Hello my friend ad welcome back! When the collapse comes and depending on where you are, communications with the outside world could be difficult. In today’s post we are going to look at a simple and affordable way to use satellites to communicate with the outside world. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and have a seat while we visit.
I think we all recognize the advantages of having a bug out location that is isolated from the rest of the world. In cases like this, finding out what is actually going on in the world could be difficult, if you’re not impossible especially if you are in a valley surrounded by hills even if you have a nice Ham radio setup. I mean sure you could use what is called an NVIS (Near Vertical Instance Skywave) antenna with your ham radio and reach out for about 500 to 600 miles around you even if you have obstructions to deal with or you could take advantage of Ham Radio Satellites that are in low orbit around the world. Many people don’t know about these or what many of them can do.
They are for the most part, small radio satellites that orbit the earth ever few hours and there is tons of software out there that can actually calculate when and where they will pass over your location. The one drawback to using them is that they pass very quickly and you will only be able to access them for a few minutes at a time. You can even transmit to them if you choose to do so. Just remember that if it is before the collapse, you will need a Ham radio license to do so.
So what do you need to accomplish the feat of magic you may ask? You would be surprised to learn that with a little ingenuity and about $50 bucks you can build what you need to both listen and talk for thousands of miles. To start with you will need a small handheld Ham radio transceiver that covers the VHF and UHF frequencies such as the Baofeng UV-5R which sells for about $30 on Amazon.com. Most of the satellites we are talking about use these frequencies to transmit and receive. Then next thing you will need is a small hand-held antenna which can be made out of a piece of wood and some metal coat hangers. The last item you will need is a short piece of coax to connect the antenna to the radio. Here is a link to an article on building the antenna http://makezine.com/projects/make-24/homemade-yagi-antenna/
The internet is loaded with videos and articles on just how to do it, so take the time now to learn how and to make the items you will need to do it. Because the signal is rebroadcast by the satellite, the range is incredible from space. I live in the southern US and have heard broadcast from Mexico and Africa on passing satellites. It will help you get beyond the local information to find out what is going on in the rest of the world as well. Even if information is being censored here in the US, it won’t be overseas. Now granted if we are hit with an EMP, then all bets are off but if not then the information that you get from it could just save your life. Well that is it for today and I hope you have enjoyed today’s post. Until next time, stay safe, stay strong and stay prepared! God Bless America!
-The Sargent-
