Prepper Communications
Prepper Communications
Communication is key in a disaster situation. However, cell phone and internet service are unreliable after serious catastrophes. My area is prone to hurricanes. The high winds topple trees which take down power lines. The winds also take down communication towers used for cell phones and radio transmission. Other areas that have frequent tornadoes experience similar service outages. Those who live on the west coast have to deal with earthquakes which also cripple communication infrastructure. Adequate preparation for these events require some type of back up communication.
Besides these disasters, there is the chance that we experience a serious economic meltdown in the near future. No one can say just how bad it will be as these things are difficult to predict. We can look at past experiences and make some projections, but a level of uncertainty remains. The economic collapse in Argentina in 2001 is a relatively good model to work with because it was a recent event and we also share similar issues with excessive money printing. After the Argentinian collapse, crime rates skyrocketed. Robberies and kidnapping became a common occurrence. Police were overwhelmed and unable to contend with the rise in criminal activity.
We are already beginning to see signs of this type of social breakdown in cities like Detroit and Chicago. If you saw the video of people fighting over cheap phones at Wal-Mart on Black Friday, you know the veneer of a civilized society is very thin. It won’t take much to shatter that veneer and plunge our nation into chaos. I believe most preppers have considered this and have began to make preparations to defend their lives and property. Getting your guns and ammo squared away is a great first step to prepare for this situation. The second step should be to get adequate communications.
Whether you are bugging out to the country or are forced to shelter in place, you will need to run security patrols to cover all the possible angles of attack. If you get caught in the city or the suburbs, you may have neighbors who are armed and willing to commit some time to securing your neighborhood. Besides the guns, you will need communications in order for your security plan to be effective. For example, you could have two patrols at each end of the street that are blocked off as a check point for anyone entering or leaving the street. As long as you have radio communications, if either team has trouble they can call for back up from the other patrol or from a main security post.
If you are in a more rural area, you will need communications for at least one person to be on patrol or at an observation post and one other to be at the main house. The person at the observation post can put in a call over a hand held radio to the main house to give early warning of impending danger. This allows everyone in the house to man their battle stations.
For our communications, we purchased Midland GXT 1000s FRS/GMRS 50 channel two way radios. They have a maximum range of 36 miles which is the top end of the radios in this price range. They also came with head sets and rechargeable battery cells and a standard 2 radio charger as well as a car charger. They will also operate on 4 AA batteries in the case of a power outage where you are unable to recharge the cells that were included. They have several different privacy settings for group communication or private person to person calls within a group. They also pick up NOAA weather radio service. I have not tested the 36 mile range. I suspect that it would only be possible if you were talking on top of a mountain with someone else on top of a mountain, with no mountains in between. The head sets are nice. They pick up your voice very clearly. Using the push to talk feature on the headsets and pressing the mike to your lips allows the person on the other end to hear the faintest whisper. The voice activation feature did not function in a manor that would be practical to use. It doesn’t begin to transmit until you have already started talking and it cuts out before you finish. The push to talk feature worked just fine and it is available on the headset or on the handset. All the other features met or exceeded our expectations.
These radios are very affordable at $50 including shipping and available from Amazon through the link on the right side bar. To get a better communication solution than these, expect to spend a lot more money. If you go with something cheaper, you will likely sacrifice the range, privacy settings and headsets. Just like guns, ammo, and long term food storage, these types of items are easy to get now, but may become very scarce after an economic collapse. Here is a link to Chapter 5 of FM 24-19, The army radio operating procedures. I hope you find it useful.
Happy Prepping!
