Hello, my friend and welcome back! No matter whether you are bugging in or bugging out, you need to have an Emergency Communications area in your shelter. I think most people realize the need for one but have no idea where to start on creating one. This is the subject of today’s post, so grab a cup of coffee, my friend, and have a seat while we visit.
Many areas of the world are seeing unusually large amounts of snow and rain lately. If you’re stuck in your home, how will you get information on the weather and which roads are clear if your power goes out? This is only one reason, among hundreds, to have an EOC (Emergency Operations Center) in you Bug Out Location (BOL)
Just imagine that Martial Law was declared and you couldn’t get reliable information on what is going on? We already know that the mainstream media is bought and paid for and only dishes out the propaganda the government wants. If you want real information you can trust, you’re going to need to go outside what you would normally use to get it.
So, how do you build an EOC for you and your groups use? Although it may seem difficult, it really isn’t. Let me show you how I have done mine and suggest how you might want to do yours. You’re going to want to set it up in a room with lots of room and several electrical outlets. It’s going to need good ventilation and preferably against an outside wall.
You need a table or desk to start with. Then place your desktop computer in there. I would recommend you have at least two monitors connected to it and more if you can. Why so many? That’s because each one will display certain data so you know where to look, when you need it. Remember it’s about information and communications as much as anything else. What you want to do is to be able to go directly to the information when you need it, without jumping through hoops.
On one of the computer monitors, you will want to display the weather radar for your location. Check with the National weather Service to find one. On another screen, you are going to want to display information from a semi reliable News Service. The reason I say semi-reliable is that you want to see what the Government is feeding the unwashed masses while filtering out some of the noise.
Ham Radios you are going to want to have in your room are HF, VHF, and UHF frequencies radios. Fortunately there are many on the market that can cover most of if not all of these in a single radio if that’s what you want. I personally have chosen to go with a separate radio for each so I can monitor more frequencies at a time.
Now don’t go out and spend a lot of money on radios, instead, check with your local Ham Radio clubs and find out where the next HamFest in your state will be. This is where you will find all of the radios you need, both new and used. Used radios work just as good as new ones do and they are a lot cheaper. You will be able to find pretty much anything you need there; it will also give you a chance to meet some of the local Hams. That’s good because it will give a face to go with some of the conversations you will hear on the radios.
When the world goes to hell, you will not need a license to operate the radios on the air, but until then you will need one if you want to transmit. You never need a license to just listen to what I being said. I do recommend that you get one however so you can practice using them before you must have them. Six and seven-year old children have passed the Technicians test, so it’s not that hard at all.
You are also going to want to add a good scanner to your radio collection so you can hear what’s going on with the local Cops and Emergency Services. I do recommend that you do get a good one that is “Trunked”. The box will tell you if it is or not. If you get one that isn’t, then you may not be able to hear your local Law Enforcement on it. It’s just something to be aware of when buying them.
Next thing you are going to need is to put together antennas for them. Don’t worry; you can make most of them yourself. This is another benefit of getting to know the local Ham radio operators. They can show you how to build them all for just a few bucks and even help you tune them to work with your radios. Unless you buy a premade multi-band antenna, you will need a separate antenna for each band you want to monitor.
Your almost done, and next week I will post a list of recommended frequencies you should monitor as well as post links to websites with information that you should find useful.
Well I guess that is it for today and I hope you have enjoyed it and the coffee. Until next time, stay safe, stay strong and stay prepared. God Bless America!
-Sarge-
You might want to touch on Winlink. An email system that works on you HAM radio. It is set up to work even if the internet is down. Requires only the basic Tech license (to get a call sign).
Sarge, you’re one of the few straight up writers on prepping any more. Thanks for the good intel.
Thanks Sgt. Looking Fwd to the next post
Add to your list a couple (or several) handheld transceivers that operate in the UHF/VHF bands. If you need communication with someone, such as a neighbor or an individual at a nearby observation post, then you are covered. It should go without saying that everyone needs to become proficient in the use of the radios, including the ability to program them. Also, you need to have sufficient battery power to be able to operate your handheld units for several days if it is otherwise impossible to recharge them with AC power. I hope you will address that in your follow-up article!
Yes I intend on touching on all of it in another part of this article. 🙂