Survival UK Forums

Full Version: My Comms let me down
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
Pages: 1 2
I'm not electrically minded in any way so this is one part of my preps that are shall we say is some what lacking. Let me tell you what I have and maybe you can help me move forward.

We have a set of 4 walkie talkies, both landrovers have CB radios fitted and of cause we have mobile phones. I was thinking of going for my ham license and fitting a mobile ham in my Landrover and maybe a ham base unit.

What else could we do for comms?.
Step forward .....LIGHT SPEED.
(19 February 2016, 10:44)aguy Wrote: [ -> ]I'm not electrically minded in any way so this is one part of my preps that are shall we say is some what lacking. Let me tell you what I have and maybe you can help me move forward.

We have a set of 4 walkie talkies, both landrovers have CB radios fitted and of cause we have mobile phones. I was thinking of going for my ham license and fitting a mobile ham in my Landrover and maybe a ham base unit.

What else could we do for comms?.

Hi,

What are the walkie talkies? Type, make etc.

Ham license is very easy, and I recommend it. But there is a school of thought that it is a prepping liability as it puts you on yet another government list.

J
This is Lightspeeds dept but in the forums COMMS section there is a first rate article drafted by LS that covers just about every aspect of Comms
Thanks NR

The article is also on the main SUK site, and there are also downloads of programmng protocols for walkie talkies on there too.

My earlier reply to Aguy was very much in haste as quite busy in my office today.

Back on thread.... Aguy: Please tell us what you want to achieve with your coms system as this will very much drive the type and cost of solutions that are open to you.

It also will help to know your approximate location and the elevation of your station relative to your local landscape out to around 20 miles.

My recommendation, ahead of your response to this is that it th most likely requirements are Local out to around 20 miles and National out to 300 to 600 miles.

Your current setup will probably be good to 5 miles and with tweeking and upgrading will possibly get you to the 20 mile target. ( 20 miles being an awkward range for radios and coincidentally approximate to 1 days foraging range on foot. This is a very useful footprint to have covered. Your CB equipment is also capable of 300 to 600 mile range, but only during specific mid summer conditions. Maybe you've already experienced this?

The 20 to 300 to 600 mile range can be accomplished using a military transmission technique called NVIS. This can be achieved with ultra low cost low complexity equipment or with gear that will require you to financially dig quite deeply. I'm im progress of writing a specific article on NVIS for the main SUK site. It should be ready in around a months time.

So Back to you for some feedback.
You lost LS when start getting techi on me
My WT are BAOFENG 888 they seem alright to me but if know different let me know. Comms will be for reaching the outside world in a major event. I do not know what else to say like I said. Electrics and electronics are my down fall.
You are not alone Aguy ! ....try having a read up as NR suggests LS has put a lot into it, if you struggle ( like i do ) read it again ...if you still hit a wall ....(like i do ) post your question ! Help ...will follow, you can count on it !
The Chinese radios are better than no radio at all, but they are not rugged, durable or stable. If you put one on a spectrum analyzer many of them do not meet ICAO or FCC specifications for sporadic emissions, etc. The ARRL tested a bunch of these and published the results in QST last year and I would not swap my converted military ICOM gear which I bought cheap and reprogrammed myself, for a whole trainload of Boefengs.
(19 February 2016, 18:40)aguy Wrote: [ -> ]My WT are BAOFENG 888 they seem alright to me but if know different let me know. Comms will be for reaching the outside world in a major event. I do not know what else to say like I said. Electrics and electronics are my down fall.

Sorry I didn't mean to confuse you.

Again, we need to know what distance into the outside world do you want to be able to reach?

Tell us this and we'll be able to advise.

.
Pages: 1 2