# Scenario: Lights Out



## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

The last scenario I posted brought up a few points I hadn't considered. Thanks to everyone who contributed. Here's another one for your consideration...

You're sitting at home watching reruns of Hee Haw and drinking a warm Pabst Blue Ribbon (or whatever you do at home) when the lights go out. You get up, walk to the door and look out, and don't see any lights on anywhere. No house lights, no street lights, nothing. You get out your phone to find out what you can, and nada. No Signal. Clearly, this is more than a drunk knocking down a power line somewhere.

You conclude that it's probably a fairly widespread outage. No cell service means it could be something big. The lack of information puts you literally in the dark about what's going on. What do you do?


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

If it is dark and we plan on being up longer, break out the generator.

If the satellite is off or the tv and other electronics are not working...I think we would go into a Panic. Not the typical mild panic... I like to just skip ahead and go full blown panic. 

grab the flash light and start counting the bags of rice, tell wife to load the magazines for the rifles, strap on a headlamp and check the outside of the house


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## survival (Sep 26, 2011)

Fire up the ham radio to the emergency channels (ARES, MARS). At that point I'll know.


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## 6811 (Jan 2, 2013)

it will be defcon 2 at my house. then I would start rallying like minded neighbors to get on with the program. the non-believers will get a crash course on survival and they get to be the gatherers. 1st business of the day will be prepare to bug out, 2nd the neighborhood will be secured by the effort of everyone, everybody will be assigned with jobs or duties. 3rd is to obtain intel on what the heck is going on.


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

survival said:


> Fire up the ham radio to the emergency channels (ARES, MARS). At that point I'll know.


I'm guessing you have the means to power your ham gear?

This brings up an interesting point.... you won't always have enough information to make good decisions at first, but it's important to move fast if you have to move. So obviously, you need a way to get more information.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Turn on the 12VDC LED lights. Local FM country station is pretty good about local news so turn it on. Then go have a sammich.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

I am assuming that since cell and satellite is than my vehicles won't be working either. I would start by getting my basic short term outage kit out and get set up for the first few nights. Setup the generator to run the chest freezer and and we'll pump. Fill up the bathtub and any other containers I can find with water. I don't have a lot of gas to run it and am assuming it will work in this scenario. I will let the neighbors come to me for info. That is phase 1 of my plan.

Phase 2 starts when I run out of gas. Probably a couple weeks at most. By this time I would begin worrying about desperate neighbors. I would try to setup a mutual agreement to help watch out for eachother. Water is not a problem here because I have springs and a lake within a half mile and a good filtration system. Only issue is having to haul it all daily with a wagon. I'm good on food as well. I also garden every year and get more veggies than we can eat and can. Lots of livestock out here too. 

Phase 3 is the realization that total wrol has set in and the lights aren't coming back on. This is the scariest part. I would really be worried about a golden horde situation of people flocking out of the cities. I am 35 miles from the nearest one with a population over 100k. Long term homesteading would be the daily norm. Hopefully the worst people will have killed eachother off by this time. I would just hope for the best and try to help the neighbors. We are all country out here so I think the chances for survival are better.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Time for bed. Dogs are the alarm. Have flash light and personal protection at the ready as usual. Have solar power radio for in the morning if necessary. Always did plan on bugging in. Will further evaluate rationing and use of supplies in the morning.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Don't live in the City so may not even notice the others. But Use back up power sit tight wait.


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

I would turn on my battery powered scanner. The phone has no signal, so it must be on, and not emp.


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## sargedog (Nov 12, 2012)

The last time the power was out here at night, I got the best nights sleep I had in a long time. If power is still off in the morning I will set out the oil lamps, dig out blankets and the Mr. Buddy if it's winter time, battery powered fans summer. I may actually talk face to face to people again, nah I don't want to get too carried away. My friend and I talk all the time about what if we had to go back to the ole days. She and I grew up poor so we remember what it was like to have chicken noodle soup as a special break from beans and cornbread. We decided we would do just fine. As for guns there are no children here so ALL firearms are already loaded. I will miss y'all though.


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## whoppo (Nov 9, 2012)

Prepadoodle said:


> I'm guessing you have the means to power your ham gear?
> 
> This brings up an interesting point.... you won't always have enough information to make good decisions at first, but it's important to move fast if you have to move. So obviously, you need a way to get more information.


Any ham worth his/her salt can power his/her gear without commercial power


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

That is a regular occurance where we live. Could be anything from a blown transformer to a pine tree blowing in the wind contacting a power line.
It happens several times a month, no big deal, just part of life out beyond the end of the black top.


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

Prepadoodle said:


> The last scenario I posted brought up a few points I hadn't considered. Thanks to everyone who contributed. Here's another one for your consideration...
> 
> You're sitting at home watching reruns of Hee Haw and drinking a warm Pabst Blue Ribbon (or whatever you do at home) when the lights go out. You get up, walk to the door and look out, and don't see any lights on anywhere. No house lights, no street lights, nothing. You get out your phone to find out what you can, and nada. No Signal. Clearly, this is more than a drunk knocking down a power line somewhere.
> 
> You conclude that it's probably a fairly widespread outage. No cell service means it could be something big. The lack of information puts you literally in the dark about what's going on. What do you do?


Wait, no lights, no power? It must be Thursday.

This is a common occurrence where we live, at the far end of the electrical system. Power outages at least once a month, and cell phone coverage is spotty. The land line usually does work, however.

What would I do? Light a candle & read a book.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

OP mentions that my cell has no signal. I'll take that as it still has power ( probably not an EMP, but I wouldn't rule out a CME just yet )

My NOAA alert radio has backup batteries in it, so I would wander to the kitchen, press the big button on the radio to see if the weather reports are still broadcasting. If they are broadcasting, then I know the problem is not so bad that I need to crap my pants.

At this point, I'm not really concerned. I'd turn on my FM radio to the 24/7 news channel, then go about my business reacting to the power outage.

I have a woodstove to light, if I need the heat. And, I have flashlights, glow sticks, and candles for lighting. I have a portable power module to run my CPAP. 

For safety, I'd clear off my stove, and turn off my computers. This is something I was trained to do.

I'd go to bed, and wait until morning. The alert radio should do the trick if someone needs to alert me.

The next day, if the power was still out. I'd pull out my generator and start powering my freezer a few hours each day. My goal is to have 25 gallons of fuel for the generator in 2,5 gallon containers. I am not there yet but I already have 6 containers.

I have 2 hugemungous propane tanks that can heat my home if I had electricity.......OOPS, this reminds me, I have been meaning to get my BBQ connected to the large tanks. Currently, if I don't have the fuel for my BBQ, I'd have to cook on the woodstove or firepit.

In general,
with firewood, I won't freeze or starve
with the generator, my freezers won't thaw, and my electronics will have a source to recharge
Without the generator, I would still be able to manage to recharge the powerpack for the CPAP

Hmmm.....just a thought, my snowblower has a headlight, I wonder if it could be used to charge batteries instead of running the V8 on the truck.

Thanks, Prepadoodle. I think you've given me 2 'to dos'.


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

Interesting that the responses so far range from, "go back to bed" to "round up the militia."

2 Prepadoodle approval points to anyone who deduced it's probably not an EMP. The cell phone works, just no signal.

2 Additional PAPs to those who have the means to gather more intel before doing much of anything.

I would go to bed and see what the morning brings.

I wouldn't blame anyone for bugging out here if bugging out is your plan. If yer gonna go, go early. I'm wondering though... say you do bug out and make it to your BOL. Do you have a way to find out what's going on from your BOL? I'm sure you have all heard stories about Japanese soldiers on remote Pacific islands coming out of hiding 30 years after the war... you don't want to be one of those, do you?

OK, I have to respect those guys. Surviving 30 years with nothing but what you have on your back is quite the accomplishment!


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

At this point it could be anything, from a simple outage to full on EMP attack. I would treat it as a simple power outage until I found out differently. So break out the oil lamps and a good book, have a night cap and go to bed early.


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## Spice (Dec 21, 2014)

My only immediate action was to consider where immediate family was. And since I hadn't been sure if the cell phone was out or just no signal, check on some other bitz of electronics to see if they're working. Other stuff is working. Oh, there's Mr. Salty reading a book. Set one of the solar flashlights by the bed and gNite. Our heat doesn't require electricity.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

It is interesting to think of the scenario as an emp event. What would yall do then?


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

Grunt like a caveman? Delaying the inevitable.


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

That is bug out worthy...20 min pack and role plan.


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

Arklatex said:


> It is interesting to think of the scenario as an emp event. What would yall do then?


I would try to die as slowly as possible.

My current location isn't all that survivable long term. I'm one of the leaders in our local neighborhood watch. They don't know it, but they are my "prepper group." (information in my group is on a "need to know" basis, and I'm the only one who needs to know at this point)

I think there's a good chance we could hold down the fort here for a few months until things settled down a bit. I do have some stuff pre-positioned on the Appalachian trail not far from here as plan B. Eventually, I would try to make my way west to some place that can grow more food than it can eat, like Kansas. One of my old Cav buddies has a farm there, and he says I would be welcome.

I have a pretty decent skill set, including a lot of experience roughing it in the woods, so I put my odds of making it alive at maybe 20%.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

Only 20%??


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Arklatex said:


> It is interesting to think of the scenario as an emp event. What would yall do then?


Mrs Slippy jokingly said that something like an EMP would be good for me...I'll lose those few pounds I've been trying to lose and probably get off the mild meds that I'm on. Plus she says, "Slippy, you can finally use those damn pikes you've been sharpening the last few years!"


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Light the oil lamps. Throw another log on the fire and go back to my book. "IF" I was nervous maybe load a couple extra mags and dig the "hammer" out of the safe.


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

Arklatex said:


> Only 20%??


Yes, I'm an optimist!

I'm in my mid 50s. I would expect to have to walk most of the way, scrounging food and dodging crazies and slipping past roadblocks and stuff while avoiding drones and FEMA and zombies and God knows what else. One mistake, one injury, one small miscalculation and it might be all over for me. I might not physically make the trip. Shoot, so much can go wrong. And to make it, everything has to go right.

So OK, 10% chance then.

But I am a stubborn son of a bitch, so I'll give it my best shot.


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

Arklatex said:


> It is interesting to think of the scenario as an emp event. What would yall do then?


Get the town leaders together and organize sanitation & water for the town. Can't have people crapping anywhere they like. Beyond that, it's about a novel's worth of stuff.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

Im not so sure that an emp can do the damage that they say it will.

Even the CME that took out telegraph wires in the 1800s, the world has seen events twice that strong with minimal effect. I believe Quebec lost power for 8 hours, the rest of the continent was fine.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I'm not sure of your info. A Super Solar Flare - NASA Science

To my knowledge, there has not been any events *to hit the earth* like the one in 1859. I know there have been real big ones in the last 10 years but they didn't hit us. They missed by a few billion miles. The ones that do hit us, also have to hit with the right polarity. If they hit with the same polarity as the earth's magnet field, it gets bounced around us. If it hits us in the opposite polarity of the field, well, that's why I prep.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

paraquack said:


> I'm not sure of your info. A Super Solar Flare - NASA Science
> 
> To my knowledge, there has not been any events *to hit the earth* like the one in 1859. I know there have been real big ones in the last 10 years but they didn't hit us. They missed by a few billion miles. The ones that do hit us, also have to hit with the right polarity. If they hit with the same polarity as the earth's magnet field, it gets bounced around us. If it hits us in the opposite polarity of the field, well, that's why I prep.


Fair enough. I don't know much about it.

I do know that I was on a site, maybe NASA, where the article described the 1859 as a perfect storm, ie several phenomena had to happen at the same time. I wish I could understand the guy, when I specifically went looking for the items that made up the perfect storm, his writing style confused me....or he didn't articulate. imagine that.


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## Suntzu (Sep 22, 2014)

Common here. Light some candles, grab a case of beer and/or a bottle of wine and go outside and join the blackout party.

No whole house backup generator yet, one coming before this hurricane season I hope.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Prepadoodle said:


> The last scenario I posted brought up a few points I hadn't considered. Thanks to everyone who contributed. Here's another one for your consideration...
> 
> You're sitting at home watching reruns of Hee Haw and drinking a warm Pabst Blue Ribbon (or whatever you do at home) when the lights go out. You get up, walk to the door and look out, and don't see any lights on anywhere. No house lights, no street lights, nothing. You get out your phone to find out what you can, and nada. No Signal. Clearly, this is more than a drunk knocking down a power line somewhere.
> 
> You conclude that it's probably a fairly widespread outage. No cell service means it could be something big. The lack of information puts you literally in the dark about what's going on. What do you do?


Stay cocked and locked and if Obummer or some of his pals show up be ready to rumble.


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## Spice (Dec 21, 2014)

If it were an EMP? Bummer. For the short term, all our household needs to do is set up the composting toilet. We're ok for water, food, heat, immediate defense, some light. Set up the solar panel and find out if the Faraday cage really worked to arrange for more light and communication. Start work on helping out the neighbors. Set up for guests, since we have heat. There will be people congregating at the civic buildings; go there to start teaching neighbors how to build their own composting toilets. 

Ideas for the community; probably someone else will pick them up if suggested: Work on getting the neighbor with the wagon and team together with one of the guys with a fresh stock tank so we can bring water from a nearby clean source. Arrange horse-drawn transport to the closest silo that still has corn so people will be ok for food for a bit. Talk to my school teacher friends about recruiting kids to serve as bike runners to improve communication. We're not going to head out into the woods in mid-winter, so it's all about helping our community function together. There's few enough of us and enough resources; it'd still suck but there'd be lots worse places to be.


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

So you manage to get more information and find out it's not an EMP... it was an all-out cyber attack. Our entire electric grid, all of the satellites, and the entire cell phone infrastructure are basically toast. All banking systems are hopelessly scrambled. Worse, you start hearing rumors about foreign troops along the Mexican border.

How does this information change your plans?


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

For me, . . . no change. We got the transistor radio out, . . . could not get any signal in English, . . . some faint mumbo-jumbo stations.

That makes it wide spread, . . . big time.

1st: Do inventory of fuels, . . . especially gasoline, . . . drain all the little ones into the bigger ones, . . . get them into lock down.

2nd: Get generator up and running, . . . pull my electric meter (when it comes back on, it may be goofy, . . . don't want it frying the only appliances and things I have).

3rd: Locate all door blocking material, . . . get rear and front doors secured, . . . leaving only one door in / out, . . . on the side, . . . into the carport.

4th: Go out to the reloading shop, . . . finish up any quickly done reloading that can be done in a couple of hours, . . . move reloading stuff back into the house.

5th: Depending on season, . . . will have to probably break up some stuff for cooking wood. While I'm doing this, . . . wife will be going to our 6 neighbors within 1/4 mile, . . . seeing if anyone there has more info.

6th: Take time out for a good season of prayer, . . . sit back and see where it goes from here.

At this point, . . . we would either know, . . . or not know, . . . and until some credible intel comes in, . . . my AO is my house and land, . . . I'll be armed, . . . and if I can, I'll be watching eagerly for the next deer that passes through. He/she will become jerky / dinner / trade goods.

While watching for the deer, . . . will also be watching the only one road into our AO.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## Spice (Dec 21, 2014)

Doesn't much. Immediate needs are the same, except motivation to protect what fuel we've got, and the fact we can use tractors and their power take-offs for some immediate needs. I am gonna see if the friend's truck that runs on vegetable oil is fixable. 

Rumors of troops along the Texas border are 1) likely just rumors. The troops required for an effective invasion of the continental US as a whole couldn't have been hidden 2) Too far away to be an immediate concern. With this level of crisis, we concern ourselves with getting immediate and local needs managed, before we can spare attention for the source of the attack.


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## Tennessee (Feb 1, 2014)

Since the TV is not working then I guess some one on one time with the wife.


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## Notsoyoung (Dec 2, 2013)

I have several battery/hand generator radios with SW capability. Before going into a panic mode and thinking that a big SHTF event has happened, get informed. With the situation given, it could be nothing more then a localized power outage and the the local land line switching office's emergency power system failed, and yes, that can affect cell phones if that happens. Generally speaking a cell site from your cell provider is a radio transceiver that transmit to your cell phone and receives signals from it, sends that signal via a leased T-1 through the LOCAL land line switching office which connects it to your cell phone provider's switch where it is possessed. 

In other words, if your local land line provider's backup power system fails, it is very possible that it would also affect both your land line phones and your cell phones. Before going into some type of super defensive mode, get informed (intel) as to what exactly is going on. By the way, if you have a battery operated radio and can't pick up any transmissions from any location, that is intel also (hint: It's not good).


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

Break out the Dynamo powered radio have a kid power it up for a few while I load the shot gun and pocket some shells. Get a candle or 3 on go over the emergency bags and get them by everyone's bed. Make sure the truck runs. Load the bed with some food water and ammo and shelter. Get ready to run really. Give the kid some ice for his arm. Get some steaks out of the freezer and everyone will have some milk cheese and a nice cut of beef. Turn on the radio find a station that's on and gather Intel. Check with the neighbours. Share info. Lock everything down have a glass of vodka and call it a night. See what the next day brings.


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

I have LED emergency lights on all floors that will come on and are good for 7 to 8 hours. I will turn on my battery radio and listen to the police
and fire frequency and see if I can figure out what is going on. 

Warm Pabst? Yuck!

OK - just found out it's not an EMP but everything is down. I think in this scenario the possibility of longer outage exists and no matter what we will be very conservative
in what we use. I will set-up the generator's but use them very sparingly. Hopefully the natural gas will still work at least for awhile, if not I will set up portable stoves.
We have plenty of water on hand and if weather is cold I'll initially light one kero heater. I will break out some candles but I will mainly use solar lights for interior lighting.
I will get with a few like minded neighbors and get us all on the same page and kick in our street watch. My motion sensors are battery powered so they'll still work fine 
and I have a cheap night vision device I'll get out and ready. Weapons, I'm set even before any outage, I'm always ready! I guess at this point try to gather any intel as it slowly
becomes available.

We went thru a just shy of 9 days outage awhile back and it was a very good test for us! To be honest it wasn't any big deal and we did just fine! Prepping works and I think we would
be fine be it 9 days, 39 days, or longer! Now if attacked from the outside we'll be ready and see how that goes?


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 25, 2014)

Okay, lights go out everywhere as far as I can see.

Short term: I have a whole shelf full of candles, flashlights, and illumination devices for camping, all on a shelf in the garage (right by the door, just past the gas masks.) So we'd have light. We also have a buncha tablets and devices including a cellular hotspot. If I still did not have connectivity I would check and see if any of my vehicles started. Was this EMP or just a brown out? I always keep a spare cannister of propane (in addition to the one on the bbq already) so I can cook for a month. Short term water supply includes fifty 2liter jugs stored in the cool darkness of the garage (to prevent the sun from breaking down the plastic PCBs.)

Long term: If this is EMP then it's stone age. That's a whole nother situation. But if it's just a massive blackout, even a chronic one, I would rewire my solar from on-the-grid, to off-the-grid. I'd have power during the day, and UPS devices at night until I murdered the neighbors and took their batteries and tooth fillings. I got 14,500 gallons of water, and a ton of porn and books on tablet. The real question would be what recipe is best for human flesh? I hear we're salty, so I'd want to use a low-sodium curry rub most likely. When I run out of chapstick I will make balm out of ass-fat.


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

Ralph Rotten said:


> When I run out of chapstick I will make balm out of ass-fat.


Nothing like a good ass-fat lip balm!

We have determined that it was a massive cyber attack that knocked out the grid, banking systems, and communications... probably long term. Rumors are flying hot and heavy. It's the second coming of Christ! No, it's an alien invasion! No, North Korea is invading along the Mexican border!

How best to gather intel and how do we separate the wheat from the chaff? Who can you trust to provide reliable information?

There is a prepper HAM network and communications plan, do you know how to access it?


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

SHTF Prepper Radio Frequency Lists


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

survival said:


> Fire up the ham radio to the emergency channels (ARES, MARS). At that point I'll know.


BINGO! And then I start pinging repeaters to get the word out.


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

You HAM guys seem to have a language all your own. I'm fairly certain it's a form of tongues.

I do have a small Sony "World Band" receiver that came in a case with some extra do-dads and thingies. This was given to me, so I'm not exactly sure what I can do with it. It does have an impressive number of buttons and seems to be well built, so maybe this would do something for me?

Is there some way you can translate from HAM to, you know, normal language and let the rest of us know what we would need to listen to you HAM guys if we needed to? (not that we would understand a word you're saying)


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## Makwa (Dec 19, 2014)

Probably wouldn't notice at first between solar and generator. Where we live you can't see any other lights at night anyways, unless it is crystal clear out and then we may notice if the light on a distant radio tower is working. Don't see anyone for days at a time anyways. Probably find out something big is wrong if the internet is down for an extended period and the cell phone, but the cell service sucks anyways and our internet goes down frequently at the best of times. Would then fire up the Ham/CB radio and see what we can find out.

Then again, if it is in the winter we are likely to say isn't it nice and peaceful, throw another stick on the fire and go back to reading our books. No phone calls or tv/internet or visitors is a good thing.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 25, 2014)

A blackout can be dealt with. Syria, Iraq, and most of Africa have rolling blackouts and inconsistent power. They survive.

But an EMP event that fries microcircutry...that really screws you because you can;t even fix the tool you need to fix the stuff that you need to eat. Even the HAM net would be fired. If you don;t live in an agricultural zone then you would starve.


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## Makwa (Dec 19, 2014)

If you don't have anything protected then yes an EMP would make a lot of things into boat anchors, if you have them in the first place........... and I would hope that most on here are prepared to protect their essential items in that event.

Honestly, I don't think you can compare the masses form Syria, Iraq and most of Africa with the so called western countries. With exceptions, most are routinely use to living without many of the things we westerners take for granted. Outside of the big cities many still live without power and pack water in buckets and masonry jugs from the community well or nearby river/creek. They burn wood if it is around, but more often dried manure from livestock to stay warm at night if they live in an area that actually gets some winter weather. They grow most of their staples and run few goats. In the big cities of Asia millions survive by scrounging and growing little food plots, stealing and doing menial jobs for the haves, but still do not have running water, power or flush toilets. Just the well to do have the nice stuff.

In North America people weathered the dirty 30's fairly well, but that was back when a good chunk of the population were still rural and everyone still knew how to grow a garden and get by. Post WW II the urbanization agenda kicked in and now the majority of the population are city dwellers and many generations removed from the land. Most could not find their butts with both hands if you take them away from the GPS unit in their car that tells them how to get to a destination and pizza delivery at home for all of the essential food groups. If their smart phone won't let them text or tweet they will sink into a deep depression and lose the ability to function.

An EMP or an extended blackout would mean very little change in many parts of the world with those who spend their whole lives just scrapping by. They do most everything with hand tools anyways and entertainment at night is someone in the family singing or reading the Koran. In North America either of them would be devastating to about 80% of the population. They don't even survive blackouts well, and either turn into animals or victims. An EMP would compound everything to be sure............ but just a lack of electricity for an extended period of time is all it would take to see a societal meltdown, cause almost no one is prepared and most of the population is jammed into cities like rats in a cage.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 25, 2014)

So mebbe we should be watching these 3rd world nations for prepping tips. I betcha the Palestinians are awesome preppers.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

I wouldn't call them preppers, they are expert survivalists. Most of the survival books I've read always stress paying attention to how the locals in 3rd world crapholes get their food and water. When in Rome do as the Romans do.


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## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

Ralph Rotten said:


> So mebbe we should be watching these 3rd world nations for prepping tips.


Exactly right! Their infrastructure will keep them going when ours is fried. There are simple technologies that 3rd world countries use to produce fuel, food, cook, and maintain clean water and hygiene. Methane generators/compressed animal dung for cooking fuel. Solar ovens when wood is not available. Mud ovens. Tippy taps. Biosand filters. The list goes on. The more we can use similar systems, the more prepared we will be.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

great idea but lets know how to repair what we have


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## Spice (Dec 21, 2014)

tinkerhell said:


> great idea but lets know how to repair what we have


Instead of 'repair', I'd put 'replace'. I got much less concerned with batteries when we got a few solar-powered items. If you build it into your preps from the beginning...I'd say you're more prepared.


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

Prepadoodle said:


> You HAM guys seem to have a language all your own. I'm fairly certain it's a form of tongues.
> 
> I do have a small Sony "World Band" receiver that came in a case with some extra do-dads and thingies. This was given to me, so I'm not exactly sure what I can do with it. It does have an impressive number of buttons and seems to be well built, so maybe this would do something for me?
> 
> Is there some way you can translate from HAM to, you know, normal language and let the rest of us know what we would need to listen to you HAM guys if we needed to? (not that we would understand a word you're saying)


You are soooooooo right about that! And it does sound intimidating at first but it really is simple - remember, radio is a lot of 1932 technology with a few modern tweaks.

So here goes...
ARES: Amateur Radio Emergency Service - ARES
Organization of hams that voluntarily use their own equipment and time to maintain communications in the event of a disaster. You remember when 9-11 hit and they scrambled all of the government to secret locations and ran a "shadow government" that didn't operate out of the white house or congress? Same concept. Except with this, when your TV Stations and cell towers go down, the internet fails, and the grid tanks, the ARES people have a "shadow network" of radios to keep information flowing. If you are a licensed ham operator, you can get training and become a member or you can just listen to their traffic for info.

MARS: Military Auxiliary Radio Service - MARS | Home Just like ARES but this is a section of amateur radio works with the military. Only through MARS are hams able to communicate with the military on military bands and only during a coordinated test or actual emergency. A lot of the things that happen in movies like Red Dawn, and Independence Day would never become a reality because MARS would keep the military and population in more close alignment.

Repeaters: Ham Radios don't have "channels" like a CB or FRS/GMRS does. Ham radios are open to tune a frequency, like 446.1500MHz. If you and I are on that same freq, we can talk and anyone else that is on that freq can participate. But there are literally hundreds of thousands of possible combinations, so the odds of other people being on that same frequency are slim. If you are on 446.*1500* and I'm on 446.*9600* then we aren't going to hear each other even though we are fractions of a mega-heartz off. That allows for a lot of potentially unobstructed direct communication from point A to point b (simplex) but sucks for communicating with a lot of people. A repeater is a radio that listens on one frequency and broadcasts on another - repeating what it hears on the first one onto the second one. It allows one person to reach multiple people kind of like an internet chat room or forum. And some are linked so you get a wide area coverage. I tried to find a link for this one but they were all written by fat old white men that bitch about change and have too many antennas on their cars - in other words they were all very dry technical documents that read like poorly constructed white papers.

So it does all sound like a separate language but it is really very simple and robust and works really well when nothing else does. Modern radios (especially handhelds and mobile car units) use such little power that they can run very efficiently on a solar / battery set up. That means they can be a 21st century tool that exists well beyond a long term lights out scenario.

If you think about automobiles, they are great, but 90% will probably be dead 3 months after the SHTF. No gas, no oil, no antifreeze, no tires - all of the consumables will render them obsolete fairly quickly. Guns? Same thing. I figure they will be around for about 5 years after SHTF before we run out of powder and lead and have to resort to slingshots. But radio could be here for 20 or 30 years post SHTF if you have a car battery and a solar panel or two. That is an entire generation. The only thing that will outlive that are LED light-bulbs and our ability to make alcohol. That's why mastering the radio has been such an imperative for me lately.


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