More preppers out there than we thought

[CharlesHarris]

Reading the source article, they don't seem to be making a distinction between having some supplies for a short-term even, versus long term in which there is a breakdown of civil infrastructure and people will have to make do on their own for 30 days or more.

Most urban commuters have a "Get Home Bag" to suffice for an overnight and a long walk from pup to pub until they get home, but when the lorries stop delivering groceries, the shelves at Aldi are empty, the trains stop running and there is no electricity to pump fuel to top off Mum's motorbike, the cheese gets more binding...

[MaryN]

Oh dear, more of this reliance on mobile phones, which of course are going to be sooooo useful when everything goes down!

[CharlesHarris]

Cellular and PCS networks are designed to operate at only 20 percent duty cycle, so if something is going on and everybody tries to call at once the channel loading for individual cell sites is soon overloaded, and if it continues, the central offices will also shut down because there are not enough bypass channels to reroute the traffic.

The KEY is to use SMS text, because text messages are handled different by the system than voice, as text goes out over the "admin" or "control" channel used for locating your phone and monitoring its status, so the messages are stored and forwarded later when a path opens, rather than disappearing into the ether because there isn't a site to receive it.

If the individual cell site or central office doesn't receive your text, and your phone doesn't receive an acknowledgement packet, it will keep sending until it gets a handshake signal back or your battery goes dead.

Something you DO want to have in your kit always with your phone is a PAL 2600 mAh Lithium Ion power bank from Nebo to recharge your phone when the battery is weak. https://www.nebotools.com/prod_details.p...&subsubcid= It doubles as a 50 lumen LED flashlight also. Comes with USB to micro USB adapter, for Apple or Android devices. A great piece of kit!

[NorthernRaider]

Good info Charles this will help us maximise what facilities are already available even in a depleted system.

[NorthernRaider]

Damn I hit send before I finished typing, I was going to say though we still need reliable back up comms as we already have discussed for when the cell system finally fails or is turned off by the authorities .

[bigpaul]

with just the 2 of us, I never understood who I was supposed to be communicating with!
a radio to MONITOR broadcasts is generally understood, but in a societal collapse where all the plebs are going crazy, who do I contact? is it even possible? wont TPTB shut down most of the communication systems like they did in the Boston Bombings?

[Straight Shooter]

I suppose when tshtf they will indeed shut all communication down...other than the main media bullshit of course....that is the reason for stand alone systems ....ham radio is the best way to listen in for TRUE info as to what is really going on...local and national even worldwide ...short range we could use CBs and the like even WT would be very useful .....or a network of them ...provided they are not jambed .....BBC radio would churn out carefully controlled crap along with the TV .