Please help me out and give this video a thumbs up and a comment. The crazy left is trying to crush my channel for telling the truth. -de K6UDA

Great video! Always enjoyed the channel but I'm really enjoying the prepper coms videos.

Great thinking IMO!

Great job as usual Bob! Agree 100%

Just subscribed to your channel and gave this one a thumbs up! Thank you!

Great video. Thanks for the quality content.

For local (< 10 mile radius), sending messages via APRS on 1.25m or 440 is a great option. Rotate the frequency based on a predetermined basis and have a set of locations specified by a custom grid square system.

Nice to see an accurate video for preppers. There’s a lot of bad information out there coming from our peers. Comm’s are cheap compared to guns overall. I will present a potential plan here for newbie: Ok, so here are the important bands you’ll want: AM broadcast FM broadcast CB FRS GMRS. 70cm 2m NOAA Why? AM and FM broadcast means commercial radio. The national alert system is tied to these broadcasters . CB is the most prevalent band in the country. It is all around you. This is because most semi trucks, delivery trucks, tow trucks, etc. have CB’s installed. It is the radio you can most quickly find if you don’t have a radio. It has the longest range nationally. What? Yeah…CB is designed to go about a mile but the millions of trucks it resides in go for thousands of miles. The best source of information about “what happened in Maine?” may be from the guy who drive through Maine 4 days ago….especially in an emergency capacity. FRS is to hand out when you never expect to see the radio again. Get them at Walmart, get them cheap. GMRS for all intents and purposes is part of the UHF amateur band. Technically it isn’t but it’s right there. It is basically a gift from the sad hams to those who want higher power and repeater capability without having to learn radio. It’s kind of the HAM trash band….do as you like. 70cm and 2m are the entry level ham (amateur) bands. You need a license to play here except in emergencies. These bands are where you will find the bulk of repeaters and emergency groups. There are accepted nationwide emergency response groups as well as local, which are known as “nets” Often they are hosted by response agencies such as fire departments or city disaster response teams. You are expected to know what you are doing here although some nets have a separate session for GMRS to include those folks. Some…but still a lot less. It is important to consider about these bands that even though they aren’t for communication over the horizon, the people monitoring them may have other equipment that is. It’s a lot cheaper and easier to contact a local ham than it is to buy the equipment and get licensed for that capability yourself. NOAA is of course the weather band, but NOAA is constantly transmitting so it’s a good place to make sure your radio works and this system also coordinates with the emergency alert system (i.e. the weather will stop if warheads are inbound). With me so far? Ok, well how do we get here quickly and without breaking the bank? You really only need two radios to do this but three is ideal. You will want a portable CB. Not a bad thing to have in your trunk anyway as the truckers are actually listening if you have a roadside emergency. Second…find yourself a handheld radio that comes in both GMRS and HAM versions and get both. There are many examples of this but as of this writing the Wouxun Q10G and Q10H come to mind as good radios around $200 each. The CB will probably land around $100 so that’s $500. ….the price of a mediocre 9mm… With these three radios you should be able to reach all the bands in the list above. Now, send off for your GMRS license. While you are waiting for it to process, unlock and learn to program your ham radio…just don’t transmit on it. The first thing you will want to program is your GMRS frequencies into your ham radio…naming them as such. This is now your primary SHTF radio although you cannot transmit on it unless it is an emergency. You can listen all you want though. Now that your GMRS license has arrived, find some local repeaters and nets. Be patient, there’s not a lot. You’ll have to learn how to access a repeater but the bright side is that it’s going to be almost the same setup on your ham…just for ham repeaters instead. Program those too, but don’t transmit there. So what did you end up with? Well CB obviously, plus your unlocked Ham radio can communicate with your GMRS so you have a set (that probably shares most accessories) and you can go practice being on the GMRS repeaters and decide if it interests you enough to pursue a ham license. If not, you can still get in those ham bands (where the action is) during emergencies so….box checked. For what it’s worth, it is against FCC rules to transmit from your ham set to your GMRS set but nobody can tell you are. You’ll have GMRS license anyway…with a legit call sign. The nets will care that you have a call sign for the service you are using, and they will check. After that, they will welcome you. Person to person they don’t really care much. Ham….yeah, they care and they are monitoring so have a license if you transmit there. But, that’s the good thing about ham and SHTF… there are people serious about it enough to be monitoring and that could save your life. Hope this helps

BUT if you have the ability to keep it charged a cell phone has its place. Download a first aid manual up to minor surgery, download recipe books for preppers, download calculators for various things like unit conversions.... use it as the TOOL it is! Carrying a paper first aid book is HEAVY, a cell phone is ounces... and the cell phone can replace many books and takes up a hell of a lot less space. I have 6 Baofengs in the EMP proof gun/electronics safe, and a Xeigu G90 that I tested and put away in case my ham rigs do not survive. Along with 2 100 watt solar panels, a charge controller, and an inverter.

Thanks for doing videos like this. Not enough radio prepping channels on YT that provide good info. If any prepping channel does have a comms video, it's almost always "get a Baofeng UV 5R." I would argue that before getting any gear, a person prepares mentally and physically. If a person's health, both mental and physical, is poor, then they're severely limiting their chances for survival. A person can have all the gear in the world, but if they're to unhealthy to move during a gun fight or too panicked due to stress, they're going to choke. That does not mean they should not buy preps, but I put it priority #1. I know too many preppers who are obese and think their stores of corn, rice, and guns will save them if a major crisis does happen, all the while being on tons of medications (including opiates), cannot walk down their hallway without being winded, and have panic attacks on the daily.

I have cb radios, GMRS radios and ham radios. Each serves a purpose.

You said some very important stuff. It's mandantory to understand and learn how the radio works and this is by far not as easy as many people think, specially if you use the Anytone, a Yaesu handheld or whatever. The Baofeng has a feature to scan/detect the correct CTS/CTSS codes if there is a talk going on (many people do not know this). There are some other interesting things about this radio that no one is speaking about in public, buying them is no bad idea but also buy a bandpass filter. Another radio. If you are in the wrong VFO band (top/down), you might wonder why the APRS is not sending anything at all. Maybe you pressed the wrong key and the band changes during walking around. There are so many scenarios unexpected. Some say, make a notebook about the device for specific scenarios and test them / simulate them. It's very important not to rely on theory, the reality is always different and surprisingly not as expected if you evaluate your scenario in a testing scenario. I hope that we will never ever get into a situation no one wants these days.

Great video! I try to catch your weekly net unless I' otherwise busy (like practicing with my Kimber Ultra Carry in .45).😁

Good video Bob!!!! I have GMRS Radio License. I want to get a Ham Licence so I can learn how to use a Ham Radio before SHTF. I do have Baofeng Gm-15 Pro GMRS Radios and they work good 4- 5 mile range. They will work good to talk to neighbors and do patrols if that is needed. I want to get Ham Radios because I want to be able to communicate locally, regional and nationwide. If SHTF repeaters will be down and GMRS will not work.

I really dont know the better radio, you recommened, What is the name of the model?

Also take the next step and upgrade your Amateur radio license and be able to use the HF frequencies.

It would be helpful if in the video you would specify the exact radio you are speaking/referring to instead of saying “this” radio. I’m trying to figure out the best radio to go with and weigh all options. Thanks

Do you have recommendations on what to program into your HT. For example, how many simplex channels, how many repeaters. Anything else , etc. ?

For the rythm...

Hello 73 de N1AD

If you could only buy one handled radio today. What would it be?

"Some People" has spoken.

Interestingly, last I checked GMRS license numbers in the US were only about 50k shy of the number of US Ham technician licensees and gaining fast. Vast majority of Ham techs are not that much different from GMRS: 5w HT's and 50w Mobiles for FM voice only, simplex and duplex. Techs doing SSB, CW, etc on VHF/UHF are not the norm. For the vast majority of folks, GMRS is the easiest, best-bang-for-the-buck. Simply pick a channel, push the button and talk. If they want to get nerdier with radios, ham is always an option. For SHTF minded folks, are they aware there are quite affordable options for a DMR radio with AES-256 encryption? That's an attractive SHTF option for a "Break-Glass-In-Case-Of-Apocalypse" radio. Pre-SHTF, no license is required to buy them, learn them and program them. A license is only needed to press the magic "PTT" button. Post-SHTF, will there even be an FCC to worry about?

Having had to learn and do to pass Extra - I can't fathom any dumb$hit that says they don't need a license to know how to use their comms gear. There's so much to know to use this stuff and I cringe every time I hear "I don't need a license for my rights!" LOL. Same guys that buy the GD Baofangs and think they're good.

Flip side of the coin, Bob. Either you should know how to scan on multiple radios, or you should have a fast scanner to set them up for all. If I hear radio traffic, that's probably someplace with supplies that can looted. Or joined for protection. As to USING radios? Maintaining radio silence can be valuable protection. Equal problems to consider. Which also begs the obvious: Shouldn't there be a way to use microburst mode, to pass short data messages in on fast "pip" on civilian radio? In order to keep it harder to find?

Great video, as always. KN6PWH..73