Recent Posts

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 10
1
Comm Discussion / Neighborhood Communications
« Last post by Searchboss on Today at 01:34:44 PM »
Years ago I used to manage a wilderness Search & Rescue Team. Most of the members were not Amateur Radio Operators. We used FRS (Family Radio Service) radios for intra-team communications. They do not require a license and are all channelized alike. They were simple to operate, cheap, readily available and worked quite well at the distances that we worked from each other. We used them for many training events as well. If one broke, we tossed it and bought another one. (Actually, we kept several spares in stock.)

Today, I still find them quite useful if I need to communicate via radio with non-amateurs, but I seldom use one anymore. Most of my local radio communications now are by way of an inexpensive Baofeng UV-5R or some variant of it. Like the FRS radios, they are cheap so I won?t mind too much if it gets lost, stolen, or broken. :'( It makes it easy to keep a spare available.

In a recent post, pkveazey mentioned giving an HT to a neighbor. I have to admit that I have a ?few? extra FRS and Baofeng radios that I bought specifically to be distributed and used if I need to be able to communicate with neighbors in a normal comms-out situation. I originally bought them with the idea of passing them out to neighbors in the unlikely event that we have to defend our neighborhood or something similar.

I like the FRS radios for this because other than inadvertently turning the volume down or accidentally changing the channel, it is more difficult for a non-operator to screw up the radio as can be done on a UV-5R or similar with so many buttons to push. :P  Having said that, I find the UV-5R variants much more useful. I just spent all morning digging out my stored radios, charging the batteries, and reprogramming them so that they all have the same frequencies/channels in them. I found that some had been stored with no programmed channels. With the channels all the same, it will make it easier for inexperienced folks to learn to use them when needed.
2
General Off Topic / Re: Silver
« Last post by pkveazey on Today at 10:06:33 AM »
Well, here it is Monday morning, and I was expecting a pullback. Yep, it dropped a dollar but that won't last long. It'll start going back up because of FOMO (Fear of missing out) and because I get to decide how much my Silver is worth. This stairstep, run up and pull back is fine with me as long as I end up at the top of the stairs. Since I started Stacking, back when it was cheap, I have given a bit here and there to friends and family members. Hmmm... It's getting a bit too expensive to give any of it away now. I'm generous but I'm not stupid. :facepalm:
3
General Off Topic / Re: Silver
« Last post by pkveazey on May 19, 2024, 11:12:51 PM »
I can't believe my own eyes. :facepalm: It's 11pm and I just took another look at the Spot price of Silver, and it has gone up to $32.30 oz. I really hope this is the breakout that all the Precious Metals gurus have been talking about. :popcorn:
4
General Off Topic / Re: Silver
« Last post by Felix on May 19, 2024, 09:53:04 PM »
Most retirement savings is still in paper markets (stock, bonds, etc)
But with a view to not incurring a tax bill, I cashed out as much as I could within those limits and took the cash directly to a dealer paying 3% over spot for silver and divied up the conversion between bars, Maples and junk.   Will rinse and repeat next tax cycle.  Assuming we are around for one.  I now have @ 10k in metals that will weather hyper-inflation AND be in recognizable forms for barter.    Not anything like a "life's saving", but a solid component on having "x amount" of "cash" on hand for emergencies and bill paying.   IF I decide to exit the paper markets (now being thought long and hard on), then the specter of gold bars and coins looms...    _AND_ it will be at home, in a safe, subject to theft if I can't defend it.    But in hand.   And real.   Not dependent on anyone from the government come to "help me".
For those who follow and look at "cycles", we may well be in the final stages of a stock "melt up" which, like in similar looking circumstances cycles, culminates in a severe stock crash.  Bear market.   "pullback".   
5
Security & Survival / Re: New Mag Member
« Last post by Jackalope on May 19, 2024, 09:01:32 PM »
     While he's up there...how about a 40/80 meter wire antenna?   :stir:

     Plus, he may be acrophobic, but it can't hurt to ask... I had to work on a tower multiple days.  The first day, I had a seasoned climber assisting me, and everything went very smoothly.  The second day I was sent two guys, who both had a fear of heights.  I really didn't need two ground men.  I accomplished the assignment, but it was much more dangerous than it should have been.  Looking back over the decades, I should have refused to work the second day.  Anyways, sometimes tower work can lead to that person getting their amateur radio license, you never know.  Then again, had a friend who got his ham license, and he later became a professional tower climber.
6
Security & Survival / New Mag Member
« Last post by pkveazey on May 19, 2024, 06:19:43 PM »
I stopped by one of my MAG friend's house for a visit and his Son-In-Law came in. His Son-In-Law lives about 1500 feet up the road from me. I told the Son-In-Law that I would bring him a handi-talkie and rules on how he is allowed to use it on unlicensed frequencies. I also printed out a ton of info about prepping and security for him to keep. Hmmm.... That fellow is young a very strong. I wonder if I could convince him to climb my radio tower and mount my 5 element 220 Mhz Yagi beam about 25 feet up the tower? I've been afraid to ask anyone to climb the tower because I'm afraid they'll fall off and get injured. At present, my 220 Mhz 1/4 wave dipole is hit and miss when I try to reach the Richmond 220 repeaters with just 25 watts. The beam should get me into it 100% of the time. Nope, it will not be on a rotator. It'll be pointed straight at Richmond all the time. They have two 220 machines up there.
7
General Discussion / Re: Self Sufficiency - 2024 vs. 1776
« Last post by pkveazey on May 19, 2024, 05:56:41 PM »
Sir John, you live on the wrong end of the State for off grid breweries. :lmfao:
8
General Discussion / Re: Self Sufficiency - 2024 vs. 1776
« Last post by Searchboss on May 19, 2024, 05:39:13 PM »
Quote from: Sir John Honeybucket on May 19, 2024, 12:44:38 PM
THIS is a good discussion!

 I'd like a MAG member who owns an off-grid brewery !!!  :stir:

Sir John, you make some excellent points. This sounds like a MAG I could work with. Keep stirring!
9
General Discussion / Re: Self Sufficiency - 2024 vs. 1776
« Last post by Sir John Honeybucket on May 19, 2024, 12:44:38 PM »
THIS is a good discussion!

The MAG topic is one that many people, myself included, really don't analyze deeply. To me (ymmv) 99% of what we call "survival" was taught in old Home Economics classes:

1. Shelter
2. Water
3. Fire/kitchen

The last 1% is SECURITY;  the ABILITY to hang-on to your shelter, water and fire in the face of criminal attack; this ofcourse is where your guns and fireteam tactics would become necessary. 

Any team MUST enhance the points above, or else you must consider whether they are worth keeping on the team.'  Let's have a look:

1.  Shelter.  This BEGINS with your individual choice of clothing, boots and etc. Your first layer of 'shelter' are the clothes on your back.  What does your clothing choice do for your survival and maybe even comfort?  What works in South Florida will kill you by lunchtime in Northern Idaho, much of the year.   Carefully analyze how does your MAG recruit dresses for shooting and other activities. The next and to me, MOST important layer of 'shelter' is your home and it's neighborhood.  Urban, suburbia, small town or deep country?  Learn to optimize you home.  For us, we live in a very rural area, surrounded by forests, watermen and farmers and have a bit less than one acre of our own, so we are fortunate to have land for our little gardens, wood lot and etc.

2. Water: By this I mean SAFE drinkable/cooking water is absolutely necessary for your survival and having a life worth living. The ability to wash yourself, your clothes and eating utensils is hugely important. Again, we live in a highly rural environment, so our deep well is where we routinely get our water.  However, in other environments, the rules change.  Cities: learn where low spigots are on tall buildings, to get short term water. As a rule, the further out of the city you are, the more access you have to water, IF you know where to look and how to purify it.  Does your MAG help or hinder your access to clean water?

3. Fire/Kitchen.  I like sushi as much as the next guy, but in a survival situation, the danger of food pathogens in raw foods are ever present, so you must assume that cooking of food ( a survival skill...) is going to be the rule. Does your MAG assist you in collecting, then cooking good, nutritious and FILLING foods?  If not, why not? If the MAG gives you more mouths to feed with no significant return on investment, leave before things go bad. You cannot afford to be running a Welfare Office.

Defence of the home, water and kitchen is the last 1%, not because it's unimportant, it's crucial, but your rifles , optics and fire teams are for one reason, to hang-on to your 1, 2, &3. As the saying goes "You rarely NEED a gun, but when you do, nothing else will do.".  Does your MAG own and TRAIN with firearms? Do you train in watch standing, patrolling, layered, fire team tactics, or is it at best a mob, blazing away and a lot of nothing?  I can tell you from experience that the difference between a mob versus an Army is hugely important. If your MAG will not enhance your ability to detect a threat and project force if needed, you need to either fix this failure, or leave, why waste you time and resources if there is no gain?

Another reason to join an MAG would be access to critical skills and specialists. I'd stack them in roughly this order:

A. Medical, doctors, dentists, mil medics, nurses .

B. Skilled members: farmers, watermen, radio operators/monitors ( I live on the Chesapeake Bay), --- who else ?

C. I'd like a MAG member who owns an off-grid brewery !!!  :stir:

Nice to have: Special operators, Law Enforcement people (both pref retired), boat captains and crew, aircraft pilots, successful hunters with their rifles.

So, does the MAG add to, or detract from YOUR goals of a good life in rotten times? Remember TEAM CONCEPT: you must recruit, or train what you need, but numbers of warm bodies is not the goal; SKILLS and attitudes are the goal. I can train a person to stand watch, but if they're lazy, dishonest and unreliable, I won't even try to train that out of them. Because it's difficult to push those types of people out the door post-event, the logical option is to never let them in the door and best that they don't even know about your MAG.

  :zombie:  "Yeah I don't know WHY JohnyMac threw me out of his Pa Mountain Club" but man they have a lot of food and pretty sheep  :trolling:   and I know right where they iz and how to get'em..." 

This will not end well. 

EXAMPLE of Mutual Aid: I am old, my body is a derelict vessel adrift in this sea of life and would be considered to be a hazard to navigation if I were in the water.  However, over the decades, my skills and LOCATION were optimized for living well in tough times.  So, if I had some 20 to 40 year old, combat vets with the right attitude and some skills, but they live up in D.C. ( or some other Hellscape ) I'd likely see a MUTUAL benefit if we combined as a team.  I get trained. disciplined and experienced watch standers, extra ( and strong ) hands for tasks and etc. and THEY gain a sustained bug-out location, a secure place for their forward deployed equipment and food for when they MUST bug-out, when their cities are about to go lethal on them.  Being a former soldier & sailboat cruiser' I can show them the best E&E water routes & access points to my property, help to set-up their emergency comms between us and advise on what kind of very portable boat;/kayak they would need to get here without needing highways. (Waterways ARE the original 'highways'. That would be an example of a MUTUAL AID scenario.

10
General Discussion / Re: Self Sufficiency - 2024 vs. 1776
« Last post by Searchboss on May 18, 2024, 10:58:13 AM »
Pkveazey, I agree with you that this forum seems to have a great group of people on it. This has been a great discussion.

When it comes to forming a MAG, the people in it will probably be somewhat like a family or clan. The adage about us being able to choose our friends, but not being able to pick our family members comes to mind. It would be great if everyone in a MAG were close friends, but the truth is that unless it is a very small MAG, most will not be our chosen friends, but instead could be acquaintances who may be family members of our friends or neighbors who are members of the MAG. We may or may not particularly like them, but we will have to learn to live and work with them if the MAG is to succeed.

The key is that each member of the MAG has to be willing to pull their weight and contribute to the MAG in some way. This contribution will be different based on the individual?s skills and abilities. There needs to be enough able-bodied people available who are capable of, and willing to do the physically demanding tasks so they get done while others may contribute by doing other tasks that may be physically easier, but just as important.

Problems start when a member is perceived as not being an asset to the MAG. I think that every family has at least one member who is viewed as lazy or a slacker and does not want to do their chore which shifts the burden to the rest of the family members. Usually, a family will make excuses for that shirking member, but in the end, they are still a member of the family. A MAG will probably not be quite so forgiving.

This has been a productive thread. It has made me rethink the subject of MAGs again. I am glad to note that most of the comments are in line with my personal views of what a MAG is, so I may be looking at things through the right lens. How MAGs are managed seems to be a toss-up. Some people want more rules, some want less. Very few MAGs have or seem to be willing to adopt a written constitution, agreement, or set of values and basic rules that they all agree to follow. I think that this will become an impediment if the SHTF. They will have to try to figure out how to manage themselves and address the hard questions during the stress of a crisis as the situation quickly changes, as they always do. Each MAG is different and will have to figure out the best way for them to move forward.

For those of you who are in or have formed a MAG, please post from time to time about how your MAG is doing, how it is managed, and how it has changed. We can all learn from what others are doing, even if it is an example of what not to do.
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 10