I'm sure this has been mentioned many times, but I haven't seen a thread on it for some time. How vital would one of those old garage clutter or new cb radios be in a SHTF? Living way the hell out in a sparsely populated area as I do your pretty much on your own and I'm thinking the first thing to go will be the luxury of cell phones, and even if you got them can you bet on your neighbor having one or answering the call at 3 am when the zombies are at your gates? I'm thinking the old trusty cb radios will be making a huge comeback in the mad max days that may come, and can serve to quickly organize small rural areas and inner cities into fortresses and possibly in a time when speaking up with any government dissent might be considered treason can be done almost anonymously on a cb, but you can count on everyone having cable access and a tv showing only what they want you to believe is going on no matter how bad things get...personally I trust word of mouth more than fox news nowdays. On a lighter side you can barter a lot easier over the airwaves than hauling all your junk around, or hook them up in your cars, and they are a lot cheaper than cell phones.
CB radios vital communications?
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I inherited my grandfathers CB base station but the antena was damaged during removal from his house.....
I have a CB in my Jeep, always have.
My cousin and my father who comprise our group all have one as well in their vehicles... but I sure would love an antena for the base when all is said and done once the BOL is finished
I have a CB in my Jeep, always have.
My cousin and my father who comprise our group all have one as well in their vehicles... but I sure would love an antena for the base when all is said and done once the BOL is finished
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Use fullness is negligible at best and heres why IMO.
In my mind in an all out teotwawki who the hell is going to be listening Except those who own a radio
and all one ham can do is pass on what he hears to another
for those who are hams i suppose it could provide an early warning to those who need it if they have their ears on at the time they need to hear it:upsidedown:
and a few i suppose could warn others but overall i suspect negligible effect at best.
I suspect confusion and chaos and folks scrambling to find out what the hell is going on, i suspect a lot of false reports
and conflicting ones.
Now we in this instance would have 2 choices to info from, state controlled media or patriots who man their sets until the man frags em
It will be sad to hear the hams go silent, and for a brief time the only other
source of info coming out other than state controlled media will be the hams.
But and i mean no disrespect to those hams who will do all they can do to help their country , but how reliable will the info they provide be?
And theres always the chance they guy broadcasting IS THE MAN
negligible at best, but i be listening till they wink out for good
In my mind in an all out teotwawki who the hell is going to be listening Except those who own a radio
and all one ham can do is pass on what he hears to another
for those who are hams i suppose it could provide an early warning to those who need it if they have their ears on at the time they need to hear it:upsidedown:
and a few i suppose could warn others but overall i suspect negligible effect at best.
I suspect confusion and chaos and folks scrambling to find out what the hell is going on, i suspect a lot of false reports
and conflicting ones.
Now we in this instance would have 2 choices to info from, state controlled media or patriots who man their sets until the man frags em
It will be sad to hear the hams go silent, and for a brief time the only other
source of info coming out other than state controlled media will be the hams.
But and i mean no disrespect to those hams who will do all they can do to help their country , but how reliable will the info they provide be?
And theres always the chance they guy broadcasting IS THE MAN
negligible at best, but i be listening till they wink out for good
I am with you to a point I agree that there will probably be allot of false reports on the CB but I am not so sure there will be on the Ham Bands, And Who is the Man? If you think that the fed is the one that you have to fear they will have allot of other ways to get the people they want to silence then to go looking for Hams or CB radio operators. And if they start "fraging" people they will probably go after any one who has purchased a firearm or whos neighbors have rated out long before they will go after radio oparators.Use fullness is negligible at best and heres why IMO.
In my mind in an all out teotwawki who the hell is going to be listening Except those who own a radio
and all one ham can do is pass on what he hears to another
for those who are hams i suppose it could provide an early warning to those who need it if they have their ears on at the time they need to hear it:upsidedown:
and a few i suppose could warn others but overall i suspect negligible effect at best.
I suspect confusion and chaos and folks scrambling to find out what the hell is going on, i suspect a lot of false reports
and conflicting ones.
Now we in this instance would have 2 choices to info from, state controlled media or patriots who man their sets until the man frags em
It will be sad to hear the hams go silent, and for a brief time the only other
source of info coming out other than state controlled media will be the hams.
But and i mean no disrespect to those hams who will do all they can do to help their country , but how reliable will the info they provide be?
And theres always the chance they guy broadcasting IS THE MAN
negligible at best, but i be listening till they wink out for good
For close in comms a CB is probably fine say with in 5 miles line of sight but if you need to comunicate further look into HAM if you are only looking at radio as a source of information then look at shortwave recivers.
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Sorry let me clarify, my comments are in a teotwawki situation, the Man
the man is the Powers that be.
I cant speculate and wont speculate as to who and whom they will go after
but if history is any guide...................
I agree when the collapse happens fire arms will have to be turned in
and if you don't your on their come and get list, perhaps though I doubt it, they will act preemptively, on some I do think they will act primitively like militias and certain folks who talk way too much but for the Majority of the population i think it will be compulsory
IS there that many cops out there, I mean who would be at the donuts shop if they had to ride around all day looking for 300 million plus
guns, lol they cant find folks on the run with guns a lot of times
I'm skeptical of using Cb's if I'm running from the powers on teotwawki day, that be as I'm almost sure they will hear me anyway, but I am not an expert and this is only my opinion, and I lack Groups /Team members
I have to com with anyway so.................
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Hams or cbs would be an excellent contact source if everyone is aware of the time schedule.
If there is an emp, attack how would you supply the power to the unit?
If there is an emp, attack how would you supply the power to the unit?
With an old time CB base station, a set of beam antennas, and a linear amplifier, you can talk skip across half the hemisphere. It's not reliable, and it's illegal today, but in a pinch one could get and give info over a long distance. A Ham radio is the way to go for reliable communications, world wide, when everything has gone down. My dad has been a licensed Ham radio guy, my whole life, and has all the equipment. I could figure how to hook it all up, if I had to. His antenna is a pile of pipe in the shed, and would need to be put up on a pole or tower. Another option would be a ground plane wire antenna that is easy to build and hang up between two trees. Even if I couldn't transmit, I could monitor the Ham frequencies. I've paid attention to his hobby all these years, but just could not get into it like he did. He always did try to get me interested in getting my license.
For neighborhood communications and out 5 to 7 miles, a CB would be good to have.
For neighborhood communications and out 5 to 7 miles, a CB would be good to have.
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It's not reliable, and it's illegal today
Reply]
I thought the Citizen Band had been deregulated? I'd have to check, but I think you can run as much as a Novice Ham can, only unlicensed on the CB now.
Either way, I had a sweet set up back in the day, when it WAS illegal. I talked all over the world with my rig. I have even gotten post cards form guys in Great Brittan, and Australia.
There was a guy with the Call sig Cherokee13685. I used to talk to hem every Christmas for years. We allways exchanged postcards to prove our connection to friends. I did this on 150 watts on Sideband.
I have a Cobra 148GTL that allows me too drop the output power down to less than a watt, or up to as much as 18 watts peak with the turn of a knob. I used to drive with the power all the way down, and talk to the car infront of me (usually a buddy of mine). No one else could hear me but him. But I could crank it up full and be heard for almost 10 miles, BEFORE turning on the amp!
There used to be a guy in my neighborhood who was ruining a 5000 watt peak amp that could be heard almost over the entire northern part of IL Those from this area, and that era might remember him.
Both CB's, and HAM rigs will be Huge after SHTF. They certainly were before cell phones!!
I myself would love to get back into that hobby, but it is just too darn expensive for me now.
Reply]
I thought the Citizen Band had been deregulated? I'd have to check, but I think you can run as much as a Novice Ham can, only unlicensed on the CB now.
Either way, I had a sweet set up back in the day, when it WAS illegal. I talked all over the world with my rig. I have even gotten post cards form guys in Great Brittan, and Australia.
There was a guy with the Call sig Cherokee13685. I used to talk to hem every Christmas for years. We allways exchanged postcards to prove our connection to friends. I did this on 150 watts on Sideband.
I have a Cobra 148GTL that allows me too drop the output power down to less than a watt, or up to as much as 18 watts peak with the turn of a knob. I used to drive with the power all the way down, and talk to the car infront of me (usually a buddy of mine). No one else could hear me but him. But I could crank it up full and be heard for almost 10 miles, BEFORE turning on the amp!
There used to be a guy in my neighborhood who was ruining a 5000 watt peak amp that could be heard almost over the entire northern part of IL Those from this area, and that era might remember him.
Both CB's, and HAM rigs will be Huge after SHTF. They certainly were before cell phones!!
I myself would love to get back into that hobby, but it is just too darn expensive for me now.
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My brother got one last year, and hoped to become "one of the boys". But those guys are more exclusive than a country club !! Around here anyway,they all talk in some kind of clipped, hyper-speed-*******, auctioneer language, except when they slow it down just long enough to call him a dumb f### for bothering them. It's actually quite funny just listening to him try to get the time of day outa these guys !! But it left me disinclined to get one, too.
Again my answer would be, "that depends", on your plans, ha.
In a bad situation, having several forms of communication would be better than just one. CB has plenty of drawbacks, but better than nothing. I have lived in areas where they would be useless, but your situation may be different.
You have to ask yourself how many crazies will try to use the radio simultaneously during, or just after an emergency situation. There will be panic, everyone will try to call at the same time. Regardless whether if you have 40 or 200 channels (ham or CB), if enough people try to utilize the radio at the same time it becomes saturated. I believe all of our communication plans will have to allow for a period of time after a "SHTF" event to allow most of those "other" users batteries to die before we are able to establish reliable communications. If you live in an area with a large population and have a radio with few channels, you see the problem. CB may work if you live far away from the highway and the trucks.
If you have a local communication group, I would suggest developing what we Ham radio operators would call a "directed net" to allow everyone in the group to communicate. Establish links with other communicators in your area, whether they have a ham radio, CB, FRS/GMRS or short wave radio, think of a way to stay tuned to events. Immediately after a SHTF event, you will need good intel, and lots of it. Work out schedules within your group, maybe one person monitors a certain SW radio band, another the CB, another a ham band. On your local network, each can report the take from their monitoring session to the group on a periodic basis, hourly or whatever, thus collecting lots of information in a systematic fashion.
In a bad situation, having several forms of communication would be better than just one. CB has plenty of drawbacks, but better than nothing. I have lived in areas where they would be useless, but your situation may be different.
You have to ask yourself how many crazies will try to use the radio simultaneously during, or just after an emergency situation. There will be panic, everyone will try to call at the same time. Regardless whether if you have 40 or 200 channels (ham or CB), if enough people try to utilize the radio at the same time it becomes saturated. I believe all of our communication plans will have to allow for a period of time after a "SHTF" event to allow most of those "other" users batteries to die before we are able to establish reliable communications. If you live in an area with a large population and have a radio with few channels, you see the problem. CB may work if you live far away from the highway and the trucks.
If you have a local communication group, I would suggest developing what we Ham radio operators would call a "directed net" to allow everyone in the group to communicate. Establish links with other communicators in your area, whether they have a ham radio, CB, FRS/GMRS or short wave radio, think of a way to stay tuned to events. Immediately after a SHTF event, you will need good intel, and lots of it. Work out schedules within your group, maybe one person monitors a certain SW radio band, another the CB, another a ham band. On your local network, each can report the take from their monitoring session to the group on a periodic basis, hourly or whatever, thus collecting lots of information in a systematic fashion.
As far as I know, running a high power linear amplifier on a CB band is still illegal. CB is only legal at low power, like 15 amps, I think.
Most likely there would either not be any power available, or no power to waste burning up the air waves with a high power amplifier after anything serious. It would be best to fine tune your operating skills such that you don't need the high power to be heard. For ham types that means QRP.
Legal limit for CB is 5 watts period. Ham radio is not channelized. You can talk on any frequency you are licensed for by simply turning the VFO. There are literally thousands frequencies available for use in the ham bands. I am sure a person could find openings. For short range comms. 2m VHF would work much better than CB and you can use up to 1500 watts legally.
"73"
Rex
"73"
Rex
clarification, as clear as mud
Hmmm, maybe this is a better explanation.
The distinction between the number of available channels (CB and FRS/GMRS) and "simple band plan", as used on the 2 meter band is correct if you only use simplex-mode communications. The "saturation" problem still exist for ham 2 meter operations, channelization is comparable to the limited number of repeater pairs in the ham 2-meter and UHF bands. To reliably communicate around a large city, or terrain, hams rely on repeaters for UHF and VHF communications rather than simplex. The repeaters are the limiting factor, as there are only so many slots (pairs) available. In the big city example, the limited number of repeaters available would saturate fast unless the traffic is controlled as is done via directed nets. Most cities are lucky if they have a half dozen repeaters to cover the area.
The idea is you can always use a directed net in an emergency, and shift communications to other frequencies or channels to control and maximize the traffic regards of the radio service used. The idea I was putting across is to develop these skills before you have to depend on the radio, and have a log jam. Hams are more used to this type control system, CBers and those that use FRS/GMRS are not.
A good point to consider.... In an emergency, you will need to pre-arrange with your relatives, or group, to have a back-up frequency or channel to monitor should your local repeater or preferred channel be occupied. Example, a family member across town needs to know what channel, frequency to monitor, rather than to stay locked onto the old favorite that is unusable.
Hmmm, maybe this is a better explanation.
The distinction between the number of available channels (CB and FRS/GMRS) and "simple band plan", as used on the 2 meter band is correct if you only use simplex-mode communications. The "saturation" problem still exist for ham 2 meter operations, channelization is comparable to the limited number of repeater pairs in the ham 2-meter and UHF bands. To reliably communicate around a large city, or terrain, hams rely on repeaters for UHF and VHF communications rather than simplex. The repeaters are the limiting factor, as there are only so many slots (pairs) available. In the big city example, the limited number of repeaters available would saturate fast unless the traffic is controlled as is done via directed nets. Most cities are lucky if they have a half dozen repeaters to cover the area.
The idea is you can always use a directed net in an emergency, and shift communications to other frequencies or channels to control and maximize the traffic regards of the radio service used. The idea I was putting across is to develop these skills before you have to depend on the radio, and have a log jam. Hams are more used to this type control system, CBers and those that use FRS/GMRS are not.
A good point to consider.... In an emergency, you will need to pre-arrange with your relatives, or group, to have a back-up frequency or channel to monitor should your local repeater or preferred channel be occupied. Example, a family member across town needs to know what channel, frequency to monitor, rather than to stay locked onto the old favorite that is unusable.
on CB It's 5 Watts AM 12 Watts SSB just as it always has been. It is so easy to get your ticket these days that it would be good to get you ham license then you can have the world at your finger tips as they use to say.
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