So In All Out TEOTWAWKI or SHTF developing into it, Do You Contact Strangers or Not? I Say No Unless

ED GEiN · Jul 24, 2018

Thanks for all your answers. I like the idea of monitoring only. I'll be checking out the links mentioned as well this week. Sounds more than helpful.

azrancher · Jul 24, 2018

Bandit99 said: ↑

I did purchase a pair of Nagoya NA-771R telescope antennas for them.
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Be careful with the NA-771R antennas, apparently there are a lot of counterfeits out there that don't work.

https://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/7741

Rancher

azrancher · Jul 24, 2018

Dunerunner said:

My take is any radio with transmit capabilities should be used only for monitoring what others are doing and what news is being shared. Your position can be identified when you transmit, and your range of possible contacts is very large. You will be reaching out to a very large and non-communicative audience every time you key up.
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ED GEiN said: ↑

But isn't there an extra large chance that the stranger you contacted will try to rob you, etc., etc. So far I like the idea of using the ham radio just for monitoring other.
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Well... it depends, yes if he's down the street from you, but if he's across the country, or halfway around the world, then not so much. And if you think there are a lot of people out there with DF (direction finding) radio equipment, then you are wrong.

Rancher

ghrit · Jul 24, 2018

azrancher said: ↑

And if you think there are a lot of people out there with DF (direction finding) radio equipment, then you are wrong.
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Well, yes and no. For one thing, Ed does NOT think. For another thought, DF gear is entirely too easy to make. A wire coat hanger will do nicely with an H/T, but as always, you need the luck of knowing what freq the xmitter is on. You are correct in that someone HAS to be looking for you, nothing short of a van full of equipment will do if a random search is the goal. In place of an H/T a scanner can also work.

Take an azimuth, shift locations and take another one. Where the azimuths cross, there ya go ---

BTPost · Jul 24, 2018

Actually, the State of the Art in DFing these days, it is fairly difficult to do, without a minimum of two Vehicles... Once you get above UHF, unless you are in LOS, it is dang near impossible to do if the transmitters are using high Gain Antennas... Simply because to even see the RF, one must be inside the first Fresnel Zone...especially at low power levels... When I was a FED, we had two Vans, and a Stationwagon, all equiped with Phased Array Wideband Antennas, feeding DC to Light Spectrum Analyzers, with interlinked Data Comms back to the Master Van... You see a Spike, and mark it, and the other two units would look for that RF, from the two other locations, and then calculate the Intersections, to narrow down the area. then all three Rigs would move toward the space and HOPE that you got another burst of RF and repeat, until you are within 100 Yds, then look for the Antenna... and Hope it isn’t Mobile... On one incident we were tracking a Mobile unit for 13 Hours, and finally caught the guy at a Gas station, refueling, because one of the Vans happened to be driving by at the moment of Transmission... The .MIL uses Choppers, and Drones For the Important Stuff, and if the Target is stupid enough to stay on the Air, they will ride the Beam right to it... It really is more Art, than Science, once the equipment is operating correctly...

apache235 · Jul 24, 2018

That works if you stay in the same place. If you move about by several miles, shift freqs and keep transmissions brief, good luck and in a TEOTWAWKI how many people are going to be doing DF stuff. Yes if we have a rogue government and the FBI & CIA etc. are still intact and working for it and IF they have the infrastructure. In a WROL situation I could see a certain site in Utah suddenly catching fire. If the Progressives take over and we are in a Civil War scenario, HAM operators could be in deep doo doo if not VERY careful.

ED GEiN · Jul 25, 2018

azrancher said: ↑

Well... it depends, yes if he's down the street from you, but if he's across the country, or halfway around the world, then not so much. And if you think there are a lot of people out there with DF (direction finding) radio equipment, then you are wrong.

Rancher
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How do you know if someone is where they say they are? Is there somehow a way to verify this with a Ham Radio?

ghrit · Jul 25, 2018

ED GEiN said: ↑

How do you know if someone is where they say they are?
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You don't. Obviously.

azrancher · Jul 25, 2018

ED GEiN said: ↑

How do you know if someone is where they say they are? Is there somehow a way to verify this with a Ham Radio?
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ghrit said: ↑

You don't. Obviously.
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Exactly, you only know as much as the other Ham will tell you, unless you have known him from before. However if you are using the VHF/UHF bands it's pretty much line of sight, so if you don't know them I wouldn't tell them where you are. Again DF'ing is a science and I wouldn't worry about it unless it's the National Guard and FEMA out collecting firearms, and we all know that wouldn't happen...

Rancher

chelloveck · Jul 30, 2018

ED GEiN said: ↑

How do you know if someone is where they say they are? Is there somehow a way to verify this with a Ham Radio?
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I have had a number of folk here convinced that I'm an Australian living in Australia for a number of years...though truth to tell there are a number of doubters...

A willing confederate and Whatsap...and almost everything is possible....copy and paste is a marvel!

Zimmy · Jul 31, 2018

chelloveck said: ↑

I have had a number of folk here convinced that I'm an Australian living in Australia for a number of years...though truth to tell there are a number of doubters..
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You do remind me of a certain US Marine I used to know on another site.

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