2012 Blog ? Ham Radio is on the only post-SHTF communication ...

With the presumption that throughout your region all electricity is off, how will people?communicate?

Cell towers need electricity
Land lines might not need electricity at home if ?they are the non-cordless, but the phone system itself needs?electricity
TV and radio need electricity to broadcast
Police, military and emergency services depend on electricity to communicate

For local?communications?you have the options of walkie-talkies and CB radios, but they are only good for a few miles. That?s great for contacting local friends and relatives, and well-worth having, but won?t help you learn what is going on elsewhere.

Amateur radio (aka HAM radio) is the only remaining method for long-distance communications. So, in?anticipation?of needing this, your choices are:

1) Get a license and gear
2) Get a license and use someone else?s occasionally
3) Get to know those who have the gear

Where all these choices meet is joining a local enthusiast?s society. At the very least you should be able to get to know the folk with the right gear, and know where they are located.

The best rigs require electricity, so you would need some sort of large battery backup system to run it. Otherwise smaller systems are handheld and battery operated (pic below), and there also setups you can run from a vehicle.

This from Prepper Resources:

You may be thinking that you won?t need a license if T-SHTF, and that you?ll just buy a Ham radio and use it when the time comes.? You can do that but like other survival skills you need to practice in order to be proficient.? You will need experience in the use of the radio, building antennas, Morse Code and fine tuning of frequencies.? By?getting an Amateur Radio License?you can also network with other Hams and become familiar with ?Best practices? in Ham operation.? Hams are well versed in making home made antennas that work better then commercial antennas and even building radios.? These are skills that can be learned but it does take time.

A Ham radio operator can function effectively without the use of any other equipment, even though operators do frequently use repeaters on a day to day basis.? Another great aspect of Ham radio is this: you can do more then use voice communication.??Morse Code?is a common form of communication in Ham radio.? Also operators commonly utilize ?packet radio?.??Packet radio?allows transmission of photos, video, and text.? The text was the predecessor to email.? Yes indeed, Ham radio operators were using email before you were and all these forms of communications are available with just a radio.

Ham radios are versatile and can be base stations located in your home with high output power, mobile mounted in a vehicle with moderate output power, or portable small handheld radios with low power output that can be carried anywhere.

After T-SHTF communication will be difficult but needed. ?Land lines, cell phones, email, instant messaging, and the internet will be lost but Ham Radio will still be there.? When natural disasters like Katrina or Sandy strike, Ham Radio is there to allow emergency personnel to communicate because the normal communications channels are lost. ?When the government can?t communicate with each other during disaster, who do they call for help?? Amateur radio operators, because they know amateur radio is there and works when all other forms of communications fail.? That leads me to believe that after T-SHTF, Ham Radio will be the only form of communication available.

Finally, make sure you have a battery-operated radio that can receive shortwave ? certainly someone, somewhere will be transmitting over those frequencies, and they can travel around the globe.

Related posts:

1. More 2012 Radio Interviews
2. First-Hand Account: True Modern SHTF Event
3. SHTF vs EOTW vs TEOTWAWKI
4. Another Day, Another Cable TV SHTF Preppers Show
5. Rob on Rense Radio Tomorrow

Source: http://survive2012.com/news/2013/02/ham-radio-and-shortwave-4796.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ham-radio-and-shortwave

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