This forum needs organization

[Curmudgeon]

I did buy a cheap radio but I know nothing about Ham radio and when I listen in there is NO traffic so it's a waste of my time right now.

I didn't either, but I bought a cheap radio and went and got my license, at least that way I can experiment (read learn) the radio. I have gotten in on local nets a few times, I have listened to and spoken with people from all over the state on the one net as we use repeaters..

Getting your Technician license is easy peasy.

There are also apps you can put on your smart phone that allow you to talk and listen to Amateur Radio bands, kinda kool. When things first busted loose in Ukraine I was listening to radio traffic on my phone until they shut down all of the repeater stations over there. This is available once you have your license.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Guys were known to talk to Europe using skip land

Was over at my buddies place last week and we were chatting with some gal in England, her accent was so strong it was difficult to understand her, lol.

 

[lonewolf]

Was over at my buddies place last week and we were chatting with some gal in England, her accent was so strong it was difficult to understand her, lol.

was she a Geordie(from Newcastle)???

 

[Curmudgeon]

was she a Geordie(from Newcastle)???

Well I don't know, lol. Based on this [Geordie], may very well have been, I do remember her saying something about being in the NE area.

Thanks for the education, I learned something today.

 

[elkhound]

I have a difficult time wrapping my mind around the value of HAM setup, during a SHTF / WROL event. During a major WROL event, petrol will be very limited or non-existent. Anybody outside your immediate area, might as well live on the moon. You are not going to be going to their rescue and they will not be able to get to you. Yes you will want information but you will want / need information about local conditions / events. Will it help to know the big city 100 miles away is burning? CB will be the closest I get to electronic communication devices.

i place high value on the simple little talk about radios you get for real cheap. on the cheapest ones i talked miles..i forget now its been awhile...7 or 10ish miles in mtns. i am talking motorola talkabouts i think is the name...

i bought a more complicated 'set' of radios on a knee jerk impulse...it was a waste...its over my pay grade to operate the dang things...i regret buying them and not more regular simple radios..whatever you call them FRS and MRS something another.i seen a set awhile back that marine grade water proof too.

 

[Weedygarden]

A former member tried zoom meetings, didn't really work out!

Can you tell me what happened? It may need to be in a Private Message (PM). I think the last topic was OPSEC. You can't have OPSEC if everyone is telling where they live, like we did on his first ZOOM meeting.

I think we can do ZOOM meetings, or even YouTube live meetings, but we have to set up some guidelines.

CB's do only work for a few miles, and I don't think even Haertig and I are close enough for that. Jazzy, AMC and other Coloradans are not close enough. I do think Ham radios are the way to go.

Can we help each other get more set up for Ham radios? There used to be a Ham tower a couple blocks from me, but it is gone now.

 

[Frodo]

Can you tell me what happened? It may need to be in a Private Message (PM). I think the last topic was OPSEC. You can't have OPSEC if everyone is telling where they live, like we did on his first ZOOM meeting.

I think we can do ZOOM meetings, or even YouTube live meetings, but we have to set up some guidelines.

CB's do only work for a few miles, and I don't think even Haertig and I are close enough for that. Jazzy, AMC and other Coloradans are not close enough. I do think Ham radios are the way to go.

Can we help each other get more set up for Ham radios? There used to be a Ham tower a couple blocks from me, but it is gone now.

Lol. I live in an area the locals call Scott’s Holler, I would have to have antenna 20 or 30 ft tall just to be at ground larval
It would look like an oil derrick

 

[lonewolf]

Well I don't know, lol. Based on this [Geordie], may very well have been, I do remember her saying something about being in the NE area.

Thanks for the education, I learned something today.

thats the right area, no wonder you couldnt understand her!

 

[kd4ulw]

Yes you will want information but you will want / need information about local conditions / events. Will it help to know the big city 100 miles away is burning?

Personally, I would want to know as much information as possible to understand the severity of whatever is going on.

 

[dademoss]

I've got a friend 100 miles away, in a WROL event he cant get to me and I cant get to him.
what is happening there will be no help to me and vice versa.

NVIS antenna on HF. Near Vertical Incident Skywave (NVIS) Antennas – Practical Antennas 100 miles is probably too far for VHF, I can hit the Clinton County repeater on a good day with 60 watts, it's around 60 miles.

 

[Biggkidd]

CB's that are worked and or have a box can straight line talk for quite a distance as long as neither party is in a bottom or on the wrong side of a mountain. When I use to drive to Richmond from here and back all the time I would chat with my neighbor all the way to the cloverhill area on my mobile and that's a solid 50 miles. Mine was a mobile with a normal antenna and he was on a base station. I was pushing anywhere from 500 to 750 watts and there's no telling what he was pushing at the time he could go as high as 10kw sustained or 20kw for short periods.

 

[backlash]

Personally, I would want to know as much information as possible to understand the severity of whatever is going on.

I agree. The problem will be getting good information.
I believe very little of what I see or hear now.
Can you imagine the rumor mill after a SHTF event?
In grade school we played a game called telephone.
The teacher would whisper something into one kids ear and they would whisper it to the next kid and it would go all the way around back to the teacher. You could only say it once.
It was always a completely different by the time it went all the way through 30 or so kids.
The Navy called rumors "Scuttlebutt" and it was rarely correct.

 

[lonewolf]

yeah we played that game too.
I believe nothing until it is verified.

 

[Magpie]

if it gets long term and apocalyptical I'm not communicating with anyone!

I was kind of thinking if the SHTF we'll all be too busy

 

[lonewolf]

I was kind of thinking if the SHTF we'll all be too busy

yes, me too. in any case what happens 100 miles away wont have any bearing on where I live in a rural area.

 

[Neb]

Found this in my subscriptions today.

https://www.youtube.com/live/pZ7OPTZ4izA?si=6GFU_-BmjXvGtONG
Ben

 

[bkt]

I have a difficult time wrapping my mind around the value of HAM setup, during a SHTF / WROL event. During a major WROL event, petrol will be very limited or non-existent. Anybody outside your immediate area, might as well live on the moon. You are not going to be going to their rescue and they will not be able to get to you. Yes you will want information but you will want / need information about local conditions / events. Will it help to know the big city 100 miles away is burning? CB will be the closest I get to electronic communication devices.

Ham radios can communicate locally as well as all over the world.

If family or friends were stuck 100 miles away, I would certainly go get them because I store fuel.

That's not to knock CB; it's another communication tool in the prepper toolbox.

 

[ssonb]

A HAM is a viable option, with as little as 100w I have contacted people in Bolivia more than once but it depends on the atmospheric and solar conditions.
Now with a proper tuned antenna and right bandwidth getting in contact with someone in a three or four state region can be easily accomplished providing they are a listenin.
OH a lot of these 100w and higher HF sets run on 12 volt.
Since I moved a few years ago I havnt gotten round tuit to set up my radio and antenna.
PS I have a CB also that can push 125 w but in the mobile mode and a 109'' antenna the best that can be reliability counted on in range in the southern geographical condition is at most 12miles.