Conservatives Defending Liberty

If things get bad and you feel a little nervous about your well being, what can you do and when do you do it? Well those are the $64 million questions aren’t they? People keep saying how do I know when to leave? Or how do I know to stop sending the kids to school or stop going to work? Good questions that deserve an answer, but to give the right answer you need to have information. Which is what this is all about, in a survival situation the one thing you need is communication with the outside world. What would happen to your ability to get good information without the web and your television? Whats your plan then? Do you have all your reference material stored on a disk, oops. What about a list of all the contact information you may need, do you have that on paper not in your computer?

No matter what kind of a survival plan you have you need to know when and how to act. If your plan involves travel, you need even more information. During Katrina what was one of the biggest problems that took place? Communications, at every level for everyone involved. Think of the people walking out wading through water a foot deep, they were crying they had no idea where to go, nobody was telling them what to do, they didn’t eat for 3 days and so on. To put this in perspective this was 3 days after the hurricane first struck. These people are exactly what you don’t want to be in any situation, life included. They were not being told where to go for help, how did they expect this to happen? Maybe carrier pigeon or smoke signals? My point is not one person had even a small portable radio, nothing, not even a candle as it got dark. It is true that the US Air Force can broadcast on all radio bands when needed, but you need a working radio to hear them don’t you? It was so bad that the mayor of New Orleans said he couldn’t reach help on the outside because his cell phone didn’t work, what a moron. The governor was no better, she could not “communicate” with anyone because the only working satellite phone was the “one” that belonged to the national guard.

My point here is that without good information no matter how prepared you are, you can’t make good choices on how to use your resources no matter what they are. Communications is a two way street, in and out. People think communications means talking with someone, not true. Communications means a transfer of information going in either direction, to or from. From a survivalist standpoint its more important to have good information on whats going on around you, because in theory you are prepared to handle most things that could occur in your own little section of the world. Communications with someone in a different location can be done in several ways, most are only short range so maybe communicating with other people in your neighborhood is very possible using things like FRS radios or CB radios, they will or should work well for things close to you. If your friend down the street needs help because they are being invaded by someone, they could reach you this way. If possible get these types of radios with re-chargeable batteries, if they are 12 volt re-chargeable even better. Now one thing here, a CB radio base station can have a good deal more range depending on things like the antenna set up and so on, this and HAM radios are excellent for communication in emergency situations. Two critical points you need to remember here get over looked often. First, power to run either type of radio. You will need to ensure you have a secure means of power to run various things including radios. A generator works great as long as you have fuel for it. A power converter that takes 12 volt power and converts it to 110 is something to consider. They vary in size and can run most anything in your home within reason if needed. Second is an EMP. This will pretty much disable communications gear for good. Things to consider are not having your emergency transmitter hooked up to either power or an antenna. Keeping all non-needed survival electronic equipment unplugged when not in use. Store them if possible away from metal poles or supports in your home. Use a Faraday cage if possible.

Remember and this is important, batteries are not effected by an EMP. This is why I suggested 12 volt chargers or alternative power converters. Your flashlight will still work, your car may not start but the battery will still be good. Don’t overlook portable solar power panels. They make a great way to recharge batteries which in turn produce power for you. Ensure that you have at least two portable radios. Battery powered are fine, the crank powered ones are better. Always have one as an emergency radio, don’t put batteries in it, just let it sit in a safe location for when its needed. If you know where the government is telling people to assemble, to get food or water, or to be rescued you can make informed decisions on how to proceed. If you know the storm of whatever nature has moved on, you can adjust accordingly. If you have the money get a police/fire/ems scanner. Get the frequencies you need for your area. Knowing where things are happening again can help you make wise decisions. Again please understand, cost is always a factor in making a decision on what to have or not to buy, I know this. Realize depending on what type of scenario you are preparing for will effect the cost it will take you to get to a point were you are good to go. The EMP is the communications nightmare from hell, it will fry all non-protected electrical gear and you might not even know its coming until its here. More than one homeland security report detailed how vulnerable America is to an EMP strike. A couple points to note, on the GPS navigation systems. In an emergency they can be shut down by the federal government, so if you are planning on moving any great distance, get maps now to have on hand, your Tom Tom won’t work. The ultimate backup communications system at least today is a sat phone. To answer your question yes they work and work well, and before you ask, be prepared to spend a good chunk of money to get one. Even with that, remember they must be disconnected from antenna  and power to be safe from an EMP.  Yes the federal government can monitor and turn off the ability of a satellite phone to work as well.

In the end you need communications to give you good information on whats happening when the web and televisions aren’t working. Having a plan to be able to get that information could be the difference in an extreme case of surviving or not. Or a much more likely scenario is becoming something nobody wants to ever be, a refugee. If possible have a back up radio, if you buy a new one save the old one don’t toss it out. If you get a new CB radio for your truck, put the old one away in case you need it later. If you are a HAM radio operator, get a plan to supply yourself power for a good period of time. Defending against an EMP in today’s world can really only be done by having backup gear in case your primary stuff gets roasted. I know its not practical to think that you will be unplugging everything you own when your done using it, so coming up with a reserve radio is a bit easier. This is the nuts and bolts stuff in survival, its not a interesting as weapons and not as easy to understand like having food and water. But, trust me if you ever get in a bad situation, your gonna wish you got bored and read this.