Communications

[MrB]

Yeah, if there was a way a radio would be 100% reliable in transmission and receive and heard all around the world, I would buy it... But as of the moment, CB and HAM works if you follow the basic rules of BIGGER IS BETTER!!! I will be the guy post-Z Day that is lugging a base CB up a water tower to get heard farther! lol

-Chaz

OK Chaz, I'll come and get you...but I'm not climbing the damned tower...you'll have to come down on your own.

Hey, gates every couple feet that I can lock, I'll be dang near zombie proof! lol

-Chaz

Unless they have a higher elevation that they can fall from on top of you.... :O!!!!

[Chazman321]

I had a Cobra handheld once, I was lucky to get a mile out... My Galaxy starts breaking up a little at 15 miles on sideband putting out over 40 watts...

-Chaz

[MrB]

I have a CB radio in my truck, car, and soon to be in my house. however here shortly i am going to radio shack to pick up a cb walkie talkie. still the same 40 channel cb but more compact and with battery power thats rechargeable, and lasts a while. though it might not get perfect range, it will have more range than a gander mountain special set that even tho it says 30 miles only averages about ten. they are about 100 bucks and have weather and all that in them. something like that would not only work for patrol over long distances, but would also be great for communication to HQ and so on. say your scavenge convoy is 11 miles out. just out of range for your walkie talkie... the handheld cb's would allow you to talk clearly a ways past 11 miles. just a thought

Replying to bolded.

Good luck with that at phoneshack bud. I went there looking for cb equipment and they had 1-2 scanners and everything else is cellphones now.

best place would be amazon.com

[priell3]

I have a CB radio in my Jeep.

[fayettenamtrasnplant]

CB's are good for short to medium range. They are also very common which can be a blessing and a knife in your back. Just keep that in mind.

[Biohazed]

Radios I have covered ... I have the Following some are "Spares"

Galaxy DX99v - Jeep (Run with 18ft of Astatic coax and a 102" Whip)
Galaxy 949 - Saturn (Run on a Wilson 500 Magnet Mount)
Cobra 29 Classic - In the shop getting some mods done but spare.
Tram D42 - Spare
Kenwood TR-7850 2m FM Transmitter - Spare
Radio Shack 21-1679 Hand Held .... Just in case.

Also have 2 spare antennas (1 102" Steel Whip and 1 4ft Para Pacific Fiberglass Whip)

Will take a pic of the collection once the Cobra comes back from the shop in a week

[Chazman321]

My good friend is a certified HAM technician I'll make sure to keep up with him when the SHTF.

It's easier for a HAM to get on CB than CB to get on HAM... A lot of HAM people will be going down to CB freqs for whats going on around them, and then back up to HAM freqs to stage things on a larger level. HAM can talk all around the world most days, CB needs exactly right conditions... I picked Russia up one day, you should've seen Mrs. Chaz and my kids eyes when I told them where he was talking from and showed them on a map... lol


-Chaz

[panther223]

Hams would be much better than cb's If you had a base station and a couple of hand helds for LRRP and perimeter patrols that would be best. You take a HAM test for $25 and get a hand held for about $250 CB is good for about 3 miles?

i'm atruck driver so i have a couple of CB's and have in the past thought about HAM radio but unless you are at a base unit the mobile ones are expensive but should be in everyones plans to purchase at some point i think they have a CB/HAM deal but not sure its been a while since i looked into such things, i will check them out the next time i am at the truck stop

ETA: great idea for a post we should all be able to communicate and be able to join our forces if needed ....

[Biohazed]

HAMS would be good I agree but also on a SHTF situation the average person if any will be trying to broadcast for help on standard CB bands .... I think possibly another solution is to have a Nextel or I guess they are Sprint now PTT Phones ... that way range isn't an option for an initial coordination per sector or possibly state wide ... Granted they will not work forever in a SHTF as computerized billing and things like that will probably take affect on top of that as well as once Basic services shut down like power plants and things like that ...

[the_repeat]

I don't know what to look for when it comes to cb... I read in this about using dual antennas.... How exactly do you do that? Is there certain cbs that allow you to do this? I'm looking to do this with my rv.