Survival Radio

What bands do you need to be able to listen to? Why?

In each geographic area of the US a couple of stations are designated as the anchor for the local EBS (Emergency Broadcast System). They test frequently - that's the annoying buzz-buzz-buzz noise "This is a test!" you hear from time to time.

Go to
radio-locator.com
plug in your city and you can determine which are the ones where you live.
-a guy named duh

2009-04-22 19:19:15 by Tony Y

New survival radio I picked up thanks to a recommendation of killacommieformommie..

I'd like to get started in Ham radio for the sole purpose of survival communications (TEOTWAWKI, pandemic, grid-down, etc.)
I have NO prior experience.


My criteria are:
Minimal training
Low cost
Long distance communication.
Quick startup

I really don't want to get into "the wonderful world of Ham" just want to be able to communicate if TSHTF.

Give me a course of action.
For example someone said: Get your technician's license, get a 10 meter radio, get a CB antenna and you'll be ready to communicate 100s of miles. Correct?

If not, what are your recommendations? I need a game plan.

Thanks in advance.

Interesting scenario. I will assume that you don't want base antennas on your house or tower. Maybe you're in an apartment and can't have them anyway or they get taken out in the "disaster".

Communication with a max range of 5-50 miles. 2 meter (144 -148 MHz) handheld or mobile radio. The real factor of how far you can communicate is the antenna. A handheld radio with rubber duck antenna will get you a couple miles. The same radio with a Cushcraft Ringo Ranger II vertical antenna on top of a 30' fiberglass mast will get you 15 - 20 miles. A 50 or 75 Wattmobile with the Ringo will get you 40 - 50 miles. You could go with a mobile antenna and radio for the vehicle and get a 20 mile range too. The above mentioned antenna goes for $100.00, mast $60.00.

Single band 2m radios (handheld or mobile) cost about $100.00 - $150.00. Dual band radios (2m/70cm) are very common for $200.00. If there is a working repeater on 2m or 70cm, a handheld can effectively cover 50 miles. Repeaters with emergencies in mind will have back-up power and hams will rush to get antennas back up and fix/jerry-rig radio gear. After a day, some portable repeaters are sure to be on the air. A link below shows you where most repeaters are. Many repeaters are now linked together by the Internet. If you can reach one you can reach repeaters around the world.

A mobile used at home will need a 10-20 amp 12VDC power supply. Many handhelds can work off of external power too.

If you want to communicate 100's of miles, 1000's of miles (and even to a few stations locally), an HF (3 - 30 MHz) radio is what you want. These cost $400.00 - $10,000.00.

You can make a simple dipole antenna for a couple HF bands for the cost of wire, feedline and a few insulators. The same goes for VHF antennas. You can even make a VHF or UHF antenna McGyver would love just from the coax itself.

Sorry if you were looking for a simple answer. Because of "The wonderful world of Ham" there are a lot of possibilities. Public services are usually in awe of what Hams can do with emergency communications (Emcomm). There is a lot you can learn in Amateur Radio on this topic. I just scratched the surface.

The VHF/UHF are easier to use than HF and 2m only radios are as cheap as ham radio gets, for practical use that is. If there is a functional repeater nearby, you have regional coverage and easy (mobile) to no antenna set-up (handheld as is).

Non-ham solutions might be:

A 406 MHz Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). It transmits your GPS location (if it can) to satellites on 406 MHz and a locator beacon on 121.5 MHz.

CBs meet all your criteria except for 100's of miles coverage. There a good chance of finding some folks out there on channel 9. You will find more organized and connected networks on Ham though. A base antenna on top of that 30' mast might get you 20 miles.

If you want to bounce a few idea or specific scenarios off of me, feel free to E-mail. I'd feel so guilty if you didn't survive.

2010-01-31 14:56:47 by Salami and Orange Juice

Price: $89.99

Constructed to be water resistant, and backed by a manufacturer's 3-year warranty
Emergency radio with 22 GMRS/FRS channels and all 10 NOAA weather channels with alert function
Includes AM/FM radio reception, a clock with an alarm function, and a 3-LED flashlight

I am looking at buying from amazon an emergency survival kit which contains a radio.

regardless of where they were made or used, radios pick up the signals that surround them...

2008-09-19 00:28:22 by kenken

Price: $40.00 $26.96

AM (520-1710 KHz) FM (87-108MHz) NOAA weatherband
USB cell phone charger (USB cable not included) 3.5 mm headphone input Dimensions
Accessories: owner¿s manual, warranty card Specifications subject to change

I have been looking into survival and bug out gear on the internet and on you tube. What radio transceiver would you choose if a disaster or terrorist attack hit and you had to leave your home. I have been looking at the YAESU VX-7R & YAESU VX-8R what do you think of these radio's?

I have a VX-7R and it's great. Now that the VX-8R's out I probably would have gone with it based on features alone, however it seems to me you'd be more interested in the ruggedness of the VX-7R. It's a pretty solid built radio and can take abuse. They're both submersible and maybe the VX-8r can take abuse too; time will tell. The VX-8r has built in APRS support which can be great in an emergency situation where an EOC needs to see where everyone assisting is located at any given time. The optional GPS puck maximizes this of course. VX8r has bluetooth capabilities which can be handy as a wireless hands free system.

Keep in mind that these radios only transmit on 6m/2m/1.25m/70cm which are all generally local communication bands. If you're without a repeater or a satellite in view, you're not going to be able to communicate a heck of a lot of distance, especially with the supplied antenna. They both can receive shortwave although the ferrite rod antenna built into the VX8 is better suited for this. Personally, I'd like to have an HF radio and easily deployed antenna for an emergency. The little HT's are great for local emergency coordination but if things really hit the fan and you want a way to talk to the outside world, only an HF radio is going to cut it. A little FT-857 and a trolling motor battery and a roll of wire for an antenna would do wonders. An FT-817 is even more portable with an internal battery but limited to 5W. Something to think about.

2009-05-18 07:03:44 by POWERBOOK

If you were writing one?
I have so far:

Learn:
-To shoot multiple types of guns
- Archery
- How to make a crude radio
- How to use a radio
- How to track
- Navigate by the stars
- How to make a fire
- Plant guide
- Survival kit
- Purification of water
- Shelter
- How to make rope
- How to make a net
- How to hunt
- How to fish
- How to set traps
- How to make containers
- First Aid
- First Aid kits

You need to know how to FIND water; it isn't always as easy as stumbling into a river or lake!

In order of importance for actual SURVIVAL:
Find Water -- a person can die of dehydration in only 3 days; you can live for up to a month without food, even while walking 20 miles each day.

Fire -- to cook food/purify water, to act as a beacon for anyone searching for you, and TO STAY WARM. Wet clothing, especially modern synthetics, can be useless for keeping you warm...

Shelter -- you need a place to stay dry/warm. NEVER wander around, hoping to be found; more people die because they will not stay in ONE place...

Find Food Source -- you will need to eat, if you wish to live long enough to be found.

For the list of things to learn to do: MAKE TRAPS, i.e., snares and dead-falls. Rabbits and squirrels are good eating, and fairly easily trapped. Also, fish traps are easy to make/use. It is not enough to know how to simply set a trap -- you must first learn how to make the trap.

Radios are useless, if not equiped with a transmitter (unless all you want is to get information about the "outside world"...) -- and the "crude radio" most often does not include a transmitter. A transmitter-receiver combination of some kind is required if you wish to talk with other people over the radio.

Also to learn: How to make/use signaling devices such as mirrors. If the batteries in the radio or flashlight go dead -- and there is every chance they will -- those items will be more than useless.

There is a lot more -- more than there is room here to list. And it is always best to learn survival skills BEFORE you need them. If you wait until you are in "survival mode" (lost, injured and in direct risk of dying), it may be too late.

2008-01-01 17:51:46 by anw122