Walkie-Talkies?

Doomsday Prepper Forums

Help Support Doomsday Prepper Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I haven't heard about anyone doing a hands-on test of these new AnyTone radios, but they appear to be the first (Actually LEGAL) ham radio HT radios to operate on the GMRS band. They claim to have FCC type acceptance for part 95 MURS and GMRS. Not having FRS means the antenna can be replaced with a much better antenna system. http://www.amazon.com/OBLTR-8R-Amat...ef=sr_1_1?s=car&ie=UTF8&qid=1426011863&sr=1-1

I strongly suggest at least one or two (one is none and two is one) people in your MAG get HAM licenses. and your group should have at least a few of these "legal" radios around.
 
If we ever got a SHTF here in Australia that knocked out mobile phone communications i would be utilising MF/HF radio seeing as i have access to a marine HF radio capable of transmitting on frequencies outside the normal allocation given to me as a coastal station this would only happen if per say Australia were ever to experience another air raid or raids by an enemy force who launch attacks in close range which is highly unlikely but not impossible
 
I use my HAM equipment, FRS, GMRS, and even CB. All have there ups and downs, but you can't go wrong with amateur radio.
 
The straight up answer is that you may be able to talk to your next door neighbor but not the house on the other side of them. None of these radios will follow curve of the earth, so they are limited to 6 miles (potential) with no trees, buildings or other obstructions. More power will help "push" though some obstructions like buildings and trees, but with the useless antenna on EACH and EVERY FRS approved radio, you will be lucky to get more than your next door neighbor if both are indoors. I use these radios for running trip-wire sensors and motion detector sensors on likely approach routes, but the range is very limited.
A pure GMRS radio (if you can find one), allows replaceable antenna, but any radio that includes FRS approval or "Type Acceptance" must, by law, have a non-removeable antenna that is deliberately stunted in the ability to resonate or radiate at the transmitter frequencies. The biggest problem I have with these walkie talkies (even if I could find one that is purely GMRS, is they cost more than a HAM radio. It may not be entirely legal to transmit with your UV5R or Wouxun KG-UV8D radio on MURS, GMRS frequencies, but it has the capability. In fact, most of the little HAM dual bander HT radios will transmit on commmercial and public service frequencies as well if you configure them to.
Great answer. I agree.
 
Legality won't mean anything post SHTF..... ;)
True. I have no argument with the fact that in a world without the rule of law, there will not be an FCC. However, like all your other preps, practice ahead of time is vital. I think you should practice every skill and test every tool in as real a scenario as you can. Keeping things legal and getting your license (which is easy and cheap to do) enables you to practice a lot of comms scenarios right out in the open. HAM radio operators are just about always trying new ways to make their stuff portable. There's even a new sport in the HAM community called the "Shoot and Scoot" contests. This is where you set up a portable station, make one or more contacts, break it down and move a certain minimum distance before repeating the process. The distance depends on whether you are afoot or in vehicles. (Doesn't this sound like advice from the A. American series "Going Home"?)

My best example of not actually trying things out in as real a situation as possible came soon after I returned from service. My boss invited me to go camping one winter. He told me he had everything set up and all I needed to bring was a really warm sleeping bag because the mountains were very cold where we were headed. I had a goose down sleeping bag from when I was in high school and it was incredibly warm to sleep in. Being wise (or so I thought) I pulled the bag out at home and made sure it still lofted to the full 8" or so of thickness and checked it for tears or voids in the fill. I verified the zippers all worked. I washed and dried the cotton flannel liner so I would sleep comfortably. All the way to the mountains, I was full of confidence in my preparations. My confidence was not shaken until I stripped down to my tightie whities that first evening with an outside temperature in the low twenties (well within the range for my 5 degree bag). Drawing the zipper up, I found that my shoulders had expanded over the 20 years since I had last actually slept in this bag. I spent the entire night with my upper body outside the bag because try as I might, the bag would no longer reach around my shoulders. I covered my chest with my jacket and re-evaluated my notions about what constitute preparedness.

My suggestion is that without a lot of practice, that radio is going to be as useful as a three hole brick. One other thing to ponder. As you (and hopefully your group) practice with the radios during other drills and exercises, you will come up with a more solid plan for how to best use them in your own circumstances.
 
The two I have a small but don't reach maybe half a mile but so far they work for what we need.
 
We're also having CB as an option. It's really all about what range works for what. My truck already has a CB so we're getting one for the house to be ready for use in a situation. Doesn't take SHTF to knock out cell. Remember 911? It's a bit better now, but even a local emergency can prevent their use.
 
I just found a guy locally that's really into ham radio. He has two fifty ft antennas and a whole outbuilding dedicated to electronics. He's retired and this has become a full time hobby for him. He wants me to do some work on his antennae with my bucket truck, I'm not sure what yet, but he said a couple hours anyways. I mentioned the baofeng radio and how I haven't gotten one as I didn't know how to program it. He said he'd do it no problem! I'll order one ASAP, and I'm looking forward to seeing and learning more about his setup.
 
Short range is right. I bought a pair that claimed a 26 mile range. Which I knew was BS, but I was hoping for a couple miles at least. I paid over $100 a pair. In a clearing where I could still see my wife, no more than a 1/4 mile away, it was beyond their range. Don't waste your money on this junk. Even a couple handheld CB's would be better.
 
I just cant qualify the expense on something that has such a short range and will probably sit unused in a drawer until the day TSHTF. i'm no radio ham either and I don't understand all the technical mumbo jumbo that goes with these things.
 
I understand your point of view bigpaul. Each of us has to weigh things and assign priorities and for some, the need to communicate may be so far down the list as to not matter.

Not too long ago I thought maintaining adequate food supplies and defensive resources were the highest priorities for me. I started pondering a few of the ways things could melt down in this world and realized two flaws in my plans.

No matter how well armed you are, you are not going to be able to defend yourself against the federal government. It isn't going to happen. I don't want to ever be on the side that tries such a move as it would be suicide unless undertaken at the multi-state level. When it comes to criminal threats, even a group of people will have holes in their security and no amount of ammunition can overcome human error. A group large enough to have a full-time protective team (police department?) is pretty big indeed when you are reduced to subsistence living.

The other flaw was one of food supplies. Do you prep for two years of eating? What happens when relatives show up after an event? What about your neighbors? No matter how adamant you are right now that nobody gets added later, there will be someone with a skill set your group needs badly enough to include them. I don't want to crawl into a bunker until whatever happens is over, then emerge to find, what? Socialism? Communism? Fascism? A world returned to the law of the jungle? None of those options are satisfactory to me. If you reject any of those possibilities, then the best time to stop them is before they happen. Once in place, such a world might require hundreds of years to restore a federalist republic. We still prep for food security, it just isn't the number one priority any longer.

My wife and I moved to a small enough town to be way down on any lists for big brother control and not on the way to or from anyplace in particular (47 miles from the nearest freeway). Our plan is to bug in right here along with contingency options for temporarily relocating for brief periods. Our neighbors are not all preppers, so we are trying to develop plans with those who are for how to organize first our neighborhood, then our town for self-sufficiency.

Post SHTF, things are not going to be easy for anyone and there will be some members of the free-s#@t army who insist on causing troubles. They might just find themselves hanging around just outside town. Meanwhile, the rest of us will need to have a means to communicate over a five mile radius or so to include some scouting options. As time goes on, we'll want to normalize relations with our neighboring communities and communications will be important for that.

For my own uses, I am looking at a tiered approach to communications. Shortwave listening will always play a part in intelligence gathering since you can listen to much of the world. For two-way communications, first our neighborhood (handheld radios whether FRS, GMRS, or HAM) Secondly our town (mobile radios with some low-utilization repeaters if practical, but otherwise setting up a radio relay system). Finally HF radio systems to increase our area of operations over time. HF radios are the only ones requiring any skill at all, so only a few members of your community need commit the time to study this. I would point out that getting an entry level HAM license requires only a week or so of reading the rules regarding what you can and cannot do, then taking a simple test (or just taking the free practice tests online for a few days until you have the answers down). The license is good for ten years and costs nothing to renew each decade.
 
Last edited:
Hams/alter comms certainly have its place pre-shtf and shortly afterwords though in a post-shtf I'm not sure if I would want to TX anything given it gives a degree of exposure, becoming a beacon or someone within the party falling for the red herrings or the straw mans attempt to compromise one's position. Tactically comms can become a lighted roadside sign to an otherwise safe place. Awareness ;)
 
Saying there wont be legalities post SHTF is just a week excuse to not learn how to use the gear you are buying.

And you are just stocking gear for someone else in that case
 

Latest posts

Back
Top