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intel gathering-radio

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Intel gathering-radio

The vary first tool for gathering intel [information or intelligence] is a good AM/FM portable radio, what we used to call a transistor radio. Most people will aim first at something that runs off of 2 to 4 AA [double A] batteries. Ideally they would be rechargeable batteries. It would be good to have an external power source such as 110 plug in that would both run the radio while you were stationary and charge your batteries at the same time.

 

I have several of the small portable radios. One is called Xventure. I do not recall now where I picked it up from nor how much I paid for it. It is both AM & FM and the weather band. It will run off of the wall plug in, it has an internal set of batteries which will charge when the unit is plugged in. You can also insert 2 double A disposable or rechargeable batteries to run the radio. And you can charge those batteries via a hand crank dynamo which I really like as I can charge and run it for an extended period without the grid.  Lastly you can listen via ear buds or headphones which will save on power and keep others from hearing what you are listening to.

 

Another small radio that I have is from ‘safety cross’ it automatically scans for the next available station and locks onto it. It has an on off & volume control and it does NOT have an earphone plug which means that it will use more power and others will hear it. There is a plug in to charge your cell phone with the hand crank as you charge the radio itself. It does make noise with a siren which will attract attention. It also has a compass on the crank handle. Something that I really like about this unit is that it has a flashlight feature. The settings are LOW – 1 led, HIGH – 4 led and high blinking to signal for help.

 

The radio that I normally like the best is an energizer weather ready. This radio has a hand crank to power it. It has both AM & FM with a real tuner and a volume control. There is a plug for ear buds or headphones to conserve power and be quieter. It has a siren to attract attention. Lastly in has a flashlight with 2 basic settings, a single red led and 4 bright led bulbs. It is also the smallest of the 3.

 

In addition to being able to hear the news reports entertainment a battery operated radio is hard to beat. If you have a tin can to work with you will be able to tell direction with it. ;]  How is that? You may well ask. The tin can blocks the signal from behind and the sides and collect more signal from directly in front of it. How to do that? First tune in the radio to a good strong station and then put the radio inside. Now slowly turn around in a circle with the open end of the can level and pointing away from you. Most of the time, you will not hear anything. As you turn around at some point you will start to hear the station. When you have found the strongest signal, you can follow that signal until you find other people. Aircraft would consider this to be a ‘homing’ signal.

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/cb-radio/

COMMs part 1

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Both landlines and cell towers have limited battery back up, some have generators. At any rate they will function for a while during a power outage. So having a plain land line phone for at least ONE of your house phones is a great idea. So is having a car charger or other way to keep your cell phone working from your end.

All of the following come in hand held [walkie-talkies or handi-talkies ] vehicle mounted and home / base stations. The difference in configuration has nothing to do with the frequencies that they work on.

FRS / GRMS are ok for very close range. They are no more ‘secure’ than any other radio except for the very limited range. These would do well for a highly populated / dense area such as New Your City.

HAM radio is a great idea too. Talking around the block or around the world! They can be very expensive or really economical depending on what bells and whistles you want. With a license you can work on low power, 1/2 watt units clear up to 1,500 watts on the same frequencies. There is one multiband radio that I would like to have a couple of. It is man-packable, has an internal battery or can hook up to any 12 volt power source, the antenna can be rolled on to a spool, it works on 160 meter band all the way down to 70CM. This is an extremely wide range for a single radio. With this radio you can talk clearly around the world. I have heard folks talking from Scotland to New Zealand. The maximum wattage that it has to transmit on is 5 [five] watts. Each of the [3] levels of license for HAMs are cheap – So for easily less than $100.00 you could have all 3 levels  of licenses. Google ‘HAM radio club’ to find a group near you to help you get licensed and set up with a radio to start out.

Not everyone in a given area of operation or group needs a HAM radio. In fact it is a good idea to NOT have everyone in a group area on HAM radio. One of the problems with everyone working on the same radio frequencies is confusion. Think of it as the old ‘party lines’ back in the days when the phone systems had a group of people on the same phone line. If 10 people had to share the same phone, you can imagine if they ALL talked at the same time. Now, hold that thought and think of the party game called ‘telephone’ where you have a simple message written down on a piece of paper. You whisper that message to the first person who then tells it to the next and on down the line until they get to the last person who tells the group what he got told. You will not recognize it.

Another issue is that in any group there are a bunch of conversations going on that are not ‘private’ but at the same time does not pertain to everybody….. sort of like when you are on a yahoo group site. The nice thing about cross talking or party lines is that if you have something to add you can jump in and say whatever.