operate at a higher power, then use those, and have a plan to switch to those freqs if you are having problems. (or use the baofengs on the FRS and GMRS freqs) Otherwise, if you are worried about emissions, practice good TX discipline.
The problem with low power is that it hinders you, but doesn’t significantly reduce your exposure except in the grossest sense. Anyone coming looking for you other than roving bands of savages (which you [rbt] don’t really expect) can still hear you, they just hear a lower power signal, and need a better antenna, and/or a better receiver. I hear FRS radios on my scanner here FAR beyond their own useful range.
I’ve got a stack of CB radios too and believe that in a whole bunch of conceivable scenarios, they’ll be the neighborhood ‘jungle telegraph’. They’re cheap, widely available, easy to use, and at least vaguely familiar to most people. I think everyone should have one. Even new, they’re cheap. People talk about the importance of community and ‘tribe’ but then don’t expect to communicate with them? You don’t leave home much in a disaster, and not for anything trivial. Far easier and safer to be up on the radio, and if you aren’t participating and well known, who’s gonna risk coming if you do call for help? And who’s gonna bother to keep the radio/battery/etc up for you to listen to them, if they aren’t getting any answer back, and don’t have any expectation of help?
I’ve also got radios that can use the public service freqs. My base station has no restrictions on xmit- all bands all modes. I’ve got a type approved commercial kenwood HT that I easily programmed with software from the ‘net that actually has a chance of being heard by my p/s because it’s got their PL code programmed. Without that, most agencies have their radios set to only ‘hear’ their PL, and they’ll never hear you on their freq unless they notice the busy light flash and switch to monitor mode. I don’t expect that to work anymore though, because all our local agencies switched to digital trunking. Your agencies (esp in rural areas) may not have switched yet, but FEMA and Homeland are pushing them to and they will at some point. BTW my kenwood was <$20 and is built like a tank. (your local sheriff is not gonna be happy to hear you on his freq anyway, unless it's by agreement, and then he'd probably hand you a radio. in a genuine emergency, it'd be worth a try if nothing else was up.)
I see the value of cheap and plentiful and it's much better than nothing. BUT I also see the value of reliable and sturdy. In mission critical areas, like keeping myself alive, I don't count on cheap gear. I don't climb on iffy rope, I don't carry a cheap pistol, and I wouldn't give my sentry a $3 radio- if I had a choice. Fortunately we DO have choices.
ANY of motorola's business class radios would be sturdier and more reliable. Even their "blister pack" MURS radios are of superior construction.
But all that is for talking. If you want to listen, you need scanners. Most xceivers are lousy scanners, esp the baofengs. A couple of cheap 12v scanners or handhelds (more than one to keep the scan list length down so you don't miss stuff) are gonna use less power and last longer than your HTs.
nick
(I spent more than a decade using a radio every day at work. Many times I had 2 radios, and sometimes a third. Even moto radios get trashed when used day to day, outdoors and out; wired mics get damaged, headsets break, clips pop off. If your life depends on it, don't cheap out.)
Ah, Nick, we agree on about 99% of the important stuff, but the 1% keeps things interesting. That’s why I’m happy you spend so much time here. You challenge me to think things through. I hope I do the same for you.
“Is that the kind of mod you’re talking about?”
Nope, even very modern radios usually use a series of resistors to tell the radio what region of the world it’s in and what freqs allow TX. Usually all you have to do is unsolder or even just twist off a resistor. There is a whole cottage industry to support it. Granted that the chinese radios are easier at the low end, but it’s not difficult to find a radio that can be ‘opened up’ or expanded.
Very few, outside of the very top ends, are actually fully SDRs. They use computers to manage the radio and its interface but the radio stages aren’t usually SDR. (apparently it’s much easier to make an SDR receiver than transmitter). High end radios are not something I’ve spent a lot of time looking at, as the budget won’t stretch that far.
nick
” You challenge me to think things through. I hope I do the same for you.”
YUP!!!
n
Which county are you in? RR has some very few local agencies on analog but still looks like repeater based systems in the counties along the border. ALMOST all of our local agencies have moved to TXwarn and digital. I got the Home Patrol II for my birthday because the analogs had gone really quiet.
I just ordered two more BaoFeng UV-82 radios, here:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F4OOMQ0
They were $28.83 each, but with the kick-back from my Amazon card they ended up costing me $0.455 each. Not bad. Two radios for less than a buck total.
Here’s my thinking: I already have a bunch of capable HTs, so why add two more? Well, as I keep saying, I’m planning for at least 4.5 people, counting Colin as 0.5 person, and many more are possible. At least, I want many more people I can trust, so there’s that.
But the real reason is that buying these two radios gives me spares. In the unlikely event that a battery fails, I now have two more UV-82 batteries. In the unlikely event that a radio fails/is lost/gets stepped on, I now have two more UV-82 radios. Buying the whole package costs only about twice as much as buying a spare battery, so why not do it?
We’re in Alleghany County. As I said, I don’t expect to hear any analog traffic to speak of because they routinely use VIPER trunked digital. But this county (and most of the country, as far as I know) can switch over to analog duplex for emergency coordination, and if their repeater goes down they can fall back all the way to analog simplex.
I’m not anti-baofeng by any stretch. My UV5R+Plus has been a good radio and has great standby time, much longer with the extended battery than my FT60. But my FT60 lives in my man bag, and gets beat up by everything else in there without a problem. The bf spends most of its time sitting on my desk. It was my ONLY radio for a year after getting my ticket.
n
(you can’t beat the price of ‘free’ either :-0 )
I suspect the baofeng is about as reliable. Did you watch the video in Pat’s article? The guy torture-tested a UV-5, including running over it with his truck four times and finally dousing it in gasoline, setting it alight, letting it burn and melt for two minutes, and finally dousing it with water. It took a licking and kept on ticking.
I wonder if his is the unit I saw for sale on Amazon, with its condition described as “Used -Condition Good”
I suspect the baofeng is about as reliable. Did you watch the video in Pat’s article? The guy torture-tested a UV-5, including running over it with his truck four times and finally dousing it in gasoline, setting it alight, letting it burn and melt for two minutes, and finally dousing it with water. It took a licking and kept on ticking.
Did he EMP test it ?
No. He probably didn’t have a ballistic missile and a nuke, which would be the only way to do that.
Somebody here posted about EMP testing, I forget who, I think it was classified for the military.
EMP stands for Estonians Matter Plenty.
No. He probably didn’t have a ballistic missile and a nuke, which would be the only way to do that.
Nah, you just gotta build a machine, “The Con-Artist Physics of “Ocean’s Eleven””
https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200203/oceans-eleven.cfm
“Before most moviegoers walk into the hit comedy “Ocean’s Eleven,” starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, they don’t realize that the Las Vegas con- artist caper contains some physics in its plot. In the film, eleven con artists employ a physics device, called “the pinch,” – to help them rob a vault containing the riches of three casinos. Set off in the middle of Las Vegas, the pinch detonates an intense “electromagnetic pulse” that blacks out the city’s power grid for a few moments.”
Ah, I thought you meant a real HEMP, not a trivial baby EMP.
“EMP stands for Estonians Matter Plenty.”
Dat’s right; they’re getting two F-35A’s with the support personnel before we see them at our fighter-interceptor squadron 30 miles down the road. Where I’ll be Friday night picking up wifey, back from Nuevo Aztlan.
Spent the afternoon trying to avoid the clouds of millions of gnats or whatever the fuck they are all over the ‘hood today, probably because the sun is out and everything is soaking wet. Very humid and in the 70s. But I got the Gorilla wagon finished and hauling firewood over to the racks. Also raked up piles of wet leaves. Used big-ass contractor bags for other major and heavy trash items and got them ready for another couple of dump runs. And finally just ran outta gas, even with frequent breaks.
Gettin’ old sucks, but the alternative so far is a lot worse.
Ann Coulter just laid out tRump’s reelection strategy:
Build the fucking wall!
Screw the wall. Set up a no-man’s land like RBT outlined last year and bring troops home from the Suck and the Sandbox to secure that border once and for all. Meanwhile start shipping illegals back to wherever they come from, mainly, I’m hearing now, from countries south of Mexico.
Coulter was one of the guy’s biggest boosters all last year during the “campaign” and now she’s fed up, too. I get the daily White House emails about all the great shit he’s doing and I’m still waiting on those five or six big items he said he’d take care of. And howzabout toning down the war-war yak and doing the jaw-jaw-yak?
The NORKs: Let the Japanese and SORKs take care of it. And maybe give them the means to do whatever it takes if whatever they have isn’t enough.
Middle East: GTFO now. Period.
Rescind NAFTA and GATT and start penalizing the hell out of companies that offshore American jobs. Stop trading with countries that won’t work with us on an even playing field. Reward those that do.
Tell the Israelis to sod the fuck off, once and for all.
And start dancing with the folks what brung ya, or that seething anger and barely repressed rage and vengeance/self-defense is gonna blow at some future trigger event. It won’t be pretty at all.
The Mexico DMZ.
Shoot on sight!
Right on, hermano!
More intel on the religion of pieces…
https://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2017/04/dhimmi-crack-corn-and-i-dont-care.html
Oh wait, wait, wait—gee whiz, I know a wunnerful devout muslim family and they’re great peeps and plus I worked with a nice muslim guy a few years ago and none of THEM ever said or did anything hateful or violent, so all this talk about hadjis and sharia is just right-wing Nazi scare tactics and propaganda and also rayciss!
Republican voters; how’s it workin’ out for ya so far???
https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2017/04/26/do-you-understand-yet-14/
The first 100 days and everything is just dandy.
Well, at least no nukes are actually flying yet and he’s left 2A alone and the ATF is allegedly starting to see the light about a lot of things and backing off some stupidities.
He reportedly watches cable nooz all day and just reacts to shit, like that Syrian caper. A small step up from our hip-hop choom-club predecessor, who watched ESPN all day. Nice gig.
Nah, don’t waste American troops patrolling the southern DMZ. Declare the top, say, 20 miles of Mexico to be No Man’s Land and use it as the testing ground for autonomous combat mechs. You know, Terminators. Bolos. Killdrones. All the defense contractors will get to show off what they’re doing with that DARPA money. Plus, set up a live stream (with a separate Best Of feed) and the ad revenue will pay for the program.
Hillary Clinton will never be President.
That right there makes Trump’s Presidency good enough. Anything else he accomplishes is just gravy.
“That right there makes Trump’s Presidency good enough. Anything else he accomplishes is just gravy.”
amen brother.
n
@nick
You seem well-informed on the subject, so what are YOUR recommendations for someone looking to just get a few radios?
“Somebody here posted about EMP testing, I forget who, I think it was classified for the military.”
I have designed equipment that passed Flash Bulb of God testing. Nuclear effects testing is in 3 parts:
HEMP: Giant EM pulse generator. Interestingly, the word from White Sands was that if a unit passed MilSpec ESD and EMI/EMC testing that it almost never failed HEMP.
Gamma Dose Rate/Gamma Total Dose: Large Gamma generator. Also can be done at larger hospitals and universities. Only affects equipment that is powered on at the time of the blast.
Neutron Fluence: This was done with a sub-critical reactor. There is probably a way to do this with a lower source over a longer period if time but I don’t know for sure or what the conversion would be. This affects all electronics and basically can’t be shielded (>1 meter of lead).
Of course all of this was done at the LD50 level. Half the crew of the vehicle would be disabled in less than 24 hours. All of us should expect to be further away from the blast or we have much more to worry about than if our refrigerator works.
I know that qualifying electronics for space use involves irradiating them at a facility in Indiana. IIRC, it can only deal with components and small subassemblies.
@chad,
the important question to start with is ‘what do you want to do?’ With that info, you can narrow the list. first separation is listen vs talk. No license required to listen. To listen, get a scanner. Most transceivers will scan, but they are much slower. To talk, see below.
If you want to monitor your local area, and it’s fun but you aren’t necessarily gonna get the inside scoop, you need a couple of scanners. I like analog ‘cuz they’re cheap. They work well for scanning ham bands, or the analog FEMA interop freqs. Analog scanners will cover the GMRS and FRS bands, weather bands, marine (almost everyone is near a coast or navigable waterway), air, etc. If you are rural, you may have more traffic on analog than other areas. If your area has gone digital, you need a digital capable trunk tracker scanner. The Uniden Home Patrol II is a bit long in the tooth, but is widely recommended. I like mine, but it needs a bunch of tweaking to the internal channel list. Setting up scanners takes a bit of thinking about what you want to monitor too. I shut off all the dispatch channels because they run constantly here. Your highway motorist aid guys probably still use analog and they’re a good source for high water and road debris info. Same for the ‘back’ channel for your local news teams to talk to their ‘in the field’ guys. There is a lot of interesting stuff even during normal times.
The other pure listening radio is Shortwave. After trying dozens of radios and listening at least a couple of nights a week for the last year, there’s not a lot of info actually on SW. By definition, the state broadcasters are running propaganda stations. Most of the other stations are religious. Even then there are things to listen to, and SHTF, there might be other broadcasters or other content. It’s definitely overblown in the prepping world though. I like older “communications receivers” like the kenwood R1000 or the Yaesu FRG-7700. They have continuous coverage from the low to their high. They are usually used on AC power but also may have battery inputs. For off grid, I love my Panasonic RF 2200. Over a year on one set of D batteries, but it is larger. For pocket or on the go, I’m really liking the little Sony ICF 7600 I took to the Virgin Islands. It’s got digital tuning but you can comfortably just tune thru the bands. LOTS of other radios with digital tuning will “chuff” or take a second to tune every single time you push the UP or Down button. For scanning around that is REALLY tedious. The sony is very smooth tuning up and down.
you’ll notice that this stuff is all older. Yup, but the designs stood the test of time.
I’ve decided the little pocket analogs are useless and the pocket digitals are pretty useless for just tuning around. Also, don’t worry about side band or a Beat Frequency Oscillator on your SW radio so you can listen to hams. They are almost impossible to tune in. Want to listen to hams, get a ham radio.
If you are thinking about getting a ham license, and want to get started cheaply, the baofengs are a great entry point for a tech or general license. DON’T buy a used radio unless you can get some guarantee that it works. You want to get on the air, not work on radios. If you want something better than the chinese radios, any of the big three, Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu that have the features you want will be great. ALWAYS check the reviews at eHam.com before buying. They will address any reliability or useability issues, esp for something that’s been out for a while. I’d buy cheaper, and fewer features unless you’ve decided you like ham radio as a hobby or decided that you need a digital mode. Buy a dual band radio that has 2 meter (144mhz or VHF) and 70cm (440mhz or UHF). Don’t buy a single band radio unless it’s very cheap or you are planning a dedicated use.
For HF (getting more than a mile or two away, or for HF data modes) I’m gonna say, there are great values in 20-25 year old gear. My Yaesu FT 847 works great.
There are multiband mobile radios that include HF but due to power and antenna limitations, they aren’t the best choice if you are gonna do a lot of HF.
Mobile radios make decent home stations, if the power limits are ok for you.
Some people recommend tube radios for EMP survivability but they are harder to use, need more power, and are physically bigger. Probably better to get another modern radio and put it in a metal box if that worries you.
I have FRS/GMRS radios (blister pack) that I buy when I see them cheap. I don’t trust them for anything critical though. I use them when I’d rather not yell but don’t trust them for anything farther than that.
I’ve also bought motorola business radios when I see them cheap. They are bulletproof unless the batteries leaked, but anything will be destroyed by leaking batteries. After years of using moto radios in the field, I may be biased, but they just keep working.
There are real differences between a $1200 moto walkie and a $30 one. Those differences might not be important to you, but don’t discount them. Sure, you can easily replace your $30 radio with a spare if you are where the spare is. NOT so easy to replace if you are out USING it and the spares are at home. If it’s critical gear, buy quality.
I’ve mentioned before that I think CBs are worth having. There is still a lot of CB use in more rural areas, and among the Off Road crowd. There are also some people in the prep/liberty/militia/dumbass movements that advocate a super set of CB known as “freebanding.” They use modified units or ‘export only’ models that include access to freqs outside the Citizen’s Bands. They are illegal for most people, are NOT obscure, ARE easily monitored, and get you very little for the additional cost/risk/learning.
A side note on licensing. Many of the freqs and radios are restricted to various licensed individuals/businesses/or classes of people. Some are enforced, some are not. FRS doesn’t need a license, but is supposed to be restricted to non-business use. GMRS requires a license, which covers your whole family for a number of years, and is a ‘fee only’ license. CB dropped the individual license requirement, but there are still restrictions on power output, antenna heights, and even attempting to reach beyond certain distances. Ham frequencies and modes and power output are all subject to different license requirements. Tech and General are not difficult to get with study, and will give you almost all the privileges. MURS describes frequencies for business use and does not require individual licenses. Most of the blister pack ‘business’ radios use MURS freqs. There are some other freqs and modes available (baby monitors, dakota alert, Moto 900mhz walkies, that don’t require individual licensing.
Some online preppers have recommended getting marine radios and using them on land. This is a really bad idea, with very little upside. For one, it’s specifically prohibited. The Coast Guard takes a very dim view of this abuse, and they are set up to direction find transmissions. Just don’t do it.
Every month, the magazine of the ARRL lists enforcement actions the FCC has taken. The vast majority are for CB violations, followed by interference violations on ham bands. Hams will report you if you are on their bands without a license. Just don’t do it. There are guys that LIVE to direction find you, record you, challenge you, and they will remember you if you later get a license. Given that, there are WAY more violators than there are people prosecuted. If you do get prosecuted the fines are not small, and the FCC tacks on “respect my authority!” fees too.
One of the biggest frustrations for new hams is getting a definitive gear recommendation. Experienced hams will almost always say “it depends” and “what do you want to do?” For preppers, it’s a lot easier. Start with the baofengs. Add a dual band mobile (in the car or on your desk) from the big 3. A good basic walkie or HT as hams say, is the Yaesu FT-60r. Stay away from repurposed public safety commercial radios until you’ve gotten farther along, or unless someone local can set it up for you (and keep it up.)
In general, look for radios that can be programmed by pc with a cable. That will be WAY easier than doing it by hand. That said, I’ve got about 4 freqs programmed in my HT. How many more can you keep track of?
hope that helped some, I’ve written 10’s of thousands of words on the subject here and at thesurvivalistblog.net in comments.
n
Hillary Clinton will never be President.
That right there makes Trump’s Presidency good enough. Anything else he accomplishes is just gravy.
+ 1 billion
But Princess Chelsea is waiting in the wings for 2020:
https://heatst.com/politics/chelsea-clinton-gets-another-award-this-time-for-handing-out-grapefruits-to-the-homeless/
You know, if I am homeless, the last thing that I want is a grapefruit. Give me some peanut butter, jam, and bread. Or maybe some canned ravioli. And some butt wipes.
Plus just saying “President tRump” gives libturds convulsions. LOL!
Ah but grapefruit is FRUIT and therefore holier.
Also more USELESS as who eats grapefruit plain?
n
Also more USELESS as who eats grapefruit plain?
My wife. She eats them like an orange. Peel and eat the slices after removing the inner skin around each slice.
Her mother used to eat onions like apples, shudder. Just peel off the outer layer and eat the whole thing. I told her several times that I was totally impressed.
yikes
If it’s critical gear, buy quality
I have also stated that about flashlights. Sure some cheap lights are good to have, lots of them. But if I am depending on the light I want high quality well built lights and that costs money.
I eat grapefruit same as an orange. Pretty darn good fresh from the tree.
“Somebody here posted about EMP testing, I forget who, I think it was classified for the military.”
I have designed equipment that passed Flash Bulb of God testing. Nuclear effects testing is in 3 parts:
HEMP: Giant EM pulse generator. Interestingly, the word from White Sands was that if a unit passed MilSpec ESD and EMI/EMC testing that it almost never failed HEMP.
Gamma Dose Rate/Gamma Total Dose: Large Gamma generator. Also can be done at larger hospitals and universities. Only affects equipment that is powered on at the time of the blast.
Neutron Fluence: This was done with a sub-critical reactor. There is probably a way to do this with a lower source over a longer period if time but I don’t know for sure or what the conversion would be. This affects all electronics and basically can’t be shielded (>1 meter of lead).
Of course all of this was done at the LD50 level. Half the crew of the vehicle would be disabled in less than 24 hours. All of us should expect to be further away from the blast or we have much more to worry about than if our refrigerator works.
Thanks for the info ! I knew that the military did extensive EMP testing, I just did not know how. I do know that the planned Soviet first strike scenario starts off with at least one LEO EMP to paralyze the country.
I have a friend who works in a engineering company in Rosenberg. They build downhole components for oil drillers that are rated up to 350 F. They cook the boards for a week and then test them to find out which ones pass. They have learned many tricks over the years to increase survivability of the boards.
I eat grapefruit same as an orange. Pretty darn good fresh from the tree.
Is it as good as emu jerky ?
I like grapefruit. My morning routine includes fresh fruit salad: peel and fillet one pink grapefruit and one or two oranges, squeezing out the juice from the peel and the pith; peel and dice an apple, then add whatever other fruit I have round, usually pear and banana, maybe also some grapes, mango, maracuja, pineapple, kiwifruit, summer berries or whatever… basically anything but melon, which I like, but not in a fruit salad. I find commercially-prepared fruit salad nearly always contains melon, plus much too much apple to bulk it out.
I have a problem with gastric reflux, so I probably shouldn’t eat citrus fruit because of the acidity, but I find that eating fruit for breakfast avoids ill-effects, as I am on my feet thereafter. I avoid citrus in the evenings, and food in general for three or more hours before bedtime whenever possible.
I like my grapefruit halved, in a bowl, with each wedge scooped out with a spoon. I discovered a long time ago that a little salt sprinkled on top kills any bitterness without using sugar (which is how my parents ate it.)
I’m excited that I’ve got TWO grapefruit trees that are fruiting right now, although the one in the pot only produced tennis ball sized fruits.
And on closer inspection, the orange tree that produced one fruit last year has a bunch of fruit started this year. Hurray! Something to be said for a major stress to a tree. Seems like a drought or a freeze says “hurry up and reproduce”.
n
Dad’s Memories
My maternal grandfather had grapefruit every morning, in addition to 6 eggs, 1/2# of home-grown bacon, Wonderbread toast, bowl of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran (had to be Kellogg’s), orange juice, and several cups of black coffee (did I mention he was a farmer).
Grandpa had developed a friendship with a fruit distributor many many years ago (at the International Livestock Exhibition in Chicago every November) so he had the best in-season fresh fruit shipped (Railway Express) to him from Florida and California. This was all premium fruit that was almost impossible to find except in fancy big-city grocery stores. I remember the boxes of “YUGE” WA Red Delicious apples he would get at Christmas, that was when Red Delicious apples were still “delicious”.
BTW, grapefruit is contradicted with many of the medications I take. Supposedly grapefruit has a chemical that neutralizes “things”.
We had a grapefruit tree at home, I almost never touched it. Grapefruit is too tart for my liking. I do like oranges though.
I can’t get used to the idea of eating salted grapefruit. Salt belongs on fish and chips, but not fruit. Same with salted caramel. Some of my friends rave about it. I won’t touch it.
BTW, grapefruit is contradicted with many of the medications I take. Supposedly grapefruit has a chemical that neutralizes “things”.
It has a compound in it that blocks and enzyme that is used to metabolize some drugs, so it can cause the levels in the blood to rise to dangerous levels. In some drugs that stimulate production of substances in the body, it can block the production. It also blocks some drugs from being absorbed in the intestine.