Survivor of last week's Tornados talks about his "Preps" and what went wrong

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That was a good article. Based on one of the things he mentioned, I am going to buy another one of those mega AA battery packs at Costco. For my handheld ham radio. Normally, I use it's rechargeable battery pack. But I did buy an alkaline battery adapter pack for it when I purchased the radio. I think that pack holds six AA's (I'll have to go look - I've never actually used it). Alkalines will exhaust themselves fast when transmitting, so I will buy another Costco pack. I have one such pack already. But two would be better. These have a reasonably long expiration - is it about ten years now for fresh alkalines? Something in that neighborhood I think. So, since it's been about three years since I bought that last Costco mega pack, it's probably time to buy another one or two of them. And rotate my existing three year old pack into daily use rather than "reserved for emergency ham radio" use. One good thing about my situation - I live on top of a hill that overlooks huge expanses in every direction except west (that's where the mountains are). So even if repeaters were down, which is what I would expect in a disaster, I should still have great communications using simplex on a handheld transceiver. I also have good external antennas that I can attach to my handheld. I have created mobile mounts for them too.

Here is one of the antennas - a take-down 2m J-pole - with the little portable stand I made for it. Ideally you'd want to get it higher, and for that I have a ten foot section of PVC pipe I can strap it too. However, a ten foot chunk of PVC is only "portable" in our truck. It would be a challenge transporting it in the Mustang (I guess we could take the convertible top down, but that would be cold in the winter!) Plus, that ten foot PVC is handheld only, so I'd need an assistant to hold it while I worked the radio.

Jpole.jpg


I also have the lighter weight "Ed Fong" antenna (below) that could be removed from it's fixed mount and made mobile (I'd probably just take the J-pole above though, since it's always mobile - I don't use it for anything else).

https://edsantennas.weebly.com/about.html
Mine is the DBJ-1 model. Ed also makes a roll-up model specifically designed for mobility (you need to be able to hang it from somewhere). The roll-up one is model DBJ-2. The DBJ-1 model is only 5 feet long, so easy to transport, and very light since it doesn't use standard schedule 40 PVC. It uses a thinner and lighter weight PVC.
 
Somewhat on topic: when we had the 'Big Blackout' in San Diego years ago, my little battery-powered transistor radio was quite helpful in learning what was happening, since some radio stations had their own backup generators. Also, the iPad we had was useful, I could reach the Channel 10 TV News website and glean info that way as well. Any kind of emergency where disruption of power can occur, a transistor radio may come in handy. Just sayin'... :rolleyes:
 
It really all depends on "Whats left?" after the SHTF. If I am alive and standin in the middle of 💩 with my REDACTED in my hand is a lot different than "House is here, Car is here, I can see other people that need help." In all cases, we play the hand we are dealt, but I would really hate to ask for 5 cards cause the hand was absolute 💩

It's the difference between "I am out of gas for the generator" to "I cant find my generator or my flippin house"
 
I'm copying and pasting the article, because things disappear. There is another article that the link was posted for a few months ago and the article is now archived and can be seen for a fee.

"I found this story while surfing the web and thought it would be very relevant and helpful to my readers. It's from a guy who survived the Tornados in Little Rock, Arkansas this week. Quick read . . .

My City Being Hit By A Tornado Taught A lot About The Limits Of My PREPS
Ok, so we live in Little Rock.

An entire swath of the city from basically the southwest toward the river just looks like a bomb went off.

Been without power since the Tornado struck our neighborhood, luckily for my family, our home was spared any significant damage. Though it was one of the scariest things I've ever been through. There is nothing like holding your wife and daughter in a pitch black bathroom while it sounds like a freight train is barreling through your entire world.

With that said we've been running off preps at the moment and I have learned a lot about things.

1) Bad things happen FAST. It was just a "normal afternoon" and lucky for us we were all home, but within the span of hardly anytime we went from tornado sirens, to all in the sheltered part of our home, to what sounded like the world was being torn apart outside, to no power, no cell service, no nothing within minutes. Having plans of how to get in touch or meet up should we have all been separated are non existent really and I need to make one and improve on that.

2)Ham radio was a lifesaver. Literally. Remember cell service went down instantly here. A tower was crumped like a pretzel and no one could call out or in. I was listening and talking on the 2M repeater here in town right before the storm after the warning went off with storm spotters. After the tornado moved on I quickly began checking on neighbors. Ingress and egress to the neighborhood was blocked by downed trees. Within minutes I was able to get a group of hams from close by and their friends and other neighbors with chainsaws to make quick work of cutting and moving them. This allowed for emergency services to get in quickly and rescue an elderly resident from her home who may have been having a heart attack. Without this kind of ability to quickly coordinate, void of grid comms, I don't know if that would have been so efficient. More people need to at the least their Technician license, and be active on simplex and their local repeaters.

3) You need more gas. I need more gas. I keep two 5 gallon NATO jerry cans USUALLY full. When I fill up our truck I will fill them up also, then have gotten into the bad habit of using that gas and not filling them up immediately. Bad mistake. I had to make a run, after the pandemonium, to a gas station with power. Not smart. This was a failure on my part. Never again will I be without gas on hand for my generator. Also adding two more jerry cans. Keep oil on hand too for your generator and the oil changed. Luckily I done so very recently.

4) Luckily for us the weather is quite pleasant, so our small generator need only run our fridge, freezer, etc. But we are heavily reliant on gas for our cooking and water. Should the gas lines be down (if they need repair) these service would not work. Need more public gas independent methods of doing this things. I have a small camp stove but with limited propane this isn't great. Adding keeping LP on hand and a camp shower and solar shower option.

5) There are VERY FEW PEOPLE PREPARED. It definitely made me aware of how after a few days without supplies people will be coming FOR YOUR ****. There is only a handful of people in my neighborhood with generators. We are being generous and allowing people to charge phones, laptops, etc. But at night, when all the lights were out and there was no cell service, It certainly made me aware that my whirring generator and the smell from my neighbors grill cooking steaks, would be a call for starving and desperate in times of need. Definitely makes one consider the bug in / bug out argument. I don't have a definitive response for that at the moment, just making notice. These leftist idiots sayings stupid **** like "why does anyone NEED an AR15?" Well that's why. Your **** will be at the least harder to take if you are well armed and able to defend against MULTIPLE attackers.

6) Candles Candles Candles. Flashlights are good but you need more candles. Buy a big ass pack of tea lights or a few. Buy a case. You need more than you think. Again flashlights are great, definitely headlamps are VERY helpful.

7) Should this event have happened in the bitter cold of winter we can heat our home with wood, and usually have plenty, had it been the 100 degree summer, this would really suck. A small window AC unit is probably a good investment to at least be able to keep one room comfortable. Buying one.

We now have cell service back, though power is still out. It is not estimated to be back on until very late this evening, thought he lineman working our area said that was itself a very optimistic window.

So far, no loss of life that I know of, which is surprising when you actually see the damage this tornado caused.

Godspeed. Stay prepared. **** goes crazy in a snap. It's never the thing you see coming that gets you."
 
2)Ham radio was a lifesaver. Literally. Remember cell service went down instantly here.
I can see that ham radios will be so important and while so many people depend on cell phones, many could be totally without any means to communicate.

6) Candles Candles Candles. Flashlights are good but you need more candles. Buy a big ass pack of tea lights or a few. Buy a case. You need more than you think. Again flashlights are great, definitely headlamps are VERY helpful.
Can we have too many? Yes, flashlights, with lots of batteries stored. I also think that oil lamps or kerosene lanterns are a great idea.
 
communication may be top of the list for some but its not even on my list.
we are so far out on a limb here that help isnt coming for a long time and maybe never, previous events have proved that correct.
when a serious or catastrophic event happens we are on our own and most people know that, if they havent prepared for such then they wont be around for long especially if they have a serious medical problem which needs outside help or medicines.
 
Decided to look into ham radios in Ireland on the back of this thread. Found a 'group'. great. Then find these things are meant to be licensed here, and you have to do a test :rolleyes: typical.
https://www.irts.ie/cgi/st.cgi?licensing
Magpie,

Same here, the entry level isn't too horrible :p. Not really aware of your particulars, but we can certainly point you in "General directions"

I'm a "General" class it's not that hard, I Passed :D
 
I can see that ham radios will be so important and while so many people depend on cell phones, many could be totally without any means to communicate.


Can we have too many? Yes, flashlights, with lots of batteries stored. I also think that oil lamps or kerosene lanterns are a great idea.
We will not speak of my oil lamp fetish :p. at least until the power goes out :D
 
all people need some type of communications..if nothing else just to listen and try and find out any bits of information so you can act accordingly. in times of shtf,war break out,plague or whatever....only a ...would not have a basic thing like transistor radio or weather radio and go up from there.

as folks get older...what ya going to do..let ya pride get in the way of calling for help..either for yourself or your loved ones/mate thats trapped,fallen or in need of medical attention.

friend fell and hit head and at didnt look bad but underneath was a crack in skull and letting brain fluid leak out.a 1000 mile chopper flight saved their life .

dont know if they still make them but used to be these backpack set up being made that had multiple handhelds in it and had a small repeater dish in it with solar panel and battery set up to deploy in time of need and the handhelds covered a great distance using the repeater dish.
 

OK, he tried to cram at least a couple hours of instruction and Q&A into 12 minutes and it wasn't pretty. But he did cover some good topics.

Get a CB and get a few handheld ham radios. You can program the handhelds to scan FRS, GMRS and MURS so you have multiple radios listening at the same time. A mobile ham radio like a BTech UV-50x2 can transmit on FRS, GMRS, MURS and ham frequencies, so if you needed to respond, you could. It's cheap, and puts out around 50watts.

CB is CB. It's fine for what it is and I have a couple radios. Never say it can't be useful. But for normal day-to-day listening...no, it's a dumpster fire. At least near me. I'm have a ham license but I also have a GMRS license. It's $35 and you're good to go. Many repeater owners won't let you use their repeaters unless you have a valid GMRS call sign. Just get one so you can experiment.

Ham radio is great and I echo SP1's comment that it's cheap and easy to get your license. Getting the license is all about learning how to effectively use your radios BEFORE you need them, rather than trying to figure things out after the S has HTF.

The notebook idea is excellent. Be sure to record the time, service (MURS, FRS, whatever) and channel or frequency and what was said to whom. That might be a challenge when you have multiple radios blaring at you at the same time.

This is already way too long. Anyone who wants to learn about antennas for the various radios or anything else, feel free to ping me.
 

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