[Freshgrease]

Lets pretend that the US is using its military in a means to do a nation-wide or local martial law/armed troops patrolling taking guns away, shooting people in the streets, and overall making a mess. Let's assume the cell networks are up still, but monitored out the ass.

I need to get from Houston to Dallas (BOL) (where my family is). I've got BOV and everything as should be. I need to contact my parents, but I need to do it anonymously so that the feds don't track me down for whatever reason. We know they have all access to cells by contract (take the battery out of the Blackberry).

So my intended method is to go get a $20 pay as you go phone with a card from the gas station. Should I need to register it, I use false identity. I can call and receive calls without a registered phone, but is this a viable option?

The whole point is to deter the feds knowing my location at least at a resonable level for three hours or more. I realize the NSA has voice analysis, but they won't use that on me unless I'm a specific target (at which point I probably have a GPS-rigged truck and half the army on me.

Would you buy disposable phones as a last-resort. Never use it until you need to (keep it off the network).?

 

[killdeer]

Lets assume you are right, and the cell system is monitored by the Military. Did you realize the moment you say a key word, that a radio controlled unmanned vehicle will be over your location within minutes. Then that vehicle can either laser you so that a manned aircraft, or launched weapon could be guide onto you. Or just fire its onboard missle taking you out.

Do not believe me? Take and do a little studing on use of Cell phones by those in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Our military does not tell all of its secrets.

If your goal is not being identified then do not use any means of electronic communications. As a matter as a fact, do not even carry any electronics with batteries in. remember your phone is staying in constant contact with cell towers so that it knows which one to use when you hit that send button.

Throw away phones have thier purpose, but do not ever assume that it making you grey.

 

[KF4LNE]

All phones are supposed to have GPS capability built into them. What the .gov will be looking for most is people trying to hide what they are doing. An unregistered pre-pay cell phone that suddenly appears may send up a red flag. Electronic communications can be monitored easily. Learn how to build and use a beige box. A modern one can be built using off the shelf components found at Radio Shack or by adding alligator clips to a standard DSL filter. Cheap $10 phones can be used with the beige box without the need for anything else.

You can then use the voice mail feature of a pre-pay phone to leave coded messages for another party to dial in and listen to. Don't actually use the pre-pay phone. Having a dedicated line that can be traced back to you is a bad idea if you are trying to hide.

 

[TackleBerry]

You'll be lucky to get service. I was in D.C. on 9/11 and the cell phones were overwhelmed and I could not make any calls till I got about 40 miles north of the city. Text msging is the only thing that worked.

 

[Josiah922]

I would think that if you are hiding from the government and not some group of people then the cell phone WOULD be a bit more risky. If I did use it, I would turn it on, get it going, make the call talking in code on the phone and then pick the next truck stop and throw it in the back of the nearest big rig I could find. Let them chase their tails for a while.

 

[Macumazahn]

everything is a possibility... the question is risk and bennefit

given your scene I think it would work but there are lots of ways it could break

scope out your local pay phones

 

[Highlander]

Nextel. After Katrina, the only wireless communication that worked was the Instant Talk feature on the Nextel network. In fact, it worked so well, Nextel brought in tons of them for emergency personnel.

Otherwise, use a payphone (if you can still find one).

If the SHTF that bad, they could just jam up the airwaves with electronic clutter.

Control food, control movement, control communications = Control

 

[Freshgrease]

What about short-range cellphone/GPS jamming devices that work to about 20 feet? Turn it on and take cell phone battery out, turn off an put battery in -> call, turn back on when done with call.

Using any type of phone or electronic device is risky. Perhaps a police scanner, emergency radio, and a SHTF plan would be better than actually communicating to them.

 

[FXjohn]

hello, pizza hut?

 

[KF4LNE]

What about short-range cellphone/GPS jamming devices that work to about 20 feet? Turn it on and take cell phone battery out, turn off an put battery in -> call, turn back on when done with call.

If you can find one that actually works all it will do is block the pilot signal and prevent the phone from hearing the tower, but the tower will still be able to hear the phone. best bet would be to avoid any out of the ordinary communications. Have a plan in place so that you won't need to communicate with other members in your group. Revise and update that plan as needed and commit it to memory. Practice with your group. Look into alternative communications methods that do not rely on existing infrastructure if you must have communications. While all communications can be monitored its better to have something that will work in the event the system fails.

Part of my SHTF plan includes being prepared to use current "phreaking" methods along with coded messages that have seemingly unimportant meanings. Learn to modify consumer communications gear to allow you to use it for more clandestine needs. personally, I would highly recommend having a field programmable VHF and UHF radio with CTCSS and DCS capabilities, a lineman's test set or a beige box, a couple of pre-paid calling cards, a good scanner and the knowledge of how to use and service them all. Also learn what you can about the public switched telephone network. Any knowledge you have on how to communicate without being traced back to you and without being easily discovered be a huge benefit.

 

[ken]

Big Brother

Sounds a bit paranoid to me, but given your scenario... I would just use my regular cell phone, more likely a text message as those will get through when the voice channels are filled. You might swap phones with the little old woman down the block in an EOTWAWKI situation. At first glance her number will not be of interest, make the call very short, and move. Maybe call a friend, and have them place the second leg of your call from a different location to deliver the message. If you are a person of interest, your position will be known before you dial the last digit. If you are a person of interest and they want you to go away, those coordinates can be sent to that aircraft orbiting overhead, and downloaded into a 2000 pound JADAM in a minute. I would have a pre-arranged "in the clear" message that conveys my covert meaning. I would want my "in the clear" message to appear to be uninteresting. I would not use any words that might be on the list of those that interest whoever is listening in. While a bit paranoid, you are absolutely correct in being concerned that every cell phone call is being monitored these days. For most traffic the first level of screening will be via a computer with a list of key words, phone numbers of interest, people of interest, and as you said, voices of interest. If your call is passed to a human the intercept will surely get more attention.

 

[countryboy123]

Sounds a bit paranoid to me, but given your scenario... I would just use my regular cell phone, more likely a text message as those will get through when the voice channels are filled. You might swap phones with the little old woman down the block in an EOTWAWKI situation. At first glance her number will not be of interest, make the call very short, and move. Maybe call a friend, and have them place the second leg of your call from a different location to deliver the message. If you are a person of interest, your position will be known before you dial the last digit. If you are a person of interest and they want you to go away, those coordinates can be sent to that aircraft orbiting overhead, and downloaded into a 2000 pound JADAM in a minute. I would have a pre-arranged "in the clear" message that conveys my covert meaning. I would want my "in the clear" message to appear to be uninteresting. I would not use any words that might be on the list of those that interest whoever is listening in. While a bit paranoid, you are absolutely correct in being concerned that every cell phone call is being monitored these days. For most traffic the first level of screening will be via a computer with a list of key words, phone numbers of interest, people of interest, and as you said, voices of interest. If your call is passed to a human the intercept will surely get more attention.

1) A JDAM costs well over a million dollars. They would not waste something so valuable on some ****-ant like you or I making a cell phone call on an anonymous phone.

2) Computer monitoring of communications is a reality. I'm sure the Obamanites would argue this, but Obama would probably have no problem using this to his advantage. In all honesty, he would have to go a long way to equal the clusterfrack GW has put us into, but I'm sure he is up to the job.

3) Look for banning of anonymous cell phones. When that happens you can basically see the writing on the wall.

4) If MARTIAL law was declared, look for cell towers to be turned off in the affected area. If that happens all or at least most communications would go down. I would look into getting some sort of CB or ham radio but even those could be effectively jammed.

5) Last point, if things get this bad, it wont happen overnight. If you cant see it coming well ahead of time and already be gone when SHTF it is probably too late anyway.

 

[ken]

I don't know the iron bomb portion of the JDAM cost, but the guidance strap on package got pretty cheap at one point. They told us that part of the package was down to about 25,000 bucks if I remember correctly. When Boeing took over the contract the price was $18000 for the tail kit alone, more expensive now. Note, as far as the expense vs target value, we have been dropping loads of them to kill a single goat in Afghanistan. After all, Its only tax money, I have never seen the DOD conserve tax money. I think JSOW was more expensive, but since it replaces a cruise missile in some cases so it is cheap by comparison. I agree we peasants are not worth the effort.

I agree your point 3, that is probably already in the works. I think you have to give some information to get it activated. Your points 4 & 5 are also spot on.

Probably the best solution to the original post question is to take a lesson from Mr.Bin laddin. Avoiding high tech means of communication is the way he stays alive day to day.

 

[Rifleman336]

::: What type of fantasy is this???!!! If the Goverment did the things your talking about the first thing thats going to happen is the taking down of the phone system to stop any resistance in it's tracks. There not that stupid!!!

About the best one could do is start getting a ham license and learn to use digtial modes on VHF and HF sparingly to send "canned" messages to whom ever and don't trasmit long from the same place or else......... This cuts the middleman ( the phone companies system) out of the eqation.



Rifleman 336