cryhavoc said:
This is all great if you are really into commo.
What's a poor prepper like me to do? I don't even know what a TH 27A/56-57 is!
Is there a somewhat simple solution for my situation? Can you guys who are in-the-know about such matters advise me on what I need? Mind you, I'm very much a 'non-commoite'.
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Don't worry, I've been a ham for about 30 years, and I have no idea what a TH 27A/56-57 is either
It appears to be the model number of a radio.
In answer to your question, it mostly boils down to who you want to communicate with, and under what circumstances. If you want to find out what's going on in the rest of the world, a battery AM/FM radio will probably give you the most bang for your buck. I have a couple of the crank-up radios which are fun to have, but frankly, for the cost, you could probably stockpile a lot of batteries.
A shortwave radio is nice to have for getting news from outside your area. Quite good ones can be had for $30 or so. You can spend thousands on a shortwave receiver, but if the goal is just to receive some news from outside the area, a cheap one will do the job.
If all radio stations in your area are off the air, and you want to know what's going on in the outside world and don't have a shortwave radio, be sure to listen to the AM radio at night, as you will get stations hundreds or thousands of miles away. Generally, your car radio is probably the best AM radio most people own.
As far as communicating with others, you do need to think in terms of who you want to talk to. Obviously, they need the same type of radio as well. For short distances (depending on conditions, between 100 yards and a couple of miles), cheap FRS radios will do fine. For longer distances (about 1-10 miles, depending on conditions and most importantly, the antenna) CB's or GMRS radios with an external antenna will work. In most situations, the GMRS radio _with a fairly good external antenna_ will work better than the CB. But CB radios can be had very cheaply.
It's quite easy to get a ham license these days. For the entry Technician license, you just need to pass a 35 question test. Even if you know nothing about the material, I think most people could pass it after a few hours of cramming and memorizing. It's better to understand the material, so I would recommend taking more time to study, but the actual test is not that hard. With that license, you can use VHF, which is normally short-range. But with some thought to antennas, you could easily set up reliable communications over 100 miles or so. Also, by using repeaters (which would probably not be there in a SHTF scenario), you can easily communicate long distances with just a handheld radio.
In order to use HF (shortwave) frequencies, you need to pass a slightly more difficult written test, and also pass a 5 word per minute Morse Code test. Then, you can easily communicate worldwide. However, if you want to communicate with a particular person at a particular time, conditions might not be favorable. But in general, you can communicate worldwide.
In our case, my wife also has her Technician ham license, and we have 2 meter FM in the cars and at home. We can communicate directly (without repeaters) in most places we might happen to be. Through repeaters (which, again, probably won't be there in a SHTF scenario), we can communicate reliably wherever we are. In case of emergency, we have specific frequencies we would tune to to find each other.
My father in law is also a ham, and out of the area, and we would like to communicate with him in case of emergency. Therefore, we both have lists of times and frequencies covering the whole 24 hours of the day. (Different frequencies work better at different times of day, so we can't just have one frequency). If both of us were trying to contact the other, we would probably hook up in a few hours.
As far as equipment, we have 2 meter FM in the cars and at home, as well as a couple of handheld radios. We have a 100 watt HF (shortwave) transceiver that normally runs on AC power. In an emergency, I could use it with the generator or alternator. I also have a 5 watt HF and VHF radio (Yaesu FT-817) that I can run on AC power, or a variety of batteries. Running 5 watts, Morse Code (CW) is a lot more efficient than voice (SSB). So I could continue using this radio more or less indefinitely even without power. I have a few other radios in each category for backups, but that's basically the setup.
One thing I do want to add is a small amount of solar capacity. Solar electricity can be used for a lot of things. But running electronic equipment is one of the few things you simply can't do without electricity. So it is important to have at least a small capacity to generate electricity. The cost of what I would need for using a radio a few hours a day is very small, so I am remiss in not having it yet.
Much of what I've said here is very generalized, so I'm sure I'm open to lots of nitpicking. But that's an overview of the subject. Again, the most important thing you need to know when thinking about communications is thinking about who you want to communicate with, and finding something to fit that need.
Good for using to track your kids in an amusement park.