Unchainedpreppers Net

[JohnyMac]

I would like we start to get together a UP Ham Net. It will be in the 80/75 band 3.600 - 4.000 frequency range. People who do not own a ham radio could listen too via their shortwave receiver or apps available on the internet.

So here are my questions to General or higher ticket holders.

1) What frequency do you suggest*? Primary...Secondary
2) What day would be best for this net?
3) What time** would be best for this net?
4) Last, however most important, can we get more than six (6) people to participate? If not, it is not worth the
    effort.

As we move into a rather shaky period of time in the USofA, I feel building the foundation of communication post a mayor apocalyptic event needs to start soon than later.

This request for input will end 23:59 PDT Oct. 17, 2016.

*   I would suggest a off frequency not one on the 5Mhz step. Example: Instead of 3.710.00Mhz 3.711.00.
** Remember we have many UP folks in the PDT and MDT.

[Jackalope]

I'd suggest 3.968MHz, or 3.973MHz, or somewhere on the upper portion of the band, primarily because usually it's a little quieter up there.  Day of the week, is probably somewhat dependent upon the time decided.  I'd suggest evenings, because 75 meters has better coverage during the night time hours, so there would hopefully be more participation.  I'd participate, if I'm available for the time and day chosen.  Hey Johnnie, it's going to be like herding cats. Oh, if the net has some longevity, then it could be publicized on different websites.  You'll also get some participants just surfing the band, if the subject matter is interesting. 

     Back in the day (late 70's-early 80's) I use to participate in a net called New Directions Radio, which was hosted by Copthorne McDonald, the inventor of slow scan television. The net was associated with Mother Earth News, and we had many interesting discussions regarding alternative energy and QRP radios, and many other "prepper" type subjects.  Anyways, there were participants from all over the eastern portion of the U.S.  I guess today's equivalent would be the AMRRON (www.AMRRON.com), which seems to be more active out west, though they do host an east coast net, I've never heard it.

    Sorry for the long winded reply.

[JohnyMac]

Awesome jackalope. So we have a suggestion of frequency now date and time.

On another note it is like hurding catz. LOL. Been doing that for years.

[Jackalope]

Another option is to just informally meet, rather than a formal net. Announce when you'll be on, the frequency, etc., and if people can join in then great, and if not, then maybe the next time.  It wouldn't hurt too, to set up a meet up frequency and protocol for a SHTF event.  That would allow folks to compare notes, and gather observations from other areas.  Then again, depending upon the event, it may be best to maintain radio silence, and stay in listening mode.

[JohnyMac]

I like the option Jackalope. Lets see if who we can recruit for the first one or two nets.

I am on a few nets and they are pretty loose which I like. Like you mentioned people just show up at a designated time and who ever signs in first usually is net control. After the first round robin net control is done away with. People flow in and out through out the call.

At this time the frequency will be 3.968MHz(Primary), or 3.973MHz(Secondary), LSB (Lower Side Band).

[rah45]

Not gonna do much good right now, but I am interested in such a thing. It will be a long, long time before I'm financially able to participate, however. I do think it is a GREAT idea...and I'm jealous.

[JohnyMac]

Okay ladies and germs the first Unchainedpreppers will be this Friday night at 1900 hrs EDT/ 2300 hrs Zulu.

The frequencies being used are in the 80 meter band at 3.968MHz(Primary), or 3.973MHz(Secondary), LSB (Lower Side Band).

This first web will be an open format. Basically call in with your call sign when there is a break between participants, I will document the call sign and when there is a lieu in the discussion I will add you to the round robin.

As mentioned, we will use a round robin vs. a structured net format. Jackalope and I will play a loose net control just to keep things rolling.

Once you are called on have ready the following:
> Your Call Sign,
> Your first name,
> ~Location,
> Maybe a signal strength report,
> The equipment you are using, e.g. antenna, transceiver, mic, etc.,
> Other.... I will leave that up to you...or just pass it onto the next person in the round robin.

I propose that in the beginning we have this net once a month. If there is a need/want we could up that number to what ever the group wants. Time and day can be changed based on what the folks want in the future.

In closing, the purpose of this net is for the goodwill of amateur radio, support the prepping network and to have a place to meet in the future if an emergency happens to disseminate information and offer support.

Feel free to invite prepping folks to the net. They do not need to be a member of Unchainedpreppers. If you do not own a transceiver but have a friend who does invite yourself over to their shack to participate. If you own a receiver, e.g. Short Wave Radio (Grundig comes to mind), feel free to dial us in and listen. If you can't pick us up what a great dry run for you to get a better antenna or radio. Remember that in a national drama, communication, even if you are only listening, will be the key to your family's survival.

73's

KC1FWU

 

[Nemo]

I have seen some radios (Bao Feng?) or something that would pick this up.  What would be good in the $50 range with built in, walkie talkie type antenna? 

I would be interested in listening and learning more than participation.  But I could get snagged into going to class and getting a ticket.

Side note.  I know and have met in person a fair number of people from:

http://seprepnet.com/forum/index.php?action=forum

and I know there are a fair number of good people there who do ham stuff.  I can share above with a few if a good idea.

Nemo

[Jackalope]

The Baofeng UV-5R radios and similar Chinese radios are primarily for VHF/UHF frequencies.  The 75/80 meter bands are shortwave or HF frequencies.  You need a shortwave receiver.  The limiting factor for portable radios to receive shortwave frequencies is the efficiency of the antenna.  A typical VHF/UHF portable radio has a rubber duck antenna, which is essentially a spiral wound piece of copper that is made to cover VHF/UHF frequencies.  For shortwave frequencies, a much longer antenna is needed.  There are ways to work around this, but it's expensive and very narrowbanded.

      The good news is that there are older tube type receivers that are capable of receiving HF frequencies, and typically they can be found at electronics fleamarkets (hamfests) for less than $50, and then all you need is a long piece of wire (say over 25') in order to monitor the shortwave bands.  There are a number of modern compact shortwave receivers available, more money equals better performance, and again a longer antenna is going to improve reception.

      There's an amazing amount of activity of the HF bands, and amateur radio is just a small part of the activity.  It's interesting to monitor the various military frequencies to get a feel of what's going on world wide.  An interesting tidbit: the Russians have reactivated their shortwave broadcasts after a hiatus of several years.

      Amateur radio-wise there's a lot more activity on the digital modes, which are methods of communicating using computers over amateur radio frequencies.  Digital modes are interesting, because unless you have a computer and software, the messages are undecipherable.

      I'm looking forward to the net!  Remember, amateur radio operators do it with more frequency!

[JohnyMac]

Awesome write-up Jackalope! 

A good place to also go for low budget HF's is EBAY. There are quite a few combo tube/solid state radio's out there for ~$200-. Even if you can't transmit without a license you can always listen. In a SHTF type of scenario, this could be the difference between life & death.

Here is an example of one for sale in the $100- range. Remember, this is an auction where you and others will be biding so the price will end up being higher.

EBay is not like it use to be. They stand behind what is sold on their site. If it does not work as advertised by the seller, return it and you will get a refund.

There are plenty of links you can go to to listen online Friday evening. Here is one. Now of course this would be worthless IF the grid or internet goes down. Just some food for thought.

Enjoy!
 

[JohnyMac]

I was playing with my Grundig Short Wave radio yesterday and to add onto what Jackalope has written I will share with you my results.

1) Most Short Wave receivers, e.g. Grundig, are calibrated in Khz. Converting Mhz to Khz means 3.968 Mhz =
    3968. Khz.
2) The perfect antenna length from your Grundig would be 62' or two sections 31' in length. Think of a T
     coming off your radio's + and -'s hook-up on the back of your radio.

     Using 16 or 14 gauge wire, run a length of wire from the +/- hook-up on the back of your radio to the two
     31' cross sections. One cross section would be - and the other +.

     Here is a picture to help you...
     

[JohnyMac]

UPDATE:

Jackalope and I chatted briefly this evening on the Primary net frequency. The frequency was great as we were the only ones rag-chewing; however there was quite a few pops and whistles in the background when we first started. Once I played with the RF knob I was able to eliminate most of that noise. He also did some fine tuning on his end.

We are looking forward to connecting tomorrow night.

Remember...Freedom Through Self-Reliance

[Nemo]

Would this work?  Would I need to get a ticket to legally operate it?  I read more about what I needed to do with this thing.  I presume it is accurate?

Nemo

https://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-5R-Dual-Radio-Black/dp/B007H4VT7A

Get a Technician license book. This is my favorite: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZ12X14?tag=sepn-20

Study and play with the radio. Be careful not to transmit on ham bands. Research on the internet and ask questions as well.

Once you're comfortable with the radio and understand what this sentence means, you're going to want to program repeaters into it.

You get the cable at https://www.amazon.com/Valley-Enterprises®-Programming-Weierwei-Quansheng/dp/B0097E2I2S/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1477012127?tag=sepn-20 (There are cheaper cables, but NEVER EVER buy a Baofeng Programming cable that doesn't say "FTDI")

Then you get repeaters in your area from repeaterbook https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/prox.php

Then once all that starts to make sense, either before or after you get your license, your best bet is to find the local club(s) in your area and go from there.

Hope that helps!

As I said, it's not a case of you're going to grab a radio, take a test, and talk to everyone all at once. But it's a start!

[JohnyMac]

Jackalope and I just finished our first Unchainedpreppers net. The only participants where Jackalope and me.

We started on the planned frequency of 3.968 Mhz but after a few minutes we moved up the frequency to 3.970 Mhz where we finally got a clear frequency.

Propagation was good tonight and I had to to do little fiddling with dials to get a clear signal.

Items covered were:

> Chickens and chicken growing,
> Pig farming and scrapple making,
> Maple syrup/sugar making, and
> Today's crash of the interwiz.

Total net lasted about 1 hr and 20 minutes.

Overall a great discussion with Jackalope and can't wait to do it again. If there is an interest we will do it again in 2-4 weeks.


 

[Jackalope]

Yeah, it's accurate.  But you'll want to use a freeware program called Chirp to program the radio, the Baofeng software sucks.

[Jackalope]

It was a pleasure chatting with you Johny!  Hey, we also discussed fracking and taxes in different states!

[JohnyMac]

Nemo, your questions spurred this response. I am making it public as others may have similar questions and concerns.

1) You can buy a 2-160 meter receiver however you can not transmit without a license. Now of course if there is a SHTF
     scenario I doubt you will get busted by the FCC if you do transmit without a license.
     A) Typically you purchase a transceiver that operates on 10-160 meter and then another radio that handles 70cm/2
         Meter on up to 10 Meter (70CM/2Meter/6Meter/10Meter). There are a few that handle 2 meter through 160 meter.
         The Icom 706 MkII and Icom 746 come to mind however they are in the $500- to $800- range.

     B) The Baofeng that we all talk about and are in the $40- range is a 70Cm/2M (UHF/VHF) radio transceiver. You can
          access repeaters which greatly expand your coverage of a basically "line of site" radio. I easily can access (ping) a
          repeater 30 miles south of me using 5 Watts from my Baofeng radio. Using that repeater I can talk to/with folks
          south of the redoubt in Scranton, Allentown and Easton PA. along with folks in Northern NJ. That's quite a
          distance only using 5 watts with a Chinese radio. Of course without the repeater at 2,700 feet above sea level I
          would not be able to do that.

          There are other repeaters I use north, east and west of me too. With one of the repeaters north of me I can
          communicate as far north as Rochester, NY or east Albany, NY.

          When there is a full moon you can also direct your 2 meter signal using a directional antenna to the moon which
          will reflect the signal back to the earth hundreds of miles away. It's called EME communication (Earth-moon-earth
          path). Yupper it works. I did it last month using a home made Moxon antenna and spoke with another ham in
          Jacksonville, FL.

          Also using a directional antenna like the Moxon, you can chat with the astronauts in the Space Station. Here are
          students from my club in NY who did just that this year :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKttuUOf4pM

2) The first license you would take a exam for is the Technical License. Buy a ARRL text book which comes with all of the
    test questions. Read, take the practice tests and you will pass. If you register on line with the ARRL you can take the
    actual practice tests on line. You can also get a free app for your phone where you can take the practice test using
    your smartphone while you are waiting at red lights, in the doctors waiting room, before you go to bed or if you are
    out on a boring date. Remember, you only need to answer 26 correct  out of 35 questions to pass.

    With the Technical License you can operate on 70Cm/2M/6M/Most of 10M, phone/data*/CW and most of the other
    frequency's via CW (Morse Code). YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PASS A MORSE CODE (CW) TEST ANYMORE TO GET YOUR
    LICENSE.

3) The second license is the General License. This study and testing is just a continuation of the Technical study and
    testing. Again there is an app you can download and study just like with the Technical. I have known Ham's who took
    the Technical test - passed it. Then took the General the same evening and passed that too.

    With the General License the whole world of amateur radio is open to you. You can use your General on 80% of all
    of the phone/data*/CW frequency's. 70Cm through 160 meter. Yeah you are there.

4) The last license to attain is the Extra License. This is a bit harder exam as it is mostly about theory. Once you attain
     this license it gives you access to the last 20% of the available frequencies.

The exams happen all over the place. Some locations charge $15- per test while some clubs do not. A great place to look for a testing location can be found on www.arrl.com. By the way, you do not need to join the ARRL to access the practice test - Just register.

If you do not want to pay the price for the ARRL text book, all public libraries have them. Just make sure you get the latest version. I think the 2015 version is the newest.

So in reality, there is no excuse to at least get your Technical Ticket. Interesting Story:

The night I took my General exam one of the exam takers was a mom of about 50 years old. She decided to get her Technical ticket because her 13 year old daughter got hers the summer before.

She got the Arrl text book and downloaded the exam app to her phone.

Every weekend she would read two chapters of the text book and spend the week taking practice exams on her phone
while at soccer practice, while sitting in doctors offices, waiting for her kids at school, etc.

After about six weeks she took the exam and got 35 right out of 35 questions. No fuss no muss.

I got a big hug and as she left she told me that she was going to buy the General text book the next day.

I hope this helps.

* Did you know that you can access the internet via your ham radio? Yupper. So if the internet goes down via your
   cable line into your house/business, you can access it via your ham radio. Cool huh? 

[JohnyMac]

yupper you are correct Jackalope, we did talk about taxes too. LOL.

Thanks for your time! 

[Kbop]

Great Start and great write up JM!

[gadget99]

Getting the family to study for their licenses ATM.

Hopefully we will get it all sorted this year and then will hit the airwaves.

[pkveazey]

I tuned in to the Unchained Preppers Net and was sorely disappointed. Everyone was crammed up about 1.5 Khz apart and the interference with each other was horrific. Also I never heard anyone Identify the net, so I didn't know which conversation was the Net. I tune in to The Amateur Preparedness Radio Net (TAPRN) on Sundays at 9 pm on 80 meters (3.818) in winter and 40 meters (7.242) in summer. If you are looking for a prepper net on the east coast, its a good one. However, the prepping subject matter is lame from time to time. Also, there are often about 30 people checking in and you might have to wait quite a while to be called on to talk. AA4BZ (Ruth) is the host and she handles the net like a pro.

[JohnyMac]

Thanks for the heads up on Ruth's net pkveazey. I will try to make it tonight.

Yeah it was just Jackalope and I on our attempt to start a net however that is OK. Heck Rome wasn't built in a day you know. 

We will have another one in a couple of weeks and do a better job identifying it as a net. Like we did this time we started at 3.968 Mhz and went up the frequency until we found clean air.

I will ask at this time if there are others who can/would like to participate? Jackalope and I are in....Are you (The general "you" that is)?

Ciao. 

[JohnyMac]

FYI...I just checked into this evening's net that pkveazey wrote about earlier on this subject.

There were A LOT of folks in the cue and I was at the end but all good.

The topic tonight was water/water supply.

The net started on time at 2100 hrs EDT and ended at ~2245 EDT. My guess is there was about 30 folks in the cue to chat but not all spoke or some dropped off.

As was mentioned, Ruth net control, did a great job however her call sign is AC4BZ not AA4BZ. She is out of GA. and really did a great job moving things along.

[pkveazey]

Oops.... Sorry about that AA thing. I know Ruth is AC. I guess I just like hitting the A key. Last night's topic was one of the good ones. I was surprised by the number of people who signed in as Short Timers. Usually, the band shifts and she loses a few in the noise. Ruth is pretty good about not getting into everybody's weapon preference, so self protection is mentioned but she doesn't encourage folks to get all specific about what they have. She does get into exit routes, bugging in, bugging out, security equipment, etc, but most of the time the subject matter is about off the grid self sufficiency. She comes on about 8 o'clock and starts taking early checkins. I try to check in early so I can have my say without waiting all night.

[JohnyMac]

Again thx for the recommendation pkveazey 

With that written, I would really like to get a Unchainedpreppers net up and running. My reasoning is I feel we need to have an additional check-in/rally-point/communication-point when the SHTF.

I know that there are at least a half dozen folks that are UP members that have a FCC ticket and could participate. If you do not have a ticket but know a friend who has one, invite yourself over to their house the next call to participate which is legal as long as he/she is present during the net. So yes, you can still participate.

On another note: I attend a 0800 EDT net that meets M-F using a 2 meter repeater a few times a week. Today one of the regulars of the net mentioned a webinar tonight at 2100 hrs EDT on EMP proofing your electronics. If you are interested here is the link. http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?m=1102755758632&ca=c3b21861-73b5-48d1-8610-cfa905c33deb

Anyhow the interesting part. After the regular mentioned the webinar he was partially shot-down by one of the other regulars who went off on a rant basically scolding folks who believe in EMP's, financial collapses, pandemics, etc. He felt that our government would protect us and it was just fear mongering to promote anything else.

Well the net went dead! So I spoke up and asked AB3CDE if he had ever heard of "normalcy bias?" If he hadn't he might want to look it up. When one of the more veteran regulars took over the net and changed the subject.

The point of this short (For me at least) story is an example of intelligent people out there putting way too much faith in a single entity...Our government.

Anyhow, 73's.....