Hi, I'm in East Tennessee, Smokies area. Network?

 

Network?

I would like to get a group of people, first on a local level than start to branch out, with the skills and knowledge for surviving when/if bad things start to happen (example: maybe a natural disaster where your home,city, county or region is affected and you know you have a safe place to go or a place to stop en-route to other family of friends, or maybe get together for some training or outings etc...) I guess in short a group of friends with similar interests that help each other prepare for the worst.

 

Yea, I hear ya. I know a few very serious prepers in my county, the ones who got me going. I still have no clue where you are though. If you are west of Knoxville it will be difficult for me, I don't go much out of my county, especially if gas climbs.

 

Hi there, Kingsport checking in! I don't know anyone near me who thinks or plans the way I do, it would be nice to have a little networking.

 

Rutherford county shouting back.

 

Rutherford County here, if driving distance is an issue maybe we could help get you a more local network going on and work on it from there?

 

north alabama here

 

Ok now we have a small network going on how about experience and training. Here is a brief background on me, I am 23 former Army MP, Ranger qualified (never served in a ranger unit) I have been hunting trapping and fishing basically all my life, I have a modest knowledge in the Medical field. If anyone would like to get together and learn anything from me I am more than willing to teach as well as learn.

 

Wilson county here.

 

im 26 hvac electrical specialist gun nut fish and hunt spend a lil time in fayetteville

 

TN members

Wilson County

 

Welcome Wilson, Rutherford, Bama, Kingsport, Knoxville & Smokies. Experience,Hobbies etc... Anyone Have any plans in the near future to brush up on wilderness survival or urban survival. I my self sometime in the next month plan to pick a state park and unplug from the world for a weekend just me and my ruck.

 

That's a good plan, weather is getting right for that.

your welcome. Have a good one. oh.. for a good camping trip,head up to Fentress county and hit Pickett park, the big south fork to hike and camp. you can four wheel and camp off of Blackhouse mountain Road. great spot.

We love to 4wheel, do most of it behind our house, but would love some new trails.

1) General license is the best bang for your buck (which could be anywhere between $10 and $20 for the test(s)) because you can actually transmit on most frequencies (in any band) that you will ever need or want to have access to. Tech, which leaves you with limited radio transmit frequencies but is still useful of course, must be passed first but you can do both Tech and General in one test session for no more money. Tech is mainly about regs, not much actual 'radio/techy' stuff at all. General gets more into the technical side (and for me that was more difficult).

Once passed, you will be 'auto-registered' for a 'free' 10 year license (you can keep it and your new callsign for that long if you don't commit some violation or move without letting the FCC know).

2) Study online at QRZ.com. It is free. Every actual test is there and you can run through them as often as you want, over and over, till the answers are beat into your head. Then go write the tests. You can buy all the books etc. from ARRL or your local club but you don't 'need' to. You can also often take local courses to help you get to the tech level before your tests. All generally free.

3) You can buy a very decent, FCC approved, new single band (either VHF or UHF) handy talkie (Chinese made so you may have to go online to get a decent translation of the instructions) for less than $70 if you do your research. Some sites even offer free shipping for that price. Otherwise, go 'visit' your local ham club (most places have them - seek them out via ARRL.com) and use the free resources inherent in the old timers. Most love to talk about equipment - and, if you can sort the wheat from the chaff and disregard their personal biases, they are a treasure trove of info.

4) Where I have actually learned the most in practical terms (and that which will help me most in any SHTF situation) to be honest is when I 'joined' my local ARES (emergency response radio) group. Each meeting is a learning session of some kind. The last one was about message passing during emergencies and what to keep in your 'go box' for emergency/fast out the door radio comm purposes, including what kind of connectors to have to help you adapt quickly to any situation. Believe me, ham radios are still the fall back for emergencies - even FEMA with all their expensive, supposedly 'never fail' systems have had to admit that when their systems were unable to do what they wanted them to, and some ham operator was able to 'get through' with info that needed to be transferred. The beauty of ham is that there are so many ways we can work to get messages out and/or received. Find such a group and participate. Costs nothing.

So .. by my accounting .. the above adds up to .. <$90 if you go this route. Of course, the sky is the limit on equipment - make your own limits - but, you can do it cheap (even cheaper than above if you can find someone to 'donate' equipment to you).

Back to the topic at hand. Close to TN but not quite there (western NC).

I've been a HAM for 20+ years, my late Dad was also since the 50's. Good info here and is correct. Just get a license and its easy, fun and not all that expensive to get going. You can go to a local Hamfest to get your rig setup on the cheap. A Hamfest is like a fleamarket or gunshow where like people meet,swap and sell used stuff. Good place to start.

Maury County here. Been a prepper most of my 58 years. Lots of experience in a lot of areas. Trained 1st responder, firefighter, and emergency response. Hunter and fisherman all my life. I will be bugging in with my extended family and invited friends. We have what it takes to survive if we can hold it all.

Go ahead hillbilly...I'm with ya!! I'll get more than a few before they get us.

Middle TN here. I'd love to meet with other people who share my interest, but I'm also paranoid. Every minute I'd be thinking, "Which one is the fed?" Still, I'm interested; I'm not sure I'd fit in even with people from this board. My mom's people were from Rutherford County, the Rockvale/Christiana area. It used to be beautiful, then it became a city. Ugh.

I'm with ya' too Sassy, I'm not quite as paranoid but close. I do tend to stick to friends of friends. We are a quiet bunch.

It is not paranoid, if they are really out to get you.

I suggest that we pick a date at Cedars of Lebanon and just show up. There doesn't need to be any schedule of events. Plenty of folks primitive and RV camp there, so you could blend right in.

I wonder if we could pick each other out? If so, that might be a constructive exercise.

I am interested in meeting...somehow. Ceders of Lebanon is a good spot Shortwave. It is a mid way point for most people, even surrounding states. Might be a little stretch for us right now with gas going up up up. We need lots more ideas on doing this.

 

I have been wanting to learn more about radio communication, does anyone here have any info or a few minutes to spare to give me the run down on Ham radio (average radio cost, type to get license cost etc.....)

 

I just asked about that in another thread.

15 bucks and some study will get you your tech license if you pass the test. Some folks say it is real easy no brainer, I disagree, if you do not study for it and you know nothing about radio, you will fail.

As far as equipment cost lol, it will take whatever you got. There is no real good history on the actual meaning of ham but I kinda think "Havent Any Money" describes the wallet well once you get tweaked!

A cheap 2 meter rig can be found for well under 150 bucks and be a damn good radio. An all mode all band mobile will run 800-1000 new and likely not a lot lower than 600 used. you start looking at nice base stations, the sky is the limit, seriously, there are rigs that cost as much as cars lol.

I have about 2500 in toys, not including parts boxes of crap. ham is horrible for the brain, turns you into a pack rat lol. If you buy quality stuff and keep it nice, it holds its value very very well. If you get involved and decide it is not for you, if you came into it with used toys you would likely be able to unload them fast for the same coin assuming you did not go nuts.

If you buy a Yaesu ft857d for 900 bucks new, quit 6 months later and had not made modifications to the radio, you would likely get 700 for it if you did not beat it up. If you bought a used one for 650, you could likely sell it for the same 650.

I feel you can pretty much maintain that across Yaesu, Icom and Kenwood brands, all quality stuff, I am a yaesu fan myself and have 4 of them with a fifth coming soon.

Best bet, hook up with a local club in your area, see about the test, inquire about starter stuff and get help with selecting a rig, your not likely going to be a good buyer the first time if you do not.

hope that helps.

 

Wow gets expensive quick, thanks for the info.

 

your welcome. Have a good one. oh.. for a good camping trip,head up to Fentress county and hit Pickett park, the big south fork to hike and camp. you can four wheel and camp off of Blackhouse mountain Road. great spot.

 

Cedars of Lebanon is nice and local to Wilson/Rutherford.

 

1) General license is the best bang for your buck (which could be anywhere between $10 and $20 for the test(s)) because you can actually transmit on most frequencies (in any band) that you will ever need or want to have access to. Tech, which leaves you with limited radio transmit frequencies but is still useful of course, must be passed first but you can do both Tech and General in one test session for no more money. Tech is mainly about regs, not much actual 'radio/techy' stuff at all. General gets more into the technical side (and for me that was more difficult).

Once passed, you will be 'auto-registered' for a 'free' 10 year license (you can keep it and your new callsign for that long if you don't commit some violation or move without letting the FCC know).

2) Study online at QRZ.com. It is free. Every actual test is there and you can run through them as often as you want, over and over, till the answers are beat into your head. Then go write the tests. You can buy all the books etc. from ARRL or your local club but you don't 'need' to. You can also often take local courses to help you get to the tech level before your tests. All generally free.

3) You can buy a very decent, FCC approved, new single band (either VHF or UHF) handy talkie (Chinese made so you may have to go online to get a decent translation of the instructions) for less than $70 if you do your research. Some sites even offer free shipping for that price. Otherwise, go 'visit' your local ham club (most places have them - seek them out via ARRL.com) and use the free resources inherent in the old timers. Most love to talk about equipment - and, if you can sort the wheat from the chaff and disregard their personal biases, they are a treasure trove of info.

4) Where I have actually learned the most in practical terms (and that which will help me most in any SHTF situation) to be honest is when I 'joined' my local ARES (emergency response radio) group. Each meeting is a learning session of some kind. The last one was about message passing during emergencies and what to keep in your 'go box' for emergency/fast out the door radio comm purposes, including what kind of connectors to have to help you adapt quickly to any situation. Believe me, ham radios are still the fall back for emergencies - even FEMA with all their expensive, supposedly 'never fail' systems have had to admit that when their systems were unable to do what they wanted them to, and some ham operator was able to 'get through' with info that needed to be transferred. The beauty of ham is that there are so many ways we can work to get messages out and/or received. Find such a group and participate. Costs nothing.

So .. by my accounting .. the above adds up to .. <$90 if you go this route. Of course, the sky is the limit on equipment - make your own limits - but, you can do it cheap (even cheaper than above if you can find someone to 'donate' equipment to you).

Back to the topic at hand. Close to TN but not quite there (western NC).

 

I have about 4 or 5 Vertex standard vx 414-2-5 with back up batteries chargers and back up antennas what could/can i use these for?

 

Maury County here. Been a prepper most of my 58 years. Lots of experience in a lot of areas. Trained 1st responder, firefighter, and emergency response. Hunter and fisherman all my life. I will be bugging in with my extended family and invited friends. We have what it takes to survive if we can hold it all.

 

Middle TN here. I'd love to meet with other people who share my interest, but I'm also paranoid. Every minute I'd be thinking, "Which one is the fed?" Still, I'm interested; I'm not sure I'd fit in even with people from this board. My mom's people were from Rutherford County, the Rockvale/Christiana area. It used to be beautiful, then it became a city. Ugh.

 

It is not paranoid, if they are really out to get you.

I suggest that we pick a date at Cedars of Lebanon and just show up. There doesn't need to be any schedule of events. Plenty of folks primitive and RV camp there, so you could blend right in.

I wonder if we could pick each other out? If so, that might be a constructive exercise.

 

We've chosen our BOL near Johnson City - bought property up there last year, setting up store since, sort of. Had to move a lot of our other bug out stuff from Tryon, NC to there for the past seven months.

Going to spend a lot of time on the Nolachucky this summer so we'll be up that way quite a bit. Sure wouldn't mind hooking up with some of you if you ever put something together and we can make our way up there that week.

 

this is exactly what we are doing right now, except we dont have the land yet.
We are looking in NE TN and have found many 25 acre and up properties for well under a 100K, and in late March we are loading up the family hauler and driving up to look at them in person.
If we see what we like, we are buying.

Plan is to immediately start planting fruit trees (whatever grows up in that area) along with any kind of blueberry bushes and the like.
Then, on our vacations, we will go up to supervise whatever land clearing we might have to do, well drilling, power, etc.
We plan to get a 5-7K dollar travel trailer (20-25footer) which we will stay in for the week we are there..and will also serve as our home if TSHTF before we can get our home built
I'm also planning on getting a ham license, so it will be cool to be able to communicate with you guys, and to meet everyone.

Most of the property we are finding that we like is near rogersville, north of knoxville.
We wanted some elevation so that summers werent too hot (living off grid as we hope to do, we wont have the power to run a/c)...and the winters arent too harsh there either.

Used to live in Canton, NC (outside asheville), and loved the weather and the area, but now we are seeing that land prices are much higher there then in TN, and TN has no state tax which is nice

 

Another Tennessean checking in .I'm south cental in the area of exit 47,I65 .Anyone this AO wants to network drop me an E.I'm ex Ranger ,firefighter also into gardening&being off grid as much as possable.

 

Welcome my fellow Ranger, Rutherford County here.

 

Lincoln County.

 

Shelby County here!

 

Welcome to the newcomers in the last day.