Basic SHTF Radio A Cops Brief Guide For Understanding Simple Solutions

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 70

Basic SHTF Radio

A cop's brief guide for understanding simple


solutions for SHTF radio communication.

by Don Shift

Copyright © 2022. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any
information browsing, storage, or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

The publisher and the author are providing this book and its contents on an “as is” basis and
make no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to this book or its contents. The
publisher and the author disclaim all such representations and warranties. In addition, the publisher
and the author assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any other
inconsistencies herein.

The information contained in this book does not constitute legal advice and should never be
used without first consulting with an attorney or other professional experts. No endorsement of any
official or agency is implied.

The content of this book is of an editorial nature and for informational purposes only. Your use
of the information in this book is at your own risk. The author and publisher hereby disclaim any
liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption through use of the information in this book.
Intro
Have you thought about how you will communicate if the cell
network goes down? The modern telecommunications system can be taken
down through cyberwarfare, hackers, or a natural disaster. Cell towers only
have a limited amount of fuel in their generators to keep running after a
power outage. The regular telephone system is resilient but is now more
than ever dependent on the Internet to facilitate calls. Robust forms of
communications are necessary for your family, information gathering, and
tactical self-defense use.
Cell phone and radio jammers have already been used in South
African farm attacks. Use of these requires sophistication and coordination.
Multi-spectrum jammers are very difficult to obtain in the US but could be
seen if the federal government collapses, allowing imports from China.
Cartels and organized crime already use these. Radio jamming could be
used as well but having a variety of radios to use across different bands can
give someone a vital lifeline to call for help.
Radios are good when you need immediate communication at the push
of a button. You aren’t texting in a gunfight and dialing a call is too long.
Also everyone on your team can hear a radio transmission vs. seeing a text
or picking up a call. Radios will be the primary form of communication in a
major grid-down type disaster. The downside to radio is that in the forms
that you will likely have access to, there is zero privacy, all frequencies are
shared, and are of short range (10-30 miles, max).
The advice here is intended to answer many of the questions of those
who have no experience with two-way radio. This is not a guide on how to
use a particular piece of equipment, a primer for getting a ham radio
license, or a detailed explanation of physics. Hopefully after reading this
you will come away with a better understanding of what the realistic
capabilities are for an average person who just needs a secondary means of
communication.
Much of this work has been grossly simplified for the average person
who just needs a radio to work and isn’t interested in the details that hams
care about. Remember, this is a brief introductory to terms, ideas, and
options.

Cell phones, apps, and the Internet


Absent SHTF, the Internet and the various websites, programs, and apps
it provides for us is a fantastic tool. You should already be taking advantage
of things like NextDoor to network, gather intelligence, and communicate
with your neighbors. As things deteriorate, information sharing, and
coordination will become vital. However, such established “Big Tech”
platforms will likely eventually crackdown on citizens using their platform
for self-defense coordination.
In these times of discord and suspicion, secure communications on
your cell phone are important. You don’t want Google, Facebook, or the
government spying on you. Of course, the NSA can probably read or hear
everything, but why make it easy? Get critical communication off the open
networks.
The alternative, while still using the Internet and modern
communications, is to move to private communication apps, like Telegram
or Signal. Download a secure group messaging app like these. They are best
for non-emergency communications and the privacy makes it that much
harder for your communications to be intercepted. A tech-savvy individual
could also create a website with a forum for locals. Worst case, create an
email list. Everyone can email each other like the old newsgroups.

Terms defined

Bandwidth: How much of the radio spectrum is taken up by a given


frequency. You can think of this as an electric cable; if you need to put more
energy down a powerline, the cable will be broader. This is represented by
how many Hertz separates the frequencies. For a good example, think of
how FM radio stations are all odd numbers after the decimal (this is .2 MHz
spacing). Frequencies in use that are too close together will experience
bleed over and transmissions will be garbled. Think of AM radio at night in
winter where a louder radio station covers another.

CB: Citizen’s Band radio.

FRS: Family Radio Service.

GMRS: General Mobile Radio Service.


Grid down: A disaster or situation where nationally or across your
region the utility and communications systems collapse totally, along with
the supply chain. There is no electricity, city water, Internet, phones, nor
distribution of groceries, fuel, or other essentials. You must be self-
sufficient to survive.

Ham radio: Amateur Radio Service. The traditional licensed two-way


radio system for non-business use. A “ham” is a nickname for a licensee of
the hobby.

HT: Handheld Transceiver or portable radio. Also known incorrectly as


a “handie-talkie.” If you say “walkie-talkie” everyone will know what you
are talking about as they are all the same things.

MHz/kHz: Megahertz and kilohertz. Measures of frequency.


Frequencies programmed into a are often called “channels” as well. Think
of a frequency on a dial as an address. Note that frequency ranges allocated
for certain traffic are known as “bands” and are named after their
wavelength, such as the 2 meter (2m) VHF band.

MURS: Multi-Use Radio Service.

Simplex: Radios communicate directly between each other with one


radio at a time using the frequency or else they will cancel each other out.

SHTF: Any emergency event that deviates from our normal condition
of civil order beyond a limited disaster and implies a partial or total collapse
of law and order.

Watt: A measure of how much energy the radio puts out; this could be
understood as “power.” More watts typically give greater range but all the
power in the world can’t overcome basic physics and geography that blocks
signal propagation.

WROL: Without the Rule of Law. This is a situation where police and
courts are non-existent; a total collapse of law and order. Criminals will not
be arrested and prosecuted. It is the law of the jungle; kill or be killed; only
the fittest survive. This situation is essentially lawless and resembles war
more than a disaster.

Radio band types

We will look at the most common bands and types in use. This
entire work is for the average person who wants a mainly plug and play
solution, so we’ll look at the low time investment radios. Much greater
capabilities are available to those who are willing to look at radio
communication as a serious hobby and get involved.
These bands are frequency ranges and bands cannot communicate
with each other anymore than an AM-only radio can tune in FM radio
stations. Dual-band radios have two transmitters installed to allow you to
talk on each like your car radio can get both AM and FM but only one at a
time.

UHF: Ultra high frequency. Usually in the 400 MHz range for
consumer radios and often found in the non-ham radios commonly
available in stores (GMRS and FRS). For hams, this includes the very
popular 70cm AKA 440 MHz band (Technician-level amateur operator
license required at minimum). GMRS requires a $35 license without a test.
Some GMRS radio models are also somewhat customizable. This is for
short range (<5 miles) communication.

VHF: Very high frequency. Usually in the 30-200 MHz range for
civilian radios. This is most common for 2m band (144-148 MHz) ham
radios, like the ever popular Baofeng radio. The 2m band requires at least a
Technician-level amateur operator license at minimum. This is for short
range (<5 miles) communication.

VHF and UHF are line of sight radios, meaning they cannot be used
to talk over obstacles like mountains. Propagation of both will suffer if you
have terrain or large buildings in between users. If you are on top of a high
hill, you may be able to talk out to the often advertised range of 25+ miles if
someone is equally as high as you are. Range is never what is advertised on
the packaging except in those one-off situations.
The long ranges for these radios are predicated on ideal conditions,
such as from one mountain peak to another. Higher wattage radios and
larger antennas help, but for these radios how high you are and the fewer
the obstacles you have, the better. In the city expect 1-2 miles on the ground
between walkie-talkies up to five miles if the antenna is high. Rooftop
antennas (home and vehicle) and more powerful transmitters can extend
range in urban areas.
Realistically, there is no practical difference between the two bands.
UHF radio is better for indoor usage and in urban areas because its radio
waves penetrate buildings better, at least for very close distances such as
across floors. For example, businesses or fire departments use them to
communicate in large buildings. UHF can be blocked by say a city skyline,
but if you are in a building or need to talk amongst them, UHF for short
distances is at the advantage.
VHF tends to be better than UHF outdoors where obstructions are
limited and it has a better ability to penetrate trees and vegetation cover.
VHF does have the drawback of not being able to “bounce” over terrain,
but it will still work although some dead zones may exist. VHF could be
understood as a better rural band while UHF is a better urban one, though
the differences are too slight to matter at short range.

HF/shortwave: High frequency; in the early days of radio, this was the
higher frequency range but now is the low end of the dial. This ranges from
AM/shortwave radio to the CB radio range.
Usually 26.965-27.405 MHz for CB (unlicensed) and 28.000-29.700
MHz for the 10m amateur band.
To drastically simplify, high frequency radio skips off the
atmosphere or follows the curvature of the earth which allows it to cover
long distances and get around terrain. No radio system (unless you’re the
Navy) can go through solid terrain; the signal just finds a way around.
Weather, atmospheric, and space weather conditions can increase or
decrease the distance (skip). An example of this being able to pickup an
AM radio station hundreds of miles away at night. CB radio will have very
poor reception indoors and around electrical lines, just like your AM radio.
These bands can be used for transcontinental and worldwide
communication but that requires specialized transmitters, antennas, and
good technical skills to get true “over the horizon” range. Shortwave
receivers also pickup your standard commercial-type radio broadcasts and
some models can pickup ham bands. The latter feature will give you listen-
only capabilities for long range, amateur communications in addition to
typical shortwave broadcast stations. Shortwave radio was an important
form of freely communicating to occupied Europe in WWII or behind the
Iron Curtain.
You will need a General or Amateur Extra-level amateur license on
the HF bands or restrict use to CB radio. CB is for medium range (10-30
mile) communication. Maximum legal wattage is 4 watts, which won’t
reach far, but if you buy illegal amplifiers, you can increase power to a CB
radio base station to reach out around 30 miles or so under the right
conditions. Surprising distances can be covered by CB radios if you’re
willing to ignore FCC regulations (which many do) and you get a little luck
from the Earth.
If you want to talk hundreds or thousands of miles deliberately
(versus random atmospheric conditions), it is done with this part of the
spectrum. However, doing it successfully requires knowledge about the
electronics themselves, radio theory, and antennas. It is not a plug and play
kind of thing. A dedicated individual who wants to learn about long-range
radio communication certainly can become proficient if they are willing to
invest the time.
Licensed and unlicensed radio
Unlicensed options

Our discussion will be limited to bands that do not require an


amateur operator’s license. Yes, I know GMRS technically requires a
license, but the process is so minimal it is practically unlicensed. Range of
these radios will be from the neighborhood to around ten miles; up to about
30 under all the right conditions. Very long range communication is not
within the realm of the casual radio user.
If you plan on using anything other than simple, pre-programmed
radios in the neighborhood, do some serious research. You don’t need to
necessarily get a license for all of these options but do learn how the
various bands work in the application you want to use. Learn what
equipment works best and how to install and program it. Use your Google
Fu!
Note: Dual-band radios that operate on both UHF and VHF (usually
70cm/GMRS/FRS and 2m) are available for the use of hams. These radios,
which include the ever popular Baofeng series, can transmit on GMRS, but
not legally. Dual-band radios are best for monitoring only, WROL use, or
for licensed hams.

GMRS: General Mobile Radio Service. Used for family


communications, popular with off-roaders, often used without a license
(illegally) by anyone needing a short-range radio. The license is $35,
requires no test, and the application is online that is approved in 1-2 days.
The license is good for 10 years and practically any close relative can use
your license. GMRS is perfect for families or spouses that have no interest
in a ham license. I have not heard of the FCC prosecuting unlicensed
GMRS users or people for failing to properly use a call sign.
There are 22 frequencies with seven of them being allocated for repeater
use (essentially a second channel with a suffix of R). These frequencies are
shared with FRS and both services can communicate with each other
legally.
You can install repeaters and use radios up to 50 watts (depending
on the frequency). This is a poor-man’s UHF ham analogue, but lots of
people are using few channels, so you have fewer options than ham radio.
Portable radios are usually 5 watts, which will give you 1-3 miles in town
without connecting to a rooftop antenna. 50 watt radios and a rooftop
antenna could cover up to 15 miles depending on the terrain.
For usage if the cell network is down, my suggestion is to put a mobile
GMRS 50 watt mobile radio in each vehicle, plus a 50 watt radio stationary
version at home. You can purchase multiples of the same radio and simply
connect the home unit to a dedicated power supply or even disconnect the
car radio when at home and use it as a base station.
If each car in the family has a radio with a suitable antenna mounted
on the roof of the car, talking to a 50 watt station at home with a rooftop
antenna (they sell 6ft tall poles that are unobtrusive) would be a breeze
across a relatively flat suburban city. Each family member could also have a
portable radio (walkie-talkie) with them.
My recommendation is GMRS walkie-talkies for each adult in your
family. You may want spares for friends/relatives who drop in or to give to
a trusted neighbor. For a convoy, handheld radios with replacement
antennas should be sufficient, though any portable unit in a car should be
connected to a magnetic mount antenna on the roof using a cable.
Repeaters are available in many communities. These are privately
owned and operated for the benefit of the public or they may be private
(like a private club). MyGMRS.com has a directory of nationwide
repeaters. Note that many repeater operators require only GMRS specific
radios, and not Baofengs, to use their repeaters, as this is an FCC
requirement.
Operators who have the equipment to analyze your transmission can
see that you are broadcasting improperly. Baofeng radios typically have two
settings for bandwidth; 25 kHz or 12.5 kHz. GMRS is 20 kHz on all but the
FRS shared channels so what the operator sees is a too-wide transmission
bleeding onto other frequencies or an unnecessarily narrow signal. He
should only be seeing 20 kHz wide signals. Again FCC enforcement is rare
and typically the worst thing that happens is an angry old man who owns
the repeater yells at the Baofeng user to get off their repeater.
FRS: Family Radio Service. Basically your license-free cheap blister
pack radio. These share UHF frequencies with GMRS but are more limited
in wattage. FRS and GMRS users can talk to each other legally. Only good
for talking within a few blocks, like one end of the street to the other
mostly. Though the frequencies and possibly the radio would have greater
capabilities, you can’t replace the crappy antenna.
Remember that so-called “privacy” modes are anything but. What
they do is essentially transmit a code so that only you and the other radios
in that same mode can hear each other. Everyone else listening to that
frequency without their own privacy mode activated can still hear you. This
is sort of like yelling across a room at a party in French on the assumption
no one else speaks French. In fact, on any radio frequency, whatever you
say in any mode can be intercepted.

FRS v. GMRS

GMRS radios can be customized with antennas.


GMRS radios can be programmed by the user.
FRS radios cannot use repeaters.
FRS radios are lower-power.
FRS radios are typically sold in bubble packs in stores.

FRS FRS GMRS GMRS


Frequency Channels
power spacing power spacing
462.5625 12.5
1 2W 5W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.5875 12.5
2 2W 5W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.6125 12.5
3 2W 5W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.6375 12.5
4 2W 5W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.6625 12.5
5 2W 5W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.6875 12.5
6 2W 5W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.7125 12.5
7 2W 5W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
467.5625 0.5 12.5 12.5
8 0.5 W
MHz W kHz kHz
467.5875 0.5 12.5 12.5
9 0.5 W
MHz W kHz kHz
467.6125 0.5 12.5 12.5
10 0.5 W
MHz W kHz kHz
467.6375 0.5 12.5 12.5
11 0.5 W
MHz W kHz kHz
467.6625 0.5 12.5 12.5
12 0.5 W
MHz W kHz kHz
467.6875 0.5 12.5 12.5
13 0.5 W
MHz W kHz kHz
467.7125 0.5 12.5 12.5
14 0.5 W
MHz W kHz kHz
462.5500 12.5
15 2W 50 W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.5750 12.5
16 2W 50 W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.6000 12.5
17 2W 50 W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.6250 12.5
18 2W 50 W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.6500 12.5
19 2W 50 W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.6750 12.5
20 2W 50 W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.7000 12.5
21 2W 50 W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
462.7250 12.5
22 2W 50 W 20 kHz
MHz kHz
467.5500 15R — — 50 W 20 kHz
MHz (GMRS)
467.5750 16R
— — 50 W 20 kHz
MHz (GMRS)
467.6000 17R
— — 50 W 20 kHz
MHz (GMRS)
467.6250 18R
— — 50 W 20 kHz
MHz (GMRS)
467.6500 19R
— — 50 W 20 kHz
MHz (GMRS)
467.6750 20R
— — 50 W 20 kHz
MHz (GMRS)
467.7000 21R
— — 50 W 20 kHz
MHz (GMRS)
467.7250 22R
— — 50 W 20 kHz
MHz (GMRS)

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service
Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0

MURS: Multi-Use Radio Service. Think of it as the VHF version of CB


radio; no license is required. These are for personal and business use; for
example Walmart uses proprietary Motorola units in its stores. Power is
limited to 2 watts and legally speaking only specific MURS radios must be
used on these frequencies; programming the freqs into your Baofeng is
technically illegal. Range in most urban conditions is probably 1 mile at
best, but as always, with more wattage, height, and a better antenna, greater
range can be expected if you’re willing to disregard the FCC equipment
regulations.

Note that legally speaking, to use each different service, radios


specific to that service must be used. Just because your Baofeng or a similar
radio can tune in those frequencies does not mean it is legal to use those
channels with a Baofeng. GMRS and FRS share frequencies but have
different power levels (representing what the specific equipment for each
service is capable of). Enforcement is highly unlikely, however.

CB radio: Citizen’s Band radio falls at the high end of the HF


spectrum. Yes, it is the uncool radio that truckers use and is sometimes
filled with trash transmitting garbage. You too can have an ugly antenna
sticking off the side of your station wagon! In all seriousness, CB radio isn’t
that bad, aside from the occasional jerk who likes to swear on it because
they can be fairly anonymous.
Around freeways and Interstates, CB radio will have a lot of traffic from
truckers. Traffic is often restricted to maybe a third of the available
channels. Channel 9 is known as the emergency frequency. Popularity has
declined since the 1970s but a lot of people still have a transceiver around
the house because they are so cheap, which sometimes leads to the abuses
mentioned above.
CBs are right on the border between “long range” HF/High
Frequency and “short range” VHF/Very High Frequency. Maximum legal
wattage is 4 watts, which won’t reach far, but if you buy illegal amplifiers,
you can increase power dramatically to reach across whole counties,
depending on the terrain. Under the right conditions and with the right
equipment, a CB radio base station could reach out around 30 miles or so,
giving you medium range communications without a repeater.
CB can be used while driving during an emergency or not. After all,
most use is on the highway. A few sources recommend it for convoy travel,
although I would say a convoy should be tight enough that a few miles from
a GMRS radio with a rooftop antenna would be fine. CB radios in vehicles
is mainly related to their long use for this purpose when consumer
electronic technology was less advanced. On the other hand, CB may be a
better way to reach people outside your group on the highways because of
this traditional use.
A CB radio base station with a good antenna mounted up high and a
very powerful amplifier would be better as a home base radio. Two homes
using such a setup may be able to communicate up to 30 miles over hilly
(not mountainous) terrain where VHF/UHF radio couldn’t. This would be
as close to HF ham radio communications that the neophyte and unlicensed
user could get to such techniques as NVIS, or Near Vertical Incidence
Skywave, that is possible with ham radio.[1]
CB Channel MHz Preferred usage
1 26.965 Open
2 26.975 Open
3 26.985 Open
4 27.005 Off-roaders
5 27.015 Open
6 27.025 Open
7 27.035 Open
8 27.055 Open
9 27.065 Emergency communications
10 27.075 Popular with regional truckers
11 27.085 Open
12 27.105 Open
13 27.115 Boaters and campers (RVs)
14 27.125 Popular with handheld users
15 27.135 Open
16 27.155 Single-side band (SSB) preferred
17 27.165 Popular with north/south truckers
18 27.175 Open
19 27.185 Popular with east/west truckers
20 27.205 Open
21 27.215 Popular with regional truckers
22 27.225 Open
23 27.255 Open
24 27.235 Open
25 27.245 Open
26 27.265 Open
27 27.275 Open
28 27.285 Open
29 27.295 Open
30 27.305 Open
31 27.315 Open
32 27.325 Open
33 27.335 Open
34 27.345 Open
35 27.355 Open
36 27.365 Single-side band (SSB) preferred
37 27.375 Single-side band (SSB) preferred
38 27.385 SSB and LSB preferred
39 27.395 Single-side band (SSB) preferred
40 27.405 Single-side band (SSB) preferred

Recommendations

I recommend a home GMRS watt base station and at least one car with
a 50 watt mobile radio. This would replace a cell phone when driving
around town when the grid is down. Each family member would have a
GMRS walkie-talkie; the older folks would get the more expensive models
with longer antennas and the kids would get the bubble pack ones when
they go play down the street. To talk to friends or relatives across the
county, this would be done with a CB radio mounted on the house.
GMRS is a great radio to have. Many people will already have FRS
capable radios they bought for one reason or another and cheap multi-packs
are sold in all sorts of stores. Neighbors can use the radios they have on
hand to easily communicate without buying all sorts of expensive stuff.
Your more advanced group might have tricked out GMRS radios but can
still communicate with locals who don’t have what you do or are less
interested.
Here I will mention that I don’t recommend things like digital radio
(and ignore a lot of those solutions) because it takes someone who is
interested and technologically savvy to implement a neighborhood-wide
digital solution. I intend my work for people who are organizing at the last
minute and have average technical skills, interests, and middle-class
financial resources. If you have the aptitude and interest, there are amazing
things that can be done.

What is ham radio?

“Ham” radio is properly known as the Amateur Radio Service and is


licensed by the FCC. If you would like greater flexibility and the benefits of
better radios and frequency choices than the unlicensed options above,
pursue your amateur license. To obtain an amateur operator license you
must pass a test and pay a $35 application fee. Morse code is not required
any longer. The tests are put on by many ham radio organizations around
the country on a regular basis. There is one near you, wherever you live. If
you just want the license, studying to the test is enough to pass.
Ham radio is divided into three license grades: Technician, General,
and Amateur Extra. Technician is the easiest level to achieve and gives you
access to VHF and UHF bands. The main advantage over just using GMRS
with its no-test license is that ham radios allow you more power, more
features in the radio, additional bands, and better ability to attach
peripherals like microphones, antennas, and accessories.
The material for a Technician license isn’t overly complicated and
study guides provide a good introduction to the test material. I recommend
going for a General license to obtain an additional range of
frequencies/bands you can use.
Studying for the test can be done by simply memorizing the
question pool. Again, knowledge of Morse code is no longer required.
Don’t let the study material and test throw you off. Seriously; start
memorizing the test questions and answers. Very little actual technical
knowledge is required when using the radios or to pass the test. Do not
worry about the technical end; you can Google technical questions you are
curious about. Once you pass, for most entry-level radio usage the
knowledge to properly utilize the equipment is practical versus technical.
For virtually most things average people want to do with a ham
radio can be done by persons with simple technical knowledge. If you can
hook up your TV and if you could program a VCR, you can figure out ham
radios. A lot of the programming software is basically a spreadsheet with
drop down options. For Baofengs in particular, to get past the confusing and
intimidating buttons on the front, I recommend using CHIRP software.
Other manufacturers have similar programs available.
The general knowledge about how radio waves and antennas work
is easy enough to learn from simple introductory books (“Dummies Guide”)
and YouTube videos. While knowing this stuff is great, remember that cops
with no knowledge of the science talk on radios all day, everyday.
Brushbeater.org hosts classes specifically geared to SHTF to take you from
zero to hero on basic to advanced radio techniques if you want to learn
practical skills in a hands-on environment.

Example CHIRP channel plan.

Why get a ham license?

“In SHTF, I will just transmit without a license,” many say. I


partially agree, and I have a license. No one will stop anyone and we each
will have bigger problems than worrying about the FCC. I personally don’t
want to be broadcasting my call sign for the bad guys to hear and find out
who I am and where I live. That’s great for me because I have a license now
and can practice legally and I have years of experience using a mobile VHF
radio.
Obtaining a ham license is a positive because:

It allows you to practice legally now.


It allows you to legally use your radio in situations that are less
than WROL/SHTF.
If the FCC does engage in targeted prosecution of unlicensed
operators, you won’t get in trouble.
With the right equipment and learned experience, it will be your
only form of non-phone or Internet communication for long
distances (greater than 30 miles).
Restricting yourself to CB/GMRS may cause you to limit yourself
to those bands and equipment, hindering any switch to other
bands later due to lack of experience/complacency.

If you don’t get a license, there are always the unlicensed options but
be aware that the frequencies will probably be clogged with traffic from
other unlicensed users. Ham radio gives you more frequencies and a more
professional experience.
Let’s be honest. Anything with a low barrier to entry suffers the tragedy
of the commons, which is the more accessible something is, the more likely
it is to attract careless users who degrade that common space. We see this in
jerks on CB radio who like swearing and starting fights. The testing and
license requirement tends to filter out a lot of these toads from ham bands
and the variety in available bands also gives a ham the ability to simply
switch to less common bands or modes.
Another reason to obtain a license is to show the FCC that people
still use the Amateur Service. With the baby boomers dying off, ham radio’s
popularity is declining. That changed a bit when the prepper movement got
into it. We as the public need to demonstrate to the government that we are
interested in such programs and use them. Also frequencies that the FCC
would claim as “underutilized” and sell off to telecom companies need to be
used. So get your license if only to thumb your nose at bureaucrats who
might otherwise consider getting rid of the service!
If you just won’t get a ham license for whatever reason, at least get a
GMRS radio. The license is easy to get and many of the capabilities are
similar to what you can get for ham UHF, except with lesser channels.
Ham radio and licensing should be made a priority by someone who
wants robust radio communications and especially for long distance. As you
gain knowledge and experience, your capabilities will increase. Having that
license and contacts within the local ham community or clubs will give you
access to a wealth of people who love to teach and show off their gear.
Using the radio
Radios shouldn’t be intimidating. I understand that many of the
introductory videos are very poorly done and the information is presented
like drinking from a firehose. Websites aren’t much better as someone who
can’t teach, but is knowledgeable on the subject, vomit everything they
know in an inaccessible manner, or hasn’t updated their website since 2001.
Using a radio is not hard. You push the button and talk. Let go of the
button when you are done talking. Most people get the hang of this.
Figuring out what all the buttons, knobs, and switches do is more
problematic, but not impossible. Actually programming the radio is the
really hard part but not as difficult as you might think. Pro tip: get a
programming cable and download the software package to program it over
the computer. If you can program a VCR or use Microsoft Excel, you can
program a radio.
Programming many GRMS/FRS/MURS radios is unnecessary. You can
configure the channels, depending on the radio’s features, to display
different channel names as a memory aid or to plug in repeaters. Ham radio
programming is more complicated. There are not designated channels pre-
programmed into each radio. You can look up your local ham radio
coordinator’s band plan and create channels based off of that.
For instance, you may add the UHF calling channel (446.000 MHz) and
several other frequencies that aren’t being used by repeaters. You would
also want to put in several of the local, open repeaters that you want to
have. If you are going the ham radio route, I would recommend contacting
your local ham radio club and asking for help getting started creating your
own channel list. My group and I have our own personalized list based on
our geographic location and particular needs.

Talking

Think first, then talk. No one needs to hear silence while you key
the mic and think about what you want to say or listen to “um, gee…” If
you need more time to respond to someone, ask them to standby so others
can transmit.
Unless you are using an external microphone, shove your face into
the HT when transmitting. The body mounted mics are not great and need
to be close to your mouth for best performance, especially on Baofengs.
Just keep it far enough away that you aren’t spitting on it.
Be aware of your microphone button, especially if it is a remote mic.
Open mics, hot mics, or stuck microphones are all names for a
condition when the transmit button is depressed but no intentional
transmission is being made. This is really annoying to listen to and
potentially embarrassing when people hear what you are saying off-air.
Additionally, this can cover up actual radio traffic. So pay attention to
where the mic is and that nothing is inadvertently pushing the button; you
probably won’t notice it until you shift just enough for the button to be
released.
Don’t be the guy who narrates everything that he is doing. Keep
transmissions as brief as possible. Don’t be the old boomer ham operators
that talk nonstop without breaking for other people to talk. If you attempt to
transmit while someone else is transmitting, the effect is like jamming. A
buzz called a heterodyne will be heard as the signals try to cancel each
other out. You can only talk and be heard when no one else is talking.
Procedure:

1. Think about what you are going to say. Repeat it in your head if
you have to.
2. Make sure the radio is on and tuned to the proper
channel/frequency. Listen briefly before you talk to avoid
interrupting a conversation in progress or “covering” someone
who is already talking. If you have an emergency, you can
transmit at the first break.
3. Key the mic briefly before you start talking to avoid cutting
yourself off. Give the name of the station you are calling, then
your call sign. If you are Bravo 2: “Alpha 1, Bravo 2, do you
copy?” Be brief. Add “this is” or “calling” if your fellow radio
users are easily confused about who is calling who.
4. Respond. “Alpha 1, affirmative,” would be the above response.
Radio traffic would then proceed.
5. Bravo 2 (you) should confirm that you heard them. “Bravo 2,
copy/roger.” If traffic is concluded, say “out/over” as appropriate.
When talking, attempt to stay calm. You may be using your radio in
exciting circumstances. Once I hit the high pitches of a pre-pubescent boy
when I realized, mid-sentence, I was wet and standing in a path of water to
arcing electrical lines. Realizing you’re about to be electrocuted will really
make you nervous. A panicked voice can be hard to understand as the pitch
goes up and the words ramble out fast and slur together.
RSVP—Rhythm, Speed, Volume and Pitch—is the key to clear
communication.
Rhythm: talk normally as you would face to face. Don’t sound like a
robot.
Speed: speak slowly enough that you can be clearly understood which
is slightly slower than when face-to-face. If someone is taking down
information or you need to be precise, pause slightly between individual
letters/numbers/words.
Volume: use a normal voice. Don’t shout or whisper. Move your face
closer to the microphone if you need to speak more quietly or need to get
louder.
Pitch: as in the above anecdote, try not to go from a tenor to a soprano.

Prowords and codes

Avoid special codes as much as possible. The layman won’t know it and
will struggle with even basic prowords and the phonetic alphabet. Side
note: If you don’t know the NATO phonetic alphabet, it’s time to learn. If
you are going, “Uh, A for um, apple,” you will sound like a dork.
A proword (procedure word) is radio short hand, like a code. These
are easy to understand and say. Those with experience with military/LE
radio know that certain prowords really grab attention. While in your circle
you may want to use ten codes, military radio parlance, or something else,
here are some very common prowords.

MAYDAY: life threatening emergency. Self-explanatory. “Help” can be


confusing because other radio users might be using it and it is also a word
that is used in normal conversation.

BREAK: used before urgent/emergency traffic or during a long


transmission. If you’re blah blah blahing, pause for approximately 5
seconds to allow anyone with urgent/emergency traffic/questions to
transmit before you start monologuing again.

EMERGENCY TRAFFIC: used to gain priority on the channel for


emergency traffic OR by the dispatcher to limit traffic to those parties
involved in the emergency.
Example 1: Dick and Harry are talking about the sunset when
Barbie sees the mob with pitchforks and torches rounding the corner.
"EMERGENCY TRAFFIC; approximately 30 males armed with pointy
sticks and burning things, marching up Wacker Drive from Ventura Blvd. I
need backup at Barbie’s house."
Example 2: Dick just got shot and puts out a MAYDAY. The net
controller takes control of the frequency by announcing EMERGENCY
TRAFFIC ONLY and relays the mayday call. Only necessary traffic to
manage the emergency is passed. If you are not involved, stay off the air.
This example is similar to “seelonce” in air traffic parlance and
“Code Red” or “10-33” in police codes. Radioing “emergency traffic” over
even open frequencies will serve as a warning to (hopefully respectful)
other parties on the frequency to keep quiet. If friendly parties are listening,
it may also get their attention to come help.

ROGER: message received (alternatively "copy", but 10-4 should be


avoided; you're not cops or truckers).

OVER: message finished ("over to you"). Not strictly necessary to end


every transmission; with good radios and reception you can usually
understand when someone is finished talking.

OUT: conversation over. This is like hanging up the phone; it implies


anything transmitted after may not be heard. Note that "over and out" is
redundant.

WILCO: will comply or “I will do that.” Combines “roger,” so “Roger,


WILCO,” is unnecessary.

AFFIRMATIVE/AFFIRM: yes. "Roger" and "copy" DO NOT mean


"yes" so don't use it that way. 10-4 does not mean affirmative, although
most people will understand it in context if you misuse it for “yes.”
NEGATIVE: no.

"SAY AGAIN" is better than "repeat." "Say again? Unreadable," is a


lot shorter than "repeat what you just said, I didn't catch that. Your signal
was crap." Repeat in military radio context means to fire the artillery again.
None of us have artillery...yet...so nothing bad will happen if you say
repeat.

How to pass traffic/info

The point here is to make your traffic concise and informative,


rather than a rambling waste of airtime or having others pull information
out of you. This is not a list of how/what to say, but a way of thinking on
how to phrase your traffic so you don't sound like an idiot. The point is to
give out information quickly without having the entire team play 20
questions to figure out what’s going on and what needs to happen.

Good: "Team, Bravo 1. Emergency traffic. Six armed bad guys with
ARs taking cover on the northwest corner! I need three guys."
Bad: "Guys!? Hey guys!? Are you listening? They're here. We're all
gonna die! They got guns and they're over by me. There’s a bunch of them!
Somebody do something!”

The former example identifies who is calling, what is going on and the
help needed, and where it is happening. The second example tells you
nothing, except something bad is happening and maybe someone
recognizes the voice. Two more good examples are:

Example: "Zombie horde advancing, Weiner Street from Brown Star


Park. I need Rambo and John Wayne."
Example: "Burglary, my house on Fake Street. Two white guys,
wearing black and white striped shirts, black masks, carrying sacks with
dollar signs on it. Two pistols seen. Running east on Teton Way."

In describing someone, give as much information as you can.


White/black/Hispanic male/female, clothing, weapons, last known
direction/activity. For vehicle descriptions, remember cymbal; color, year,
make, model/body style, license. "Red, 1980s/old Ford F-150 pickup, CA
license 1-2-3-ALPHA-BRAVO-CHARLIE."
If you want to give a more detailed report of what you saw, think
SALUTE: Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time, and Equipment. "About
200 peaceful protestors burning the capitalism out of Starbucks on the
corner of Moby Ave and Dick Way, mixed BLM/Antifa, last seen five
minutes ago, carrying long-guns, crowbars, and Molotov cocktails."
When it comes to reception issues, avoid saying “5x5” and what not.
Most people don’t know what that means and the gradation system it
represents is too much for your purposes. "Unreadable" and "loud and
clear" are self-explanatory. Describe clarity (static/distortion) and signal
strength (weak, okay, strong/loud). Example: "You're weak with heavy
static."

Sound discipline

Walkie-talkies should have earpieces to minimize the spillover of


radio traffic when outside. If your team’s radios do not have earpieces, as
they probably won’t, sound discipline must be tightly maintained. This
avoids the sound unintentionally alerting someone to your position or
anyone up close enough to hear the transmission from eavesdropping
without their own radio. A static hiss is audible in quiet conditions for a
long way.
One method would be to have a radio set to the lowest volume that
can still be heard from your belt, etc. Everyone transmits just a call sign and
waits for a response to continue. When the first call is heard, everyone with
a radio turns down the volume and puts the speaker to their ear like a phone
so the transmission isn’t loudly broadcast everywhere.
It should go without saying that music needs to be prohibited when
on guard or watch duty. That means no stereos and no earbuds. All attention
needs to be on the situation at hand. Rebroadcasting even police scanner
traffic could cause an issue with interference in acoustic observations. One
person should be dedicated to monitoring scanner traffic or radio traffic. A
dedicated radio operator may be desirable if there is a lot of traffic in your
group and action on the street.
Equipment
What radio should I buy?

I’m not going to make much in the way of specific radio


recommendations. Find what works for you from a functionality and price
standpoint. Personally, I use Baofengs and Anytones for VHF/UHF ham
traffic and Woxun KG-805G for GMRS. For the more advanced stuff, do
your own homework. A 50 watt VHF/UHF base station is great at home
and in the car. For power, 5 watts for a portable radio is fine.
Let’s be honest: Baofengs are incredibly cheap, entry level radios
for hams. They are perfectly adequate for most purposes but suffer from the
limitations of being a cheap radio. The most important thing to note is that
programming them manually is a pain in the butt. The specific keypad
commands to perform basic functions is like entering a secret code to
access a Marvel villain’s lair.
For not much more money, better radios that are more user friendly
can be had. Like choosing a gun, everyone is going to have different needs
and wants. I personally like using a radio that all I have to do is push the
channel buttons up and down to change frequencies. I’m looking for the
ease of use that police Motorola radios have.
Baofengs, besides their affordability, have the added advantage of
accessing frequencies outside of the ham bands. This is technically illegal
and the FCC ordered Baofeng to delete this ability on radios currently being
sold. Models sold before September 2019 should have no trouble
transmitting out of band. Newer models have a work around that will enable
one to use the “deleted” frequencies, so Google it. Note that transmitting on
unapproved frequencies is technically illegal.
Frankly, this ability to utilize wide swaths of the VHF/UHF
spectrum is why one should have a couple Baofengs put away even if you
use a better radio. Let’s say that ham frequencies are being jammed or
monitored by bad guys. With a Baofeng that can transmit on what was
formerly some farm’s private business frequency, you can move away from
the contested channels. In this sense, you are hiding in plain sight.
Antennas

Most portable radios will come with a cheap, six to nine inch “rubber
duck” antenna, their length often 1/8th of the frequency at that wavelength.
This should be immediately replaced with a longer antenna. For common
VHF/UHF radios, this will be around a 19” antenna. Flexible and folding
antennas exist for easy storage, mounting in a belt holster, or on load
bearing equipment.
When using common handheld radios (handheld transceiver, or HTs,
also known as “handy/walkie-talkies”) hold the radio with the antenna in
the vertical. This applies to your 2m/70cm ham radios, GMRS radios, and
most consumer two-way hand-held radios (which will be FM transmitters).
Do not angle the antenna back as feels natural (or you see everyone on TV
do) as this will reduce its effectiveness by half. Turning it horizontal will be
even more detrimental to your signal. Keep the antenna pointed straight up
by talking into the microphone as it is held right in front of your face.
To properly use these radios and antennas, they need to utilize a
ground plane. This is why antenna angle is important. Think of the ground
plane as a giant reflector of radio signals. The signals are radiated from the
antenna in roughly all directions. This “sphere” of radio waves does much
better if it can “bounce” off the ground plane and up into the air.
Vehicle mounted radios often have their antennas mounted on the
roof or trunk because the metal enhances this effect; even a baking sheet at
home can help. In your hand, your palm is acting as an indirect ground
plane (a weak one). In handheld fashion, the ground plane can be improved
by creating what’s known as a “rat tail” or counterpoise to make a dipole
antenna which is more efficient.
A rat tail is a piece of small gauge wire (22 gauge and higher on the
number line) looped around the threads of the antenna base where it screws
into the radio. This will be cut to a length of your antenna multiplied by
1.05, plus an inch to wrap around the threads.
Note that the length of your antenna will not be how long it is, but
how long it should be electrically. Don’t measure the antenna because wire
may be wrapped around the inside beneath the insulation to make it
electrically longer. Look up what wavelength the antenna is, either on the
packaging or the manufacturer’s spec sheet. Yes, the antenna might actually
be physically as long as the actual fraction wavelength it is advertised as,
but don’t take that for granted.
So, if the antenna is a quarter-wave antenna, that is one-fourth of the
wavelength for the frequency band. 2m VHF is 78” or, at one-quarter
wavelength 19.5”; 70cm UHF is 27.5” or, at one-half wavelength, 13.75”.
Using the above examples, the respective VHF rat tail would be cut to 21.5”
and the UHF cut to 15.5.”[2] A little extra is fine, but in this case, more is
not better.
The looped end needs to be bare, but the rest can be insulated. Some
operators use crimp-on rings to make better connections than just wrapping
wire. There are a lot of different ways to do it and a little Googling will be a
lot of help to you.
When using your rat tail, the wire should be allowed to hang straight
down from the radio towards the ground when the radio is held in a vertical
orientation. This is a dipole antenna in one of its most basic forms. Because
the rat tail is loose, it can be easily stored in a pouch, pocket, or pack. And
yes, it looks just like a piece of wire dangling from your radio. It’s low tech,
cheap, and it works. You can use it with the cheap basic antenna or use it on
your upgraded quarter or half wave antennas to make them even more
effective.
A vertical antenna allows omnidirectional transmission and
receiving. Vertical means perpendicular to the horizon or pointing straight
up into the sky. Antennas can be held in the horizontal position (parallel to
the ground), like you are pointing it at your intended recipient, to get a
stronger signal and decrease the signal interception area. The standard
single element antenna (one thing sticking out) is not the best for this, but it
can be done.
For this to work, both antennas have to be in the same plane
(horizontal to the ground) and preferably aimed at each other’s direction as
closely as possible. A vertical and horizontal antenna will not be in phase
with each other as their polarities are in different orientations; this is what
makes interception difficult as most antennas are going to be vertical.
A multi-element antenna that looks like an old TV antenna is known
as a Yagi. Yagis work best for horizontally polarized transmissions. Think
of Yagi antennas as arrows that are pointing the signal in a general
direction. It’s not a beam like a laser, but it’s more of an elongated blob
aiming where you want it to go. Some designs can very tightly focus the
signal. For basic radio communication a Yagi is not necessary.
For vehicle usage, get the antenna outside the car. A portable radio
inside the vehicle will be transmitting inside a metal cage that will eat up
some of the signal. I don’t talk on ham radio much while moving so I have
a magnetic mount antenna I can slap on the roof and connect to my radio
via a long cable coming in between the door jam and weatherstripping. For
most purposes, a simple quarter to half wavelength antenna on your roof
will do just fine. CB antennas are longer, about six feet, due to the longer
wavelength of those frequencies. You can mount a larger antenna for better
range and reception if you want.
Radios in rural areas
Radios are more important in a rural area than in an urban one. The
lower density and greater distances mean that it is not practical to send a
runner or easily figure out what’s going on. Neighbors will have to alert
each other and coordinate via radio if cell phones are not viable (and even
then radios are better for urgent situations). Tactical communications are
obvious but ordinary communication and even limited broadcasting will
take the place of what is usually done via texts and social media for general
information exchange.
Vehicle radios would be best for mobile communications as they are
higher wattage units with larger and higher mounted antennas. Higher
mounted antennas in rural areas are more important here due to the greater
distances. I recommend dual-band ham radios or GMRS for any rural
defenders.
CB radio is a second choice because they offer less tactical
accessories and are much larger units than newer tech. Find out what is
common in your community because CB radio may already be in common
use between locals. You may live in a place where CB is only used on
major highways and the other channels are practically empty.
Long distance radio communication will be impossible for most. The
most common types of radios that civilians will be using are VHF/UHF
ham and GMRS radios. Business band radios also fall into this category.
With portable HTs (handheld transceivers) running at about 5 watts and
vehicle radios at 50 watts, communications will be short range. At ground
level, in moderately hilly terrain, expect 1-2 mile range for HTs and about
10 miles for vehicle units.
These radios are all line of sight and terrain dependent. You can get
really lucky and hit someone further away or you might be well within
range and yet blocked by a high bluff or something. VHF/UHF
communications are poor at ground level over large operating areas for
these reasons. Flat terrain will not have the same issues, nor will persons
who have altitude on their side with no obstructions, but in the varied
topography that makes up a lot of the nation, line of sight communication of
more than a few miles will be tough.
I recommend a home GMRS 50 watt base station and at least one
car with a 50 watt mobile radio. This would replace a cell phone when
driving around town when the grid is down. Each family member would
have a GMRS walkie-talkie; the older folks would get the more expensive
models with longer antennas and the kids would get the bubble pack ones
when they go play down the street. To talk to friends or relatives across the
county, this would be done with a CB radio mounted on the house.
Note that in a vehicle, range will rapidly change if one or both of the
stations is moving. For instance, two cars traveling in opposite directions
will be increasing their distance once they pass. Every minute at 60 MPH is
a mile apart, so if both cars are doing that speed, the range increases by two
miles every minute. If you’re talking to a house, the range will fall off as
the car moves away. This is regardless of the band used.
As mentioned in the previous books, CB radio or 10m ham radio is
a more viable alternative for medium distance contacts. The frequency
range (band) that these radios operate in works better over longer distances
and varied terrain. They are not magic and cannot overcome all obstructions
but could reach out 20-30 miles with the right antenna, a powerful base
unit, and cooperative geography. A drawback is that to get this kind of
range the radio must be vehicle mounted or in a home base unit.
You don’t need a big, ugly tower in your backyard to get good
reception. On the home, to complement the 50 watt VHF or UHF base
station you have, get a half-wavelength (for 2m VHF) antenna, which is
about six feet long. Mount this with a lightning arrestor and wire it to the
radio inside the house. A similar setup with a larger antenna can be done for
CB radio. There are plenty of reputable vendors who sell quality, high-gain
antennas you can put up.
These would look like a vertical bare flag pole (but a bit longer).
The higher an antenna is placed, the better reception it will get. I’ve
communicated over a 12-mile radius (roughly 500 square miles) in fairly
level urban terrain using such an antenna with a 50 watt UHF radio.
Don’t worry about cutting cables to length and “tuning” antennas.
You can learn those things easily in classes if you want to. Pro tip: pay
someone for a class instead of trying to figure it out from Internet resources.
Pretty much anything you want to do at the average person level can be
purchased and installed with relative ease. TV antenna installers and
electricians can even help with putting in your antennas to running cables.
Ham hobbyists will actually help out newer hams with installations because
many of them actually enjoying doing such things.

Repeaters
Repeaters are what enable easy communication in bad terrain. I’ve
helped setup repeaters for drug interdiction teams searching the mountains
for hidden marijuana grows that permit the teams to communicate with each
other and dispatch. When officers might be ambushed by automatic rifle
toting cartel guards, being able to call for help and communicate with your
teammates is vital. A portable radio, even a large backpack style radio, just
can’t reach out of the canyons and over the ridgelines.
A repeater is just what it sounds like; it retransmits a signal received on
Frequency A on Frequency B. Placed on high points, these are used to
enable communication in varied topography, across long distances, or in big
cities with lots of buildings. A repeater works in duplex mode where it can
listen and transmit at the same time (using two frequencies). Cellular
networks are a form of repeater technology.
Those with the technical ability, the funds, and most importantly the
terrain can and should consider installing a repeater. Repeaters for ham
bands, business bands, and GMRS frequencies are all available. Currently
FCC licensing is needed, but that is not a particular burden to an
experienced radio hobbyist. There will always be someone who can help
get one set up if you get involved with the local amateur radio community.
What precludes a lot of repeater installations is real estate. Repeater and
antenna locations on mountain peaks can be quite lucrative. This puts a lot
of repeaters beyond the financial reach of most people because they can’t
afford the land or the lease for space on an existing tower. Now if you have
land on hilly terrain, own a small hilltop or peak, or even have something
like a silo, you can put in a repeater.
Even small repeaters can have great effects on local communications.
The higher an antenna is, the greater range and propagation the radio or
repeater will get. Economical models with unobtrusive antennas may be
what allows you and your neighbors to effectively radio each other. If you
think a repeater may be beneficial and you have the place for it, connect
with your local ham radio community to see what can be done. Someone
may pay for the equipment, installation, and power just to be allowed to put
one in on your property.
During a large disaster, such as a hurricane, major earthquake, or
Godzilla, repeaters powered by generators or solar power may be your only
way to communicate over medium distances. I would actually endorse
repeaters for disaster communication. However, that all changes when the
world becomes feral. Use of a repeater in a SHTF situation is not always a
viable proposition.
Repeaters transmit over a wide area as part of their purpose. The bigger
the area receiving, the more people who are listening. Additionally, savvy
repeater operators can direction find (DF) your location when using a
repeater. For tactical communications, repeaters should not be used for
these reasons. It’s like switching on a white light on a very dark night and
waving it around. If the zombie apocalypse happens, you’ll want to use as
little power as possible, directional antennas, and the shortest transmissions
possible to avoid interception.

Using a repeater

Three elements are a play with using a repeater, known as frequency,


offset, and tone (FOT). If you can’t hear anyone else respond to you, but
you know someone is listening and you aren’t too far away, one of these
three elements are off.
Repeaters have two frequencies: Frequency A (the transmit or
“send” frequency) on Frequency B (the receive frequency). The transmit
frequency is what you put in your radio to talk on; the input if you will. To
hear what someone says back to you, you must program in the offset or
output of the repeater or else it’s like having a one-way conversation with
your phone speaker muted.
The transmit frequencies are uniformly offset from each other on the
same band, such as 600 kHz for 2m VHF and 5 MHz for GMRS UHF
radios, for example. These offsets are noted as +/-, or above/below the
transmit frequency. Your radio should automatically add or subtract the
offset to get the correct receive frequency.
The repeater’s re-transmission feature is triggered by your radio
sending an inaudible (usually) access tone (like musical notes) that the
receiver catches and activates on the “receive” frequency. With out this
tone, the repeater’s receiver won’t know that the signal it’s getting is
actually intended for it and not just someone else using the frequency
incidentally. We will discuss the most common tone system.
A good example of this is the radio tones in the old TV show
Emergency! The easily recognizable tone for Station 51’s “tone out” is a
specific set of tones that trigger that station’s radio and alarm. By using
such “PL tones,” the radio can be silenced except when the station is called
directly. For repeaters, the tones keep the repeater from activating every
time someone keys a mic on the input frequency.
The basic tonal system is known as CTCSS, or Continuous Tone
Coded Squelch System. “PL tone” is a Motorola trademark for the same
technology but both initialisms mean the same technology. There are 38
possible tones, given in Hertz from 67-254 Hz[3], each repeater with a
different tone and transmit/receiver frequencies. “Open” (to the public)
repeaters publish all this information and private ones don’t, the owners or
clubs only disclosing it to those they choose.
All three elements have to be programmed into a radio in order for it
to successfully use a repeater. Again, the input frequency sends your traffic
to the repeater. The offset frequency allows your radio to hear what other
operators are saying and the tone is a way for the repeater to know it needs
to turn on to repeat the signal it just received.
Distress calls

In a world where phones are down and your neighbors aren’t right next
door, calling for help in an emergency will be difficult. This is partially why
raiders will be drawn to the country; help is long in coming and isolated
properties might be attacked with the aftermath going undiscovered for
days. Even with landline and cellular phones, lines may be cut, signals may
be jammed (a real threat in rural South Africa), and cell towers may be
sabotaged.
A radio plan, not just for ordinary communication and operations
among neighbors, has to be created. Specifically a designated “help”
frequency that anyone can get on and use. This should be monitored 24/7 in
each home and especially by members of your rapid reaction force. Your
911 call will be a “mayday” on the radio help channel. In aviation, this is
known as the “guard” channel or CB channels 9/19 and Marine VHF
Channel 16. For amateur radio, this would be the common calling
channels[4] though local repeaters may be more popular choices for hams.
A “mayday” call consists of starting with the proword “Mayday” three
to six times, followed by the location, nature of emergency, persons in
danger, and help needed. Anyone hearing a mayday should answer the call
(until a more competent authority can take over coordination), record the
information, and either get help started or provide aid themselves.

Distress call procedure

Most normal rules are suspended when sending emergency traffic.


This includes transmitting on unauthorized frequencies, without a license,
or without regard to transmitter power (wattage).
Aircraft have a special distress frequency, known as the “Guard”
frequency, the same as CB channels 9/19 or Marine VHF Channel 16. For
amateur radio, the common calling channel for whichever band can be used
for this purpose and should be monitored in a grid-down scenario. Most
traffic now centers around repeaters but if repeaters go down, these
frequencies should be used to establish contact then move to other
frequencies.
The Wilderness protocol for hams in remote areas is to announce
their presence at the top of the hour, every three hours, from 7 AM to 7 PM.
Ships at sea maintain a silent listening period for distress calls for three
minutes at the top and bottom of every hour. These periods allow persons to
connect with each other when they might not otherwise be listening to the
radio.
The proword for an emergency is “Mayday,” usually repeated three
to six times. Information that follows should be location, nature of
emergency, persons in danger, help needed, and call sign. Remember to
speak slowly enough to be understood. In an emergency situation, you are
likely to talk fast, stumble over words, and speak in a higher pitch than
normal.
If a “mayday” is transmitted:

1. Do not transmit. The mayday/emergency traffic takes precedence


over everything else. Only those transmissions related to resolving the
emergency are permitted. The person in distress has priority over any
helpers.
2. Record the details, either with a recorder or by writing it down. If you
record the audio, write down the information anyway. This includes
call signs, frequencies, locations, the nature of the emergency, and who
is involved.
1. Saving information makes it easier to understand what is
said and pass it on later.
2. Writing down the information allows you to accurately pass
it on and verify information.
3. Written records of the emergency can help rescue efforts or
later investigations.
3. Provide what help you can. If you are in a remote area or if this is
SHTF, there may be no calling 9-1-1. You may be the rescuer or the
only lifeline to someone capable of providing aid. The golden rule
applies here.
1. For many operators, summoning help or coordinating a
response is all that they will be able to do.
2. In a potentially violent environment, be aware that distress
calls could be hoaxes to trap responders.
4. Monitor the frequency until you are no longer able to, someone else
who can handle the emergency assumes control, or the emergency is
over.

A net control station working the emergency can request radio


silence. Example: “All stations [your call sign], emergency traffic this
frequency. Impose radio silence.” Reminders need to be transmitted
periodically. You may wish to give an update to anyone who is listening but
hasn’t heard all the emergency traffic. Once the emergency is over, transmit
something to the effect of: “Emergency radio silence ended. Normal traffic
may resume.” There are no strict guidelines on imposing radio silence or
what needs to be said on the amateur or GMRS bands.

Emergency radio network (Agric-Alert)

Rhodesia’s Bush War of the 1970s saw farm communities ravaged by


communist guerilla attacks. In this rural territory, communication was done
by radio. Agric-Alert was a radio network used by farmers under police
auspices to communicate and coordinate when under attack and responding.
Originally started with cobbled together hardware, it became capable of
indicating when individual stations were calling and sending out an alarm
signal.
Rural defense groups need to utilize a similar system. Law
enforcement uses a pre-recorded broadcast over a portable radio that can be
activated with a panic switch. This is called a VARDA alarm[5]. One use
was at a prosecutor’s home as he took a cartel leader to trial. If there was an
attack on him or his family, a button could be pushed on the machine and a
detective’s pre-recorded message would summon help.
While it would be wonderful to have a little desktop box that can
page selective farms or just the dispatcher, that’s out of the question for the
ad hoc defenses that will spring up. There’s no out-of-the-box solution for
average people at this time. At a minimum, using commonly available
radios you will need:

A shared radio frequency to monitor for calls, “guard” frequency.


Everyone always must have their radio on at an audible volume
24/7 to listen.
A 24/7 dispatcher to monitor the radio.
Social discipline to not misuse the frequency for idle chatter.

A ham radio enthusiast lives in practically every community and they


would be the best resource to create a radio plan. This is a table of
frequencies that everyone uses. Based on the availability of radios and what
people already own, really it is the bands that need decided on. In an SHTF
situation ham or business reserved frequencies could be used without a
license to open up the bandwidth. In reality this looks like “Are we using
VHF/UHF, just one or the other, CB, or GMRS?”
Various brands of radios that can communicate on the same frequencies
will all talk to each other, power and antenna factors aside. A Baofeng will
talk to a Yaesu. Yet while a Baofeng can hear and talk on GMRS
frequencies, the GMRS cannot hear the ham frequencies a Baofeng can
transmit on. And to be honest, most people will be using the ubiquitous
Baofeng UV-5R portable radios.
To make this work, radios will need to be on all the time. The radios
most will have access to are not like cell phones that can be selectively
activated. It would be great if the radio system had a way for everyone to
generate an audible emergency alarm tone, but perhaps a dispatcher with a
base station can do that. Or someone could key the mic next to some cheap
little alarm device that then plays over the air. The idea being if someone
doesn’t hear the mayday call they hear the shrieking coming from the radio.
Everyone must always have their radio on at an audible volume
24/7. The more ears that are listening, the faster word can spread for more
help. This could get pretty annoying at times with always having
background noise that can start chattering any time of the day and night but
it has to be thought of as a TV or talk station on all the time. Lives will
depend on these radios. Volume has to be up loud enough to wake sleepers
or be heard in a normal living arrangement.
To all the hams and cottage industry people out there, how about
creating a Raspberry Pi device that can work with a Baofeng or GMRS
radio to enable selective calling, a push-button duress alarm, and an all-call
system? I’m sure things like this will popup once SHTF happens. There are
other solutions out there for tech savvy hams but they’re not the kind of
plug and play devices that everyone can just buy.
All locals will need to have an agreement not to clutter the guard
frequency with idle conversation. People should have a secondary calling
channel and hail each other on that frequency, not the guard channel. If
someone is burning up the guard channel, other parties need to break in and
tell them to “shut up” if they don’t switch frequencies. This won’t work for
disrespectful outsiders but neighbors can be ostracized for poor radio
discipline.
If you do not have a separate common calling channel (for instance
many homes will have only one radio), any routine calls on the guard
channel should be limited to raising the wanted party and switching to
another channel.
Example: “Gonzalez calling Smith.”
“Smith here.”
“Smith, go to Channel 5 for Gonzalez.”
“Roger, 5, out.”
This is the minimum amount of traffic necessary to facilitate
communication with the other party and get off the guard channel. In
reality, there will probably be several calls until the parties connect or it
may take multiple tries over a period of time before the caller gets the
callee’s attention. After the side conversation is done, both parties switch
back to the guard channel.
Other procedures will have to be implemented, such as:

Morning and evening roll call to make sure no one has been
attacked.
Pre-arranged duress codes to signal a hostage situation.
Arranged communications plans to shift bands/frequencies if
there is jamming.

Dispatcher/control

Unless your radio net consists of a small number of users, you will
need dedicated volunteers to act as dispatchers or net control operators. The
dispatchers can then sound a general alarm over the radio, make calls, or
sound a physical aural alarm. Their duties are very simple:

1. Pass on alarms;
2. Share emergency information;
3. Coordinate the emergency response; and,
4. Tell people who are chattering on the guard frequency to change
channels.

That’s it. The basic skill of being able to pay attention, quickly write
down information, and speak clearly and calmly are good qualifications.
Anyone who can do that can do the job and lots of people are capable. A
pool of volunteers who are scheduled is the best way to avoid fatigue and
burnout; the larger the pool and the shorter the shifts the better.
For major incidents, there should be an experienced and dedicated net
controller. This person should have experience using radios and perhaps
is/was a real dispatcher at one point in their life. An experienced amateur
operator (ham) is another good choice. They need to be able to do more
than just pass information but think on their feet and perhaps even battle
track a little. This person could also be the battle coordinator.
Dedicated net control will keep track of unit movements, assignments,
and needs. They can then allocate resources based on this information. By
listening to the radio traffic, scanner feeds, and utilizing other information,
they can paint an intelligence big picture that the guys in the fight may not
have time to do.
As for alerting others, this can be done via broadcasting alarm tones or
repeating the mayday call until enough responders hear what’s going on.
The muster calls, in addition to being over the radio, could be using the
local volunteer firefighter/tornado siren or someone could install something
similar. Range of an outdoor alarm would be limited to just a few miles in a
noisy environment, however.
Phone calls should utilize a phone tree as long as the telephone
system is working. For instance, the dispatcher calls two specific people,
like patrol leaders. Those leaders each call two designated people and the
two people they call ring up two more people that they’ve been assigned to
call. This way, the dispatcher doesn’t need to call each person individually
and the word can spread fast.
Scanners and just listening
The vast majority of your radio use should be listening and not talking.
Listening gives you information and denies it to the enemy. If you speak,
you can not only give away what you are doing, but your identity and
location. Two-way radios can monitor traffic, and it is perfectly legal to
own a ham-band capable radio to just listen, but radio scanners are better
tools for listening only.
Scanners are excellent tools for information and intelligence.
Scanners are simply a radio receiver and memory bank that rapidly tunes to
potentially thousands of channels in a matter of seconds. Most decent
models can get everything from public safety, aviation, marine, unencrypted
military, business, amateur (ham), and personal use radio traffic. Get a
scanner, learn the lingo of what you’re listening to, and monitor it to know
what is going on.
Never rely on online streaming services; I don’t care how easy or
comprehensive the Broadcastify app on your phone is. The feed is often
delayed, seldom covers anything other than main dispatch channels, and is
totally under the control of the service and the streamer. In a major
catastrophe, the electricity, Internet, and cell service may be down at both
ends. Be able to listen using your own resources.
When buying a scanner, options can be overwhelming. One easy
option is pre-programmed models like the Uniden Home Patrol series.
These scanners are preloaded with frequencies and can also be edited to
create custom lists on your computer. They are expensive but are easy to
use without compromising on features. Simple scanners that take direct
entry are available cheaply, but these come with very limited features, a
narrow range of channels you can save, and can’t capture all radio
transmissions.
Know what kind of radios are used by the emergency services in
your area or you might have a dead scanner. Conventional analog (simplex)
radio is what most people are familiar with; you hear what is transmitted on
the frequency you’ve dialed in. On a scanner, the frequency can be directly
entered and signals received. These systems are common in smaller and
rural communities.
Trunked radio systems are much more complicated and requires a
trunking scanner. These systems share a set of frequencies, but instead of
transmitting on a dedicated frequency, a controller only sends the traffic to
radios tuned to receive specific traffic (called “talk groups”). Skipping the
detailed explanation, one has to program in the control frequencies for a
trunked network and the individual talk groups. Programming is more
complicated because the control frequencies and the talk groups must be
input.
Trunking is why older scanners don’t work with modern systems,
but this doesn’t mean that the radio traffic is encrypted. LAPD uses a
trunked system that is unencrypted. Nevada state agencies, for example, are
on trunked systems, but among those, only Las Vegas Metro Police have
encrypted radio. In another example, St. Louis Police is part of the Missouri
Statewide Wireless Interoperable Network, also unencrypted. Check what
your local agencies use.
One thing to keep in mind when monitoring trunked systems is that
the voice traffic sounds unnatural. It sounds “digital” and “choppy.” If
you’ve listened to online streams, you probably know what I’m talking
about. This has to do with the fact that consumer scanners aren’t often
included with the same technology and antennas to properly receive the
signals in the same quality very expensive public safety radios can.
Unfortunately for the civilian listener, traffic can be garbled, part of the
transmission can be missed, and the lack of detail tends to drop out
important contextual cues like background noises or tone of voice.
Have a hardcopy of all the frequencies you want to monitor along with
the hardcopy instruction manual of your scanner. You can’t get online to
RadioReference.com if the world has ended or the power is out. In fact,
program your scanner now and listen.
I prefer to have pre-set groups of frequencies I want to check. For
instance, for SHTF intelligence I have a list of frequencies that average
people (or bad guys) might be using. The typical radios someone will use in
an SHTF situation will be those that are readily available, meaning
GMRS/FRS, CB, business/MURS, and dual-band Baofeng type radios.
Most criminals are lazy and unsophisticated; they will use what they have
access to and aren’t going to be running some sort of high-tech digital or
encrypted radio but whatever they bought cheaply or more likely stole.
I don’t put much stock in the “Close Call” features that pickup
nearby radio transmissions. In practice, these pickup far too much traffic
and are often inundated on each “sweep” of the frequencies by digital data
when scanning ham bands. I don’t want to check thousands of frequencies
and get a lot of false positives. By scanning the frequencies bad guys are
most likely to be using, I can hear if the neighborhood group in the
development across the arroyo is getting attacked or if a gang is
coordinating a raid.
With an off-the-shelf scanner, I’m using a dinky little rubber ducky
antenna and most likely so is whoever I’m trying to listen to. Transmissions
far away aren’t going to be received if they have a weak signal, so by the
nature of the equipment they are likely to be using, I’m going to probably
only pick up close transmissions anyway. Remember to replace that cheap,
short “rubber ducky” antenna on your radios and scanners with taller, high
gain ones for better range and reception. For tactical use, folding flexible
antennas exist that fit scanners just like your portable HT.

Should I get a radio scanner?

Yes, however you many need to learn the local radio codes, call
signs, and assignments for your emergency services in order to understand
them for monitoring to be useful. Some agencies encrypt their radio traffic
so you may not have access to local fire/police/EMS radio. The utility of
the scanner will depend on the amount of traffic in your area, your ability to
tune the thing to find relevant traffic, and your ability to actually listen and
understand what is being said, both by professional and civilian users.
For the average person who may not understand how to program a
trunking scanner and/or has no familiarity with radio brevity codes, a
scanner may not help much. If you do not have the interest or aptitude to
learn how to use a scanner and learn the “language” of police and fire, a
scanner may not be of much use to you.
Police in particular now are using encrypted radios that you cannot
listen to. You would only receive static or noise if you tuned in. Trunked
radio systems are not encrypted but require a knowledgeable user to
program in the frequencies and talk groups from a database. This is far
more complicated than just punching the six digit frequency into the front
end of a classic Radio Shack scanner. So traffic volume, the ability to
receive that traffic, and the capabilities of the equipment you have or can
afford all must be considered.
While ten codes and other brevity codes can be looked up online, it
takes a practiced ear to hear the traffic and understand it. You may not have
a clear understanding of the call signs, their duties, or geographical
assignments. Often unless you hear a call dispatched, you will not know
what is going on as the units respond. Turning on the radio once you hear
sirens is usually too late.
The same thing goes for listening to bad guys; do you know what
bands to listen to based on what kind of radios they might be using? Do you
have any idea what their verbiage may sound like. A “close call” feature
might alert if someone transmits nearby, but unless you have the ability to
triangulate the signal or analyze what they’re saying, the capability may be
overrated.
For all of these reasons, I recommend finding someone who is
already a ham radio or scanner enthusiast and using them to provide
COMINT (communications intelligence). This person should be able to
handle radio programming and understand what’s going on. Many large
communities have social media accounts by such people who provide
timely information to the public. Check your neighborhood or preparedness
group for your radio operator.

Your radio shack for interception and intelligence

Radio traffic interception will be the bulk, if not the entirety, of your
SIGINT (signals intelligence)[6] and COMINT duties. You’ll do this by
scanning radio frequencies or sweeping whole bands. I recommend having
multiple scanners for this, 2-3. It’s very difficult for a person to pay
attention to three sources of information at a time and what I consider the
maximum aural attention span for an average person. If you have the skills,
a device like a Software Defined Radio (SDR) or Hack RF One could be
used.
A tape/digital recorder can be used, set to the VOX or voice-activated
setting, to record only voice traffic for later review. This will not get you
real time intelligence but the recording can be analyzed later. VOX modes
will also condense the recording to only transmissions without extensive
dead air.
Normal times

In normal situations, monitoring only or primarily law enforcement


and emergency radio is good enough for general situational awareness.
During the 2020 riots, I had a scanner listening to local police. I heard the
marches and the police traffic of not only the location, but the behavior of
the crowd. Had things gotten violent and moved towards my location, I
would have become more concerned and considered broadening my
listening profile.
Monitoring the “easy” frequencies (see below) If riots, protests, or
other sportiness kick off nearby, I would start adding these in as incidents
begin to develop hyper-locally. Remember that probably only organized
groups of professional agitators or really bad people are going to be using
the “easy” radios. Groups of random looters, rioters, and young
troublemakers will communicate via cellphone and apps if at all.
Here's the thing; short of large Antifa rallies, political violence, or
organized banditry, radio communication between bad guys is not going to
be a thing. Your average thug who wants to tag up a wall and steal a pair of
Nikes isn’t going to own, let alone know how to use, a Baofeng. This is a
little different if you have a townhouse a few blocks away from an Antifa
besieged federal courthouse or rural America starts to look like Rhodesia.
Next, we’ll be talking about scanning whole swaths of allocated
frequencies, or bands, for when we don’t know what frequencies will be in
use.

SHTF

When you have nearby bad guys coordinating via radio, it’s time to
make the primary emphasis of your radio interception their traffic. You
want to know what the bad guys (or other defenders) are doing and where,
not what the police are doing or how they plan on reacting. Heck, the police
might not even be functional and your safety could be all up to you.
The primary frequencies your scanners should be checking are: 1.
GMRS, FRS, and MURS; 2, 70cm/2m ham; 3, CB radio. These are all the
easiest and cheapest radios to get and the most likely frequencies that bad
guys will be using to communicate on. Next, scan outside the approved
bands on the frequencies Baofengs are capable of using (136-174 MHz and
400-480 MHz). As I discuss elsewhere, traffic can be “hidden” by using
non-standard frequencies illegally because it’s less-likely anyone is
listening. Next I would consider adding in other radios people might be
using surreptitiously, like marine UHF.
Military traffic can be a source of some intelligence. The military
will encrypt anything but the most boring, least important traffic. I would
not put it past a savvy psychological operations officer to deliberately
transmit false information in the clear to trick guerillas or insurgents into
action. For defensive purposes, you might be able to pick up on basic
movements in your area, like motor pool or maybe arrangements for food
distribution.
When you determine a frequency is being used, set a dedicated
scanner to that frequency to monitor it. Scanner cycles can be several
seconds long and might miss a very short transmission of a second or two,
like “Execute!” or “Go! Go! Go!” that might be important to hear. You’ll
want a faster scan time that can pick up short, but vitally important,
transmissions.
COMSEC; Communication Security
Privacy and discretion

The majority of your radio usage, especially in an emergency, should be


monitoring the radio. Just like you listen to talk or news radio and
eavesdrop on conversations to get information, you will do the same with
your radios and scanners. Many people who do not understand there is no
privacy on the radio will be broadcasting all sorts of information. Listen and
learn. This is known as COMINT, for Communications Intelligence.
Unless you have a business that is licensed to have encrypted radios,
any radio traffic you send will be able to be intercepted. This goes for ham
radio, GMRS/FRS, and CB radio. Privacy codes? Forget it. All those do is
tune your radio to ignore other traffic on the same frequency. Anyone with a
decent scanner or those privacy codes turned off can hear you.
Call signs are publicly available information; you can look up
anyone in the FCC database and see who they are and where they live. Be
sure to register your call sign to a PO box so no one can easily tell that
WANK247 lives at 742 Evergreen Terrace.
Radios should be kept at the lowest volume to still hear them
without being so loud others can hear. Ideally, you should be using a
headset or earpiece so nothing is overheard. Most likely, your devices will
be handheld radios with no advanced features. Again, keep the volume low
and clip them someplace on your vest or jacket close to your ear if you can.
To limit interception, keep the radio turned to the lowest power
(transmitter wattage) possible to accomplish what you need. You need but
half a watt to reach the end of the street instead of blasting 5-8 watts all
over the town. Keep transmissions as short as possible using brevity codes,
nicknames, etc. The longer you transmit, the easier it is for someone to
home in on your signal and locate you (if they have that kind of equipment).
And the more you talk, the more info they get to fill in the blanks in their
intelligence about you.
Remember that you can legally transmit on any frequency to summon
help (or provide assistance) even without a license.[7]
Encryption/deceptive messages

Federal regulations prohibit: "communications intended to facilitate


a criminal act; messages encoded for the purpose of obscuring their
meaning, except as otherwise provided herein; [...] or false or deceptive
messages, signals or identification." 47 CFR § 97.113(a)(4)
Using encryption is a sticky subject and some feel that means that
private codes are a no-no. To some, that means everything must be easily
understood by a listener. I think that’s a little pedantic. I would say that
anything that is encoded specifically to deceive or hide the meaning would
be illegal encryption. Read up and decide for yourself.
Encoding, like digital signals, are not encryption. Anyone with the
equipment and knowledge can decode the signals. Encryption is referring to
using ciphers or scrambled communications. Legally speaking, you cannot
pass traffic that is a private code, in a cipher, or using digital encryption
devices like military and law enforcement uses.
You can’t use scrambler-like encryption to turn your radio traffic to
static on the public airwaves. If you want to do that, you need to be a
business and get a specific license for that. Digital modes make interception
harder but not impossible; you have to be able to decode the transmission
which many lower-level radios won’t do. Antifa on the street with a scanner
or Baofeng might hear your voice transmissions but will only get digital
noise on their cheap radios.
Actual encrypted radios are expensive and as I said above require
special licensing. That’s not going to happen for pretty much everybody.
You will not be like the military where all someone tuning into their
frequency can hear is incomprehensible digital noise. To prevent bad guys
from understanding what you are saying, that leaves verbal codes.
Codes are things like Morse and ten-codes. These are fairly commonly
known and are not secret. Those are not illegal, although you’d be
considered weird if you start using police ten codes on ham radio. Ten
codes are a CB radio thing and hams snobbishly look down on using ten
codes instead of ham radio’s own vernacular.
What is illegal is making up your own code to keep the nature of the
message secret. Things like “We’re A4 and Z27,” to mean “enroute” and
“no one is following us” would be in violation because only the in group
would know. Plain speech is what the regulations are and what the users
want. Use that as much as possible unless your life or safety is in danger.
Then, do what you need to do understanding the repercussions. If you
switch to an inside code, understand that will perk up ears and may upset
some operators.
What exactly constitutes a “code” is not really clear. Is in-group slang a
code? How about nicknames? Good thing enforcement is practically zero or
every time I use my friend’s nicknames on the radio I might get busted.
Passing a cipher is plainly illegal. A cipher would be passing along a secret
coded message. Such as, “Message follows: A-4-D-3-D break. D-3-9-0-S
break.”

High technology won’t save you

Technology has given us tremendous advantages in processing data and


making everything we do easier. There are several apps for cell phones that
act as tracking and coordination devices for tactical type teams. The
military calls them “blue force trackers” and they are basically a map with
the location of your friendly units. These apps enable communication,
sending intelligence, storing maps, and assisting in navigation. For
civilians, this is something that was impossible to get prior to smartphones.
These are a major bad idea for any civilian trying to coordinate a
defense or something. Anyone who can hack your phone will know where
you are. Gangbangers and looting gangs not so much, but the would-be
militia types facing off against the military, UN troops, or Chinese marines
are gonna die. Entrusting your life to a third-party, who may be hacked or
compromised, is a terrible idea. If these apps are broken, your enemy knows
where you are, who is with you, and what you’re up to.
In Ukraine, Russia was able to triangulate artillery troops because they
were using a cell phone app to calculate their shots. Militaries spend a lot of
money developing electronic tools that are very difficult to detect and hack,
let alone electronically eavesdrop on specifically so the enemy can’t do
what Russia did. The soldiers got lazy and died for it.
Second, even if there is no government or foreign military trying to kill
you, these apps are totally reliant on third-parties to work. Namely,
functioning cell phone towers and GPS. In any war with a major military
(China or Russia), these systems will go down or have major reliability
issues. Heaven forbid an EMP occurs or something to take out those
systems. If you’re lucky, you’ll have downloaded maps on your phone, but
at that point why not have paper which doesn’t need charging?
Remember, your phone navigates via GPS and cell tower triangulation.
It downloads maps using Internet data via the cellular signal. Excluding
Bluetooth or near-field communication, your phone does not operate like a
two-way radio in close proximity to other phones. In a civil war, you’re
handing the government a win as the Taliban did with their satellite phone
calls to each other.
I have to say that the problem with many of these apps is that they are
“turnkey” solutions. That makes them attractive to the average person who
wants the advantage and solutions they provide, but without the technical
knowledge to create something similar. There are other devices and
solutions that do something similar but aren’t dependent on cellular
networks, Internet data, and GPS. Communication is achieved via radio.
These do require electrical, computer, and ham radio skills, however, so if
you don’t like the idea of homebrewing and tweaking programs and
electronics, they may not be for you.

Cell phones

Do not rely on cell phones. Cell networks can be easily overloaded


in large emergencies. Anyone in earthquake country can tell you even the
old phone system was overloaded after a quake. You picked up and waited
for a dial tone. Crowded areas often get very poor cell reception because
there is too much traffic for the node to handle. In an insurrection or major
social upheaval of some sort, cell towers may be shut down entirely.
A disaster may render the cellular network impotent, such as if the
backup generators eventually run out of fuel. A major regional disaster
coupled with a fuel shortage may cause this. A war with China or Russia
would also probably see major infrastructure hacking and even damage to
the GPS system or satellite communications, which would wreck cell
towers’ ability to connect with one another. Sat phones aren’t an answer
either; just imagine a war where satellites are deliberately targeted.
Your cell phone is basically a tracking device that you willingly
carry in your pocket. The systems in place are capable of revealing your
location within ten feet (that’s how 9-1-1 finds your location on cell phones
if you don’t know where you are). Even with degradation, one hundred feet
to one hundred yards is very common. So don’t think that a dedicated
enemy with the resources to do so can’t find you easily by your cell phone
signal.
Cell phones don’t even need to be making a call to give you away.
As you move around, they “register” with towers. Data is transmitted by
apps without you knowing it. All of this happens innocently for your
convenience and the best signal, but it is bad if you are being hunted or
monitored. Devices known as “Stingrays” can spoof cell towers and not
only track your phone but can vacuum up all phones in the area that try to
connect with it. Federal law enforcement has been known to fly planes over
cities to monitor one person or a small group, hoovering up the signals of
innocent citizens.
The only time a phone is truly safe is when it’s off. Even this can be
deceived if the government is really out to get you. A phone that may be
used against you needs to be in a metal box that prevents all signals from
getting out, known as a Faraday cage. Many people use metal ammo cans or
repurpose old microwaves instead of buying purpose built products out
there, such as metal mesh bags.
If you are doing or discussing something you don’t want someone to
hear, don’t take your phone. Again, taking your phone is like taking a
personal tracking beacon with you. Turn it off, leave it at home. And don’t
assume that just because it’s off, Wi-Fi or cellular data is turned off, or you
have it in a Faraday cage, it isn’t spying with you. Assume the microphone
is secretly switched on and the spyware is just waiting for you to give it a
signal again so it can transmit what it recorded.
Cell phones can be tracked remotely from the comfort of an office,
should the government or an adversary want to track them. Yes, the field is
possible too, but it’s most likely someone in an office. For radios (especially
low-power, short range radios), someone physically has to be in the field in
a van or toting around a backpack with antennas on it and a computer
inside. Physical electronic interception sites are possible, but less likely.
They can’t fill the Rockies, the Cascades, or Appalachia with towers.
Remember, America is still by no means a surveillance state, even if we
have the capability.
If the government is actively prosecuting patriots, don’t talk about
anything the government would disapprove of except face-to-face. And
face-to-face conversations must be need-to-know between absolutely
trusted individuals who are well-known (for many years) to each other. Not
online, not using some “secure” app, not over some secret squirrel radio
protocol, but in person. Even then, there is the possibility that someone has
been compromised and will report the conversation back to the authorities.
Should the government be ill-relevant and have no means to
prosecute you (even for less legally dubious things like organizing a
neighborhood defence), “secure” electronic means can be used. Again, keep
in mind that there may be some degree of compromise or that an interested
party with the means to do so is listening in. Apps like Signal might be
okay to keep communication secure from a sophisticated looting gang but
not from the NSA.

Transmission COMSEC

Everything you say on a radio can be intercepted. What you say and
where you transmit from can be easily identified. Dedicated amateurs
practice locating transmitters (especially unlicensed or foul mouthed
operators) and breaking digital mode transmissions (which are not
encrypted). Should you have access to encrypted business radios, those can
be decrypted by the government, if they are so inclined.
Until the federal government is unable to enforce the law, all FCC
regulations apply. This means that licenses are needed on licensed
frequencies, call signs must be used, and no encrypted traffic can be sent.
The FCC can’t monitor everything, but keep in mind that “white knight”
ham radio operators may turn you in or interfere with you for violating
regulations.
The so-called “privacy modes” on your family radios only silence
people outside your group; everyone else can hear you in those modes. It’s
also important to understand that even if you don’t hear anyone else on the
radio, someone could still be listening.
Efficiency of communications helps avoid giving away intelligence and
cuts down the amount of time that traffic can be intercepted. Think of it as
whispering in a dark room; the shorter and quieter you whisper, the less
chance anything you say will be understood and the harder it will be to
home in on your voice. Understand that radio traffic can be detected as soon
as you key the mic without even saying a word.
Keep anything you say to a minimum. Communicate only
information that is vital to your mission. Do not make conversation. If you
have a talkative or joking individual in your group, consider taking away
their radio and ignoring any idle chatter from them. If you are making a
long report, say “break” and stop transmitting every so often so that
someone with emergency traffic can break in. Radios aren’t like cell
phones; you cannot talk over another radio signal at the same time.
Keep any specific information discreet. If you can avoid
transmitting real names, addresses, and your actions, the better. True codes
tend to be frowned upon in normal times, but in a WROL radio procedure
should use special call signs and codes. By “codes” I mean concealing
names and locations, not trying to mimic police or military radio codes.
Use plain speech as much as possible to give orders or request
things, while only obfuscating that which your enemy may intercept. Don’t
use 10-codes or things like that. Average people aren’t going to be able to
memorize and correctly use a whole host of code phrases. Your job isn’t to
sound cool.
As much as possible, generic descriptions and first names should be
used (aside from call signs). Example: “John, this is Dick. Go to southeast
corner and report,” versus the poor “John, Dick Wilson here. Can you go
down Maple Street to the corner of Ash Drive by the Jones’ house? Tell me
what’s going on down there.” The first strikes a good balance between
vagueness to frustrate electronic eavesdropping and quickly transmitting
information. In the second version, John just gave away Dick’s last name
and unwittingly broadcasted his cross-streets.
As far as code phrases, restrict those to only orders that would be
compromised if intercepted by radio, such as ordering a retreat. An example
would be instead of radioing “Retreat, retreat,” you would say “Doghouse,
doghouse.” The bad guys won’t know what “doghouse” means. A bad use
would be “Buick, move with Ford to Dallas. Use the Big Stick to Jet Ski.”
That’s five things to remember and all the code words could be confusing.
Only encode what you absolutely must.

Good practice all the time

Replace the rubber ducky factory antenna with a better one.


Keep transmissions brief and specific.
Speak loudly, slowly, and clearly.
Do not use the radio for conversations post-SHTF.
Vary the channels and frequencies you use regularly.
Keep the volume low.
Never attempt to jam or harass your enemy; listen and use them
as a source of intelligence.

“Normal” times protocol

Use call signs as required by the FCC.


Use only frequencies you are licensed to use.
Do not use codes, although nicknames for places and persons
within a group are likely permissible.
Do not use the radio to coordinate activities of questionable
legality.

WROL only protocol

Use first names as they are easy to remember and still somewhat
vague.
Change channels regularly to complicate interception.
Operate outside of approved bands for given licenses.
Never use exact locations except in an emergency; assign code
names to your streets and local landmarks. Your radios won’t be
transmitting that far so you won’t have to rename the whole state.
Perhaps have code phrases for certain common or very important
actions (keep it simple).
Have a duress code if you think someone is listening to the radio
so everyone can be extra discreet. One code word could indicate
to switch to a pre-decided secondary channel.
Electronic warfare basics
Communications security (COMSEC) is about denying intelligence
to your adversary. This goes beyond solely information denial which you
accomplish through encryption or frequency variation. Even if your enemy
can’t understand what you’re saying, knowing when, from where, and how
frequently you transmit can give them valuable intelligence. Each time you
key up, a sophisticated enemy will be able to triangulate your position and
map it. Over time, this will reveal a pattern.
Patterns of life are important to consider. Imagine someone analyzes
your cell phone data over several months and maps out where you usually
go. A large diversion out of state to Grandma’s house or the beach is not
unusual, but suddenly going out of your way to an area where others being
monitored are present is a clue. Even if you turn off your phone a mile out
from the super secret whatever, the investigator can guess where you went.
On the other hand, if your phone stays home, someone will have to
physically be observing you.
Electronic Warfare (EW), also known as communications
surveillance and interference can be targeted or general. In the targeted
sense, your adversary knows you are out there and actively hunting your
signals and monitor them for intelligence. This enables them to track you,
learn from you, avoid you, and harass you.
For instance, a sophisticated looting gang knows that your
neighborhood has a radio plan could have mobile units to conduct radio
surveillance in the surrounding area. More generally, an adversary is not
looking for you specifically, but monitors the electronic spectrum
(airwaves) for signals. These signals are analyzed to produce intelligence.
For instance, your neighborhood’s ham radio guy hears a bunch of bad guys
you weren’t aware of chatting away on their radios and now you know they
are out there.
Militias and opposing partisan forces will likely be targeted by
government, military, or powerful non-governmental organizations. If they
know you exist, they will be checking to see if you are emitting electronic
signals. Once they know that you are, they can then target you for EW.
Cartels in Mexico do this to each other and it is not beyond the possibility
of well-funded or equipped groups in a major collapse situation to develop
these capabilities in America or the first world.
For most people, general monitoring of the electronic spectrum will
likely reveal “interesting” radio traffic. This will eventually lead to the
discovery of someone or a group that is deemed worthy of monitoring. For
the average survivor, this will be how we will learn of a threat using radios,
etc.; we’ll hear the bad guys on a scanner. From this casual capture of
signals, further work reveals more info. Triangulation leads to locations.
Message analysis leads to discovering identity, mission, methods, etc.
EW can be a great asset or a great liability. However you may use it
against an enemy, it can be used against you.

Beating radio interception

Never assume that anywhere you went or anything you did in the
past is a secret. Who knows how long cell phone or Internet data is actually
kept? Our best defense is a high signal to noise ratio; if they are keeping
everything, we have to hope that there is too much data in a non-cataloged
fashion for them to make use of. Hope is not a plan, so assume that
someone watching you knows whatever you are up to.
Assume that everything you say on the radio is being overheard.
The red flashlight filter under a poncho solution doesn’t truly exist for
radios, but other ways to minimize your radio signature can be utilized.
The first is encryption, which is illegal on ham bands and not
accessible to most radio users. Using code names, codewords, and messages
sent in cypher are all viable defenses, but not foolproof. This obfuscates
who is speaking and what the conversation is about but does not lessen the
chances of interception, signal analysis, or decryption.
You have two ways of obfuscating your radio traffic; encrypt it or
hide it. Hiding radio traffic means getting off the most commonly used and
monitored frequencies to a frequency your adversary does not expect.
Encryption makes it impossible for anyone but the NSA to know what you
are saying. The transmissions sound like electronic noise.
Encryption is like cutting up a letter into puzzle pieces and then
reassembling it on the other end into a coherent message. If it is intercepted,
all one gets is jumbled and pretty much no one except the government can
decrypt the message. It’s not at all like hiding. Anyone can hear and locate
the source of your encrypted transmission; they just won’t understand it. An
encrypted signal is like walking around a mall with a sign written in an
unknown language; everyone can see the sign but they can’t read it.
For most of us, encryption isn’t gonna happen. We can’t afford the
radios that can do this. Digital modes are legal, but those aren’t encryption.
Digital radio is transmission of data versus voice. The radio turns your
speech into data, transmits it to another radio, and the receiving radio turns
it back into speech. A radio that is not able to decode digital signals or not
properly configured to decode your transmissions will just put electronic
noise out of its speaker.
Digital would be a good middle ground halfway to encryption
because pretty much all but the government and very skilled hams would be
able to decode your transmissions. A gang sophisticated enough to monitor
those frequencies would probably be using a consumer grade scanner that
would only get electronic noise. They would know you are out there, but
not who you are or what you are saying.
Now digital is also not foolproof, like speaking in code, but it is the
closest that the overwhelming majority of us are going to get to truly private
radio transmissions. The caveat though is that everyone you want to talk to
digitally all must have properly configured digital radios, which is a tall
order, hence I don’t recommend it here.

Misusing other bands

Most radios are locked into a set of frequencies (typically your big
box store FRS radios) or a particular segment of the radio band. This means
that a lot of people are using a small number of frequencies. Imagine for a
second you’re in a car trying to travel or escape undetected. You’d choose a
backroad instead of the freeway, right? You can do that with radios as well.
Uncommon or non-voice frequencies are like the backroads of the airwaves.
The fewer radios using that frequency, the fewer ears listening. The trick is
you need a radio that will access a wide range of frequencies.
If you have a VHF/UHF radio that can transmit all over the band,
such as the popular Chinese Baofeng UV-5R model, you have a spectrum of
potentially 136-174 MHz and 400-520 MHz (depending on the model).
Being able to transmit outside of the amateur bands is, in this case, a good
thing. This idea is only applicable to SHTF as it would be illegal otherwise.
Take for instance something in the 156 MHz range. Those
frequencies are allocated to licensed commercial or government users and
maritime VHF radio. 137 MHz is to communicate with satellites. On the
UHF side, there are similar allocations. What you would do is find a set of
unused frequencies in your area, basically outside the range of other radios
or what bad guys would logically be scanning and talk on those. What you
are doing is not making your signals undetectable but making them harder
to detect.
If you’re in the middle of Arizona or Colorado, where no one is
using marine VHF radios, the likelihood of interference or intercept is
lower because fewer people are likely using or monitoring those
frequencies. Using frequencies that don’t ordinarily carry voice
communication is another way to go undetected as ordinary scanners and
radios might not pick up that frequency.
The caveat is that the FCC can detect your traffic being used
improperly outside of the proper allocation. Skilled hams can do the same
thing. A scanner that covers the frequencies you are using can pick up your
signals as well. A microchip controlled device that is monitoring
everything, just in case, could turn out to be your worst enemy.
An analogy I’ll use is this. You veer your car off the highway and
take a path down a dirt road. Someone driving down the highway may
never see your car on the side road. On the other hand, someone flying over
in a helicopter looking for you can easily find you or discover your car
where it doesn’t belong. Having voice traffic on frequencies where it is
prohibited might be a red flag for an interest party to pay attention.
Finally, using non-allocated frequencies in a non-without rule of law
situation can land you in a heap of legal trouble. Hams may hound you and
report you to the FCC just for the pleasure of it. You could also cause
interference with navigation devices (very bad), satellites, critical business
communication, or emergency services. One example is careless Mexican
fishermen using repurposed equipment with very powerful transmitters off
the coast of California. Their conversations bled into the sheriff’s channel
and a Spanish speaking dispatcher would have to attempt to get them to
change frequencies so they would stop disrupting our communications.

Unpopular bands
Want to gain a little more privacy and lesser chance of interception?
Use unpopular or uncommon bands. Most ham and consumer radios operate
in the 2m VHF (140 MHz) and 70cm UHF (440 MHz) bands. These are the
most popular FM frequencies because most cheap radios (Baofengs) utilize
them. The underutilized bands are 1.25m (220 MHz), 6m (50 MHz), and
10m (28 MHz).
I personally would recommend 1.25m (220 MHz) because it’s so
similar to 2m (140 MHz) VHF, but with a lower noise floor. 1.25m is not
widely used and none to very few commercially available radio scanners
are tuned for these frequencies. Because few people have these radios and
it’s highly unlikely any civilian will have a scanner that can pick up this
band, there is a low, but not zero, probability of intercept. Baofeng sells
1.25m handsets and a variety of mobile and rack units are available.
6m (50 MHz) is another uncommon band, but HT units seem to be rare,
so this would be limited to vehicle or home mounted use. 10m (28 MHz) is
quite similar to CB radio in characteristics and it is usually within the
ability of commercial scanners to monitor the frequency range. Again, HT
units are uncommon as this is more of a rack or vehicle mount, but more
easily sourced than 6m HTs. 10m radios are going to be found mostly in the
hands of serious hams and scanners for everyone else.
Please note that repeaters for these bands are uncommon and should
not be relied on. In fact, no repeater should be relied upon. You will need a
2m/70cm radio if you want to talk to most mobile hams, so multiple radios
may be needed.
Again, if you decide to go with an unpopular band, such as 1.25m,
be aware that your communications are not secure. They are less
susceptible to intercept than other frequencies simply because there is a
lesser chance that someone is listening. These are not secure channels but
are the equivalent of having a private conversation in an empty room with
the door open. Someone could walk right in or be listening just outside the
door. All emission control (EMCON) and communications security
(COMSEC) procedures still apply. You are transmitting in the clear.
To truly decrease the chance of interception, the lowest transmission
power to get the job done coupled with a directional antenna (horizontally
polarized) should be used. A radio sending signals that are horizontally
polarized will be difficult for a vertically polarized antenna to pickup
clearly. Remember that using the lowest power possible to make the
connection is always best. Low power is analogous to whispering to defeat
an eavesdropper.

Alternate call signs

If the rule of law and the FCC hasn’t collapsed yet, but you need to talk
on ham radio without a license or don’t want to identify yourself, borrow
someone else’s call sign. Note that this would be illegal.
Find an active call sign in the Technician (entry level) or General
(intermediate) classes from an entirely different region. Record or
memorize the call sign, the person’s name, and the city and state they’re
from. This way, if anyone looks up the call sign, you can accurately give the
correct name and area while you claim to be traveling.
Alternatively, find a call sign that’s similar enough to yours to be
easily confused, such as a letter or number off. You can just pretend to be a
total idiot if caught, though this would be easier to trace to you.
Obviously do not use your real name or any personal info. Never
transmit from your home or from the same static location. I cannot stress
how important this is; the FCC and experienced hams can determine where
you are transmitting from. Change up the call signs as well but keep in
mind someone with a good memory might notice the same voice using
multiple call signs, doubly so if they have a recorder.

Jamming

Radio frequency jamming is as simple as broadcasting a powerful signal


on a particular frequency or across a broad portion of the radio spectrum to
overpower legitimate signals. This often happens on accident via the
open/hot mic situation where someone is, for example, sitting on their
microphone pushing the transmit button. This happens A LOT in police
cars. For malicious purposes, this is used to deny the benefits of radio
communication against an enemy.
In the introduction, we briefly discussed the use of cell phone jammers
by criminal groups. Use of purpose-built jammers especially on cellular
networks will probably be rare in SHTF but not improbable. In this section,
we’re going to look at low-tech jamming using a transmitter to overpower
two-way radio communication.
Currently, jammers (the people) do this mainly out of spite. Some cases
are from some unhinged loony who wants to go on rants. Others want to
show everyone how smart they are so they build a remote jammer unit and
hide it. As is common on CB radio, some people like being asses and swear
or yell over the radio for the same reason people act like fools in public. On
the criminal end, organized crime will occasionally use these units to jam
cell phones, GPS, or police communications, although this is quite
uncommon in the United States.
Power: The first method of effective jamming is using a powerful
transmitter, preferably with more wattage than your radio. The same
principle is also the simplest countermeasure. Militaries have radio sets
with the power to simply overpower and burn through jamming.
Proximity: A close transmitter is as bad as a high-powered
transmitter. A 5 watt radio immediately outside your perimeter will make it
very difficult to hear transmissions from far away and may make it
impossible, even with a very powerful transmitter, to overpower the near
signal. If you are far enough away from a jamming transmitter, you may be
able to speak with other operators over the signal but with an annoying
sound in the background.
Jamming can be accomplished with any radio simply by holding
down the mic. It’s more effective if something is being transmitted, like a
recording, but someone with a portable radio can cause a lot of interference
over a wide area.
The good news is that consumer radios being used as jammers can
only target a single frequency at a time. That means the jammer himself has
to be listening to you and key up when he hears activity on your frequency.
Since there are many different frequencies to use, he would need a separate
transmitter for each frequency he wants to jam. Since most persons are
nuisance jammers, the easiest defense is to just switch frequencies.
A savvier jammer will be listening to a scanner and hear you on the
new frequency, but then he has to tune his jamming radio and key up,
buying you some seconds to transmit. This is cumbersome, but manual
frequency hopping can be done. Military radios do this automatically,
however, you will have to have a pre-arranged plan. You will need to be
communicating with a trusted friend or member of your group for this to
work. Any instructions transmitted have to be encrypted so the jammer
cannot hear it and switch frequencies when you do.
A malicious and technically proficient jammer can build a device that
can transmit on multiple frequencies or automatically detect traffic and key
up. Or they can build a spark gap generator and blast whole portions of the
electromagnetic spectrum. Thankfully, this kind of jamming will be rare as
it involves special skills and most people with those skills don’t do that kind
of thing. Also other skilled operators can direction-find the jammer and
make his day go poorly.
Jamming antennas are often vertically polarized because a vertical
antenna is omnidirectional and the easiest way to go. One way to defeat this
is to try and turn your antenna 90° from the vertical to the horizontal for
both you and the receiver. This out-of-phase transmission may allow you to
receive signals from the other antenna now that both of you are in a
different polarity orientation from the jammer.
Direction finding will reveal the location of a static (non-mobile)
jammer. A dedicated team could even localize a mobile transmitter in a
vehicle. All you have to do is triangulate and follow the signal. Jammers
have to be switched on to be effective. Eventually, a jammer can be located
and physically disabled. In SHTF, if the jammer is not sitting all by itself on
a mountain peak, but in someone’s house, I’d expect the operator to be in
physical danger.
In reality what will probably happen is shortly before an attack, a 50
watt mobile unit mounted in a vehicle will key up near the target site. This
tactic makes it difficult for defenders to coordinate by radio and call for
help. The jammer operator will have a scanner to hear what frequency
defenders are using to target those frequencies on the fly. If they are smart,
they will have conducted communications surveillance to determine what
frequencies you operate on.

Countermeasures

Protect your group’s frequency plan as restricted information.


Use uncommon bands, like 1.25 meter.
Switch frequencies, preferably in a pattern known to you, but that
is unpredictable to the jammer.
Increase your transmission power to overcome jamming and
lower the power to decrease the possibility of interception.
Use directional antennas (i.e. horizontally polarized).
Retaliate by sending the police/FCC or other WROL only means.
Legal considerations
Some of the advice in here is not legal. I do not recommend doing
things that are illegal as long as the law is still enforceable. In a world
without the rule of law (WROL) there is obviously no one to catch and
prosecute you so doing what’s necessary to survive can be done without
fear of government interference. If a tyrannical government is the problem,
well, each man should individually make his dispositions accordingly
according to the dictates of his conscience.
In normal times, all FCC regulations and laws apply. Use licenses
and radios in a legal manner. Obey all FCC regulations. That means if you
need a license, get a license. Use your legal call signs. Do not use the radios
for illegal purposes or in an illegal manner. Don’t be a jerk who causes
problems.

“Communications intended to facilitate a criminal act.”

The most famous instance of this recently is the allegation that


protestors at the January 6, 2021, invasion of the US Capitol were using
ham-type radios to communicate. In short, the FCC doesn’t want people
using radios to coordinate criminal activity. Committing crime is bad, so
don’t do it, whether or not it is illegal to use your radio in the commission
of the crime.
The question is, what exactly is criminal activity? If you are planning
for SHTF, whatever the government doesn’t like you doing is criminal
activity. Self-defense against a politically favored mob? A crime. Defending
yourself against a tyrannical government? A crime. Blocking your street,
positioning armed guards, and passing intelligence reports? A crime.
Crime can be whatever the Feds want it to be at the time, even though
you may be 100% morally correct. My advice here isn’t to help you commit
acts of terrorism, crime, etc. but to protect yourself and your loved ones
when civility and government fails. A government that can no longer
maintain domestic tranquility and punishes its citizens for taking up the
mantle of safety which that government threw down is not legitimate. Just
go ahead and assume legally protecting your neighborhood will eventually
be deemed “nefarious” and the FCC might prosecute you.
An illegitimate government, however, still has power. Power is a law of
its own regardless of what might be in the books or what our peers might
think. You act, and use radios (and the advice) herein, at your own risk. If
things go pear shaped, you will do what you need to do to survive and deal
with the consequences later.
A major issue in the ham community is conformance to laws and
regulations. In the Amateur bands, many of these regulations, the self-
policing, and the occasional FCC prosecution all serve to keep things polite
and working smoothly. Anyone who has used a CB radio has experienced
the issues with overpowered transmitters and potty-mouthed users. In a
way, the licensing requirement is a good thing from this angle. It
discourages, but does not stop, jerks from making the airwaves unusable.
On the downside, the need for a license—particularly the testing
requirement—discourages a lot of people from getting into ham radio.
Strictly speaking, there is nothing from a technological standpoint that
prohibits anybody without a license from using any frequency they want;
it’s not like you swipe a card or something. It’s just that hams (and rarely
the government) get upset when people don’t use their call signs.
Practically, you could use many frequencies and never be bothered
by an angry ham or the FCC. There are too many frequencies, too much
country, and too few people to sit and listen to everything. It’s mainly jerks
using repeaters or broadcasting from a fixed location to harass people that
get in trouble. Usually experienced hams engage in a “Foxhunt” to DF, or
Direction Find, an illegal user to turn them into the FCC.
The FCC rarely takes enforcement action. Most illegal radio
transmissions that occur never go detected. The majority of those go
unreported. Usually, if the FCC finds out who is doing it, they will send out
a nastygram asking the person to stop under the penalty of Federal Law.
Perhaps and Enforcement Bureau agent will do a door knock with a
member of the local constabulary or a deputy marshal for security.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau website has sparse records of
enforcement action in the Amateur Service realm. There are many warnings
for causing interference, usually by a malfunctioning electrical appliance
that is sending off spurious radio waves.
A few of the fines and criminal actions taken since 2017 include a
19 year old who hacked into a Michigan public safety radio system, a guy
who lied about broadcasting a digital signal of some kind improperly, and
another guy who jammed the repeater, was rude, and refused to identify
himself. Basically, unless you hack or are a jerk, little is actually done.
The FCC doesn’t have monitoring stations all over the country and
only has field offices in major cities. Most detection events come from local
ham operators who get annoyed and the person is stupid enough to give
themselves away. If you are not rude, don’t cause interference, transmit
from a fixed location, or have your voice recognized because the local hams
know your voice and your call sign, probably nothing will happen.
Joe Dolio pointed out in an article on his Tactical Wisdom blog that
many CB radio users use illegal amplifiers from fixed locations and they
are not prosecuted for this. One could argue that if the government does not
enforce the relevant regulations, than it is de facto legal. In a sense, it’s like
speeding. If everyone is going above the posted speed limit, but not causing
problems, the highway patrol tends not to enforce the infraction.
Let’s take GMRS for example. This is a really popular form of
communication amongst off-roaders in the places I go. Many people have
the radios but never use their seven digit/letter call signs. They might have
licenses and they might not. No one seems to care and there is no one from
the FCC listening. Ham is a bit different because ham operators are self-
policing, though.
After the January 6th events at the US Capitol (in particular) the
FCC reminded people not to use radios in crimes. On the other side of the
political spectrum, it is known that Antifa uses radios illegally during riots.
Dolio details this usage in his books and blog, so take a look.

"Amateur and Personal Radio Services, however, may not be used


to commit or facilitate crimes. As we did in advisories in 2021, the
Bureau reminds amateur licensees that they are prohibited from
transmitting 'communications intended to facilitate a criminal act' or
'messages encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning.'
Likewise, individuals operating radios in the Personal Radio Services,
a category that includes Citizens Band radios, Family Radio Service
walkie-talkies, and General Mobile Radio Service, are prohibited from
using those radios 'in connection with any activity which is against
Federal, State or local law.'"[8]

However, in the real world, telling people not to break the law,
especially while breaking the law, is like eating soup from a slotted spoon.
Criminals will break the law and people will do what they feel they need to
do.

How to get caught:

Be well-known by voice and have someone connect your voice


while doing something shady with your call sign that you used
before or after.
Transmit from a fixed location long enough or frequency enough
so that you can be triangulated.
Talk on police/emergency services frequencies.
Cause interference or deliberately engage in jamming.
Use a repeater without using a call sign (or as an unlicensed
individual).
Be a jerk and annoy/antagonize people and they find out who you
are.
Use obvious code words, like “Alpha 1 I’m code delta at point
Harriet.”

How not to get caught:

Use the lowest power necessary to reach whoever you’re


speaking to.
Avoid the use of repeaters; use simplex mode (radio to radio).
Use someone else’s call sign (from a long way away) and
disguise your voice.
Use frequencies/bands that are not used in your area, like 1.25
meter/220 MHz.
Operate outside the amateur bands, such as in the realm of
licensed business radios; Baofeng radios can do this if you learn a
bit about them.
If you’re transmitting in the business spectrum (for example),
pretend to be a Walmart employee or something so you sound like
you belong.
Use code words and phrases that sound totally innocuous like
“Clean up on Aisle 3,” to mean “Backup needed at Ted’s house.”

Disclaimer

The information contained in this book does not constitute legal


advice and should never be used without first consulting with an attorney or
other professional experts. No endorsement of any official or agency is
implied. Follow all applicable laws and regulations. The content of this
book is of an editorial nature and for informational purposes only. Your use
of the information in this book is at your own risk. The author and publisher
hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or
disruption through use of the information in this book.

About the Author


Don Shift is a veteran of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office and an
avid fan of post-apocalyptic literature and film. He is a student of disasters,
history, current events, and holds several FEMA emergency management
certifications. You can email him at [email protected] or visit
www.donshift.com.

Fiction works include the Ventura Sheriff EMP series, Hard Favored
Rage and Blood Dimmed Tide, where deputies must survive after a
devastating electromagnetic pulse destroys the electric grid. Late For
Doomsday and Limited Exchange (1 & 2) are novels of surviving and
evacuating after a nuclear attack.

All works explore the realities of emergency planning and personal


survival in the face of low probability, high impact events that highlight the
shortcomings of a technology and infrastructure dependent nation. Non-
fiction titles include Nuclear Survival in the Suburbs and the Suburban
Defense/Suburban Warfare guides.
[1] NVIS is really cool. It basically bounces a signal sent vertically off the atmosphere and it
comes vertically back down to the surrounding area, instead of skipping horizontally along the face
of the Earth. Whereas a lot of HF radio signals have a dead zone of dozens to hundreds of miles
using skip, NVIS can be used to talk to people within 50-100 miles or more, depending on
equipment, antenna, and conditions.
[2] Note this is just an example. For UHF, a half wavelength antenna is given, but you’ll likely
be using a quarter-wave antenna and the length will be 7.75.”
[3] Hertz here refers not to radio frequency, but the pitch of the sound wave.
[4] For example, UHF ham 70cm band common calling frequency is 446.000 MHz.
[5] Voice-activated radio-dispatched alarm
[6] SIGINT is the actual electronic signal, COMINT is the content of the message being passed.
[7] 47 CFR Subpart E, §97.401 - §97.405
[8] FCC Enforcement Advisory No. 2022-02, February 22, 2022

You might also like