I have been working on my communications plan. During this process I did a lot of searching for information. Throughout this thread I will upload a good deal of information. What prompted this was because a while back I was able to test my Family Radio Service (FRS)/General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) radios for distance away from my house. I was disappointed. I did not get as far as I wanted. We are relatively flat but very wooded in this area. My house sits in the woods away from the road. So I am guessing trees cut the distance.
The house I moved from last year sat in the open on an elevation. I don't want to call it a hill compared to military standards but basically a smaller hill. The surrounding terrain was open to semi woods to woods and the terrain was rolling. My reception was almost good with the rolling terrain as I drove down the road at my current location.
If you don't know with GMRS you are supposed to have a license from the FCC but the majority of society does not deal with it. I am part of that majority. The license does cover you and your family. GMRS is great for around the retreat or homestead but probably will not cut it for patrols depending on your terrain.
FRS runs at 2 watts of power and GMRS runs at 5 watts of power but note you can buy GMRS only radios that have much higher wattage. Midland MXT 400 GMRS radio is the highest that I have seen so far at 40 watts.
I don't want to deal with Ham. While amateur radio is for some, it's not for me. I don't want to have to be required to have a license and get on another government list. I don't want to pay fees and the equipment generally costs more. Plus the fact that I don't really care about talking to someone that I do not know across the country or around the world. Eventually I do plan on getting a radio, something inexpensive. Basically I want it for emergency information and monitoring purposes.
Besides all that beautiful range with a Ham radio will end with an EMP/Solar Flare taking out the repeaters. Really it will not just be repeaters taking a hit but almost all electronics being took out with an EMP. If you do not have extra radios in a Faraday cage you will loose all comms. I say extra radios because who will get their electronics out every time they need to use it and then put it back?
People talk about triangulation and finding out where you live because of radio traffic. Try that in a SHTF turn WROL. One, if you have the gas to drive around you just made your self a target. Two if you are trying that in my area and you are not a neighbor or local your F'd. Our hasty road block will inspect your vehicle, credentials and if you are not local you just lost your vehicle, equipment and you are now a prisoner or taking a dirt nap. Now with saying all that you have to maintain proper communication protocols.
This paragraph is what COMSEC is all about. Keep your mouth shut on the radio unless its important. When you do talk make it very short and to the point. Use codes, a key phrase that means something or anything cryptic. A military style Brevity Matrix and CB 10 codes are a good example of that. You can create anything that you want that would help your group. Plus you will want to make it hard for anyone listening to understand your communication. Remember to do what the military does and change their information and codes every 24 hours. We civilians do not have the military luxury of having radios that have cryptographic security. In other words we do not have radios that do the security for us. As close we can get to secure radios is using sub channels on the GMRS/FRS. Garmin Rino radios have a scramble option. Using codes and a Brevity Matrix is a kicker. A self made non standard cryptic code that is random and is changed every 24 hours will be a real pain to decipher.
So you need to take a look around and evaluate what your communication plan needs. What do you want your radios for, options? The distance you plan on communicating at? Your budget? For me the budget is always the deciding factor. Very seldom do I buy premium or at least in the beginning I will almost always buy budget till I get my feet wet. Even then when I do buy premium equipment I will probably buy it used unless I need to have the warranty.
The house I moved from last year sat in the open on an elevation. I don't want to call it a hill compared to military standards but basically a smaller hill. The surrounding terrain was open to semi woods to woods and the terrain was rolling. My reception was almost good with the rolling terrain as I drove down the road at my current location.
If you don't know with GMRS you are supposed to have a license from the FCC but the majority of society does not deal with it. I am part of that majority. The license does cover you and your family. GMRS is great for around the retreat or homestead but probably will not cut it for patrols depending on your terrain.
FRS runs at 2 watts of power and GMRS runs at 5 watts of power but note you can buy GMRS only radios that have much higher wattage. Midland MXT 400 GMRS radio is the highest that I have seen so far at 40 watts.
I don't want to deal with Ham. While amateur radio is for some, it's not for me. I don't want to have to be required to have a license and get on another government list. I don't want to pay fees and the equipment generally costs more. Plus the fact that I don't really care about talking to someone that I do not know across the country or around the world. Eventually I do plan on getting a radio, something inexpensive. Basically I want it for emergency information and monitoring purposes.
Besides all that beautiful range with a Ham radio will end with an EMP/Solar Flare taking out the repeaters. Really it will not just be repeaters taking a hit but almost all electronics being took out with an EMP. If you do not have extra radios in a Faraday cage you will loose all comms. I say extra radios because who will get their electronics out every time they need to use it and then put it back?
People talk about triangulation and finding out where you live because of radio traffic. Try that in a SHTF turn WROL. One, if you have the gas to drive around you just made your self a target. Two if you are trying that in my area and you are not a neighbor or local your F'd. Our hasty road block will inspect your vehicle, credentials and if you are not local you just lost your vehicle, equipment and you are now a prisoner or taking a dirt nap. Now with saying all that you have to maintain proper communication protocols.
This paragraph is what COMSEC is all about. Keep your mouth shut on the radio unless its important. When you do talk make it very short and to the point. Use codes, a key phrase that means something or anything cryptic. A military style Brevity Matrix and CB 10 codes are a good example of that. You can create anything that you want that would help your group. Plus you will want to make it hard for anyone listening to understand your communication. Remember to do what the military does and change their information and codes every 24 hours. We civilians do not have the military luxury of having radios that have cryptographic security. In other words we do not have radios that do the security for us. As close we can get to secure radios is using sub channels on the GMRS/FRS. Garmin Rino radios have a scramble option. Using codes and a Brevity Matrix is a kicker. A self made non standard cryptic code that is random and is changed every 24 hours will be a real pain to decipher.
So you need to take a look around and evaluate what your communication plan needs. What do you want your radios for, options? The distance you plan on communicating at? Your budget? For me the budget is always the deciding factor. Very seldom do I buy premium or at least in the beginning I will almost always buy budget till I get my feet wet. Even then when I do buy premium equipment I will probably buy it used unless I need to have the warranty.
