Alternate Comms

[Paladin]

The Feds can eliminate legal Amateur Radio any time they want too. All it would take is an edict from Biden/Harris. Just like Hitler did. There is no constitutional protection for us. But anyway, the constitution doesn't matter anymore to the usurpers. It's being stomped on every day.

N5PNZ

THIS

[OneGun]

The US Constitution is being repealed slowly but surely. I am fearful that the court of social justice will replace it.

[Grayling813]

The Feds can eliminate legal Amateur Radio any time they want too. All it would take is an edict from Biden/Harris. Just like Hitler did. There is no constitutional protection for us. But anyway, the constitution doesn't matter anymore to the usurpers. It's being stomped on every day.

N5PNZ

The new federal authority can eliminate anything that is now legal. The question is what are Americans going to do about it? Comply or resist tyranny?

[Soccerdad1995]

Facebook has announced that it will remove all content that mentions “Stop the Steal,”

Like a lot of folks on the forum, I've got a HAM radio license as well. We're definitely gonna need alternate comms.

I got my Technician license back in August, but have been delaying getting a "real" HAM radio. I do have a couple handheld Baofeng's, but haven't really tried using them. With the attack on free speech that is underway I think I need to get serious about this.

What is a good "beginner" HAM radio set-up? I'm looking for something that balances cost and effectiveness.

Thanks in advance.

[Soccerdad1995]

The Feds can eliminate legal Amateur Radio any time they want too. All it would take is an edict from Biden/Harris. Just like Hitler did. There is no constitutional protection for us. But anyway, the constitution doesn't matter anymore to the usurpers. It's being stomped on every day.

N5PNZ

The new federal authority can eliminate anything that is now legal. The question is what are Americans going to do about it? Comply or resist tyranny?

It is normal and natural for people to have differences of opinion / values. Ideally we talk through these differences and come to a peaceful resolution. But when talk doesn't work, or in this case, when one side shuts out any differing opinions, we are left with much less desirable ways to settle our differences.

Shutting down debate inevitably leads to bloodshed. I pray that we find a way to reverse that course in our present case.

By the way, I'm not a technician, but I'm not sure the government can easily "shut down" radio frequencies. They can revoke licenses to use radio frequencies, but I believe the equipment people currently have would still work to broadcast and receive transmissions. I may be wrong about this.

[Rafe]

Free encrypted email at Protonmail

Why is it free?

You pay to upgrade memory, email addresses, etc

I've used Switzerland-based Proton Mail for a few things for around two years. As a service that does what it's designed to do, I give it a thumbs-up. Because its so security/privacy focused, there a several things I'm used to doing with other email services that can't be done with Proton Mail. The biggest for me is that you can't setup automatic forwarding to be able to read inbound mail from another address. But those are small things to live without if need be. And, yeah; if you use it for much volume, you'll need to upgrade a notch to a for-fee service. The free account include 500MB of storage, which is okay for starters.

I also like that it, by default, does a look at the inbound message header data for you, informs you of anything unusual, and "quarantines" some material unless you expressly choose to load it. I've attached a screen snippet of part of a perfectly safe message from a mailing list I subscribed to, just to show that the service stays on its toes even for innocuous stuff.

This is what I know about HAM radio is quite specific. I can spell the word "radio." I subscribed to this guy's YouTube channel a few months ago with the intention of trying to learn some stuff over the holidays, but never found the time: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChAu6C ... xSbL9ytosQ. Don't know if he's a good source for newbie information; opinions appreciated.

[2farnorth]

Facebook has announced that it will remove all content that mentions “Stop the Steal,”

Like a lot of folks on the forum, I've got a HAM radio license as well. We're definitely gonna need alternate comms.

I got my Technician license back in August, but have been delaying getting a "real" HAM radio. I do have a couple handheld Baofeng's, but haven't really tried using them. With the attack on free speech that is underway I think I need to get serious about this.

What is a good "beginner" HAM radio set-up? I'm looking for something that balances cost and effectiveness.

Thanks in advance.

Look for used older radios but just be sure it is fully functional. I paid $300 for an Icom 725 a few years ago and recently got a Kenwood TS430S for $275. Both transceivers were built in the 80's but are fully functional with the basic SSb/CW modes putting out 100 watts.
You can build wire antennas. Just have to learn how to tune them to specific frequency ranges and match them to the transceiver. (not hard)

Go to QRZ.com, eham.net, and look at their classifieds (may have to become a (free) member). Join FB Amature radio groups, There's always stuff for sale. Much of it local area. Check for a local ham club and see if any them have anything for sale. BUT.... use common sense. Take someone knowledgeable with you to check it out before you put your money down. There are crooks every where.

N5PNZ

[Paladin]

Facebook has announced that it will remove all content that mentions “Stop the Steal,”

Like a lot of folks on the forum, I've got a HAM radio license as well. We're definitely gonna need alternate comms.

I got my Technician license back in August, but have been delaying getting a "real" HAM radio. I do have a couple handheld Baofeng's, but haven't really tried using them. With the attack on free speech that is underway I think I need to get serious about this.

What is a good "beginner" HAM radio set-up? I'm looking for something that balances cost and effectiveness.

Thanks in advance.

http://www.arrl.org/ has a lot of resources including finding clubs

With your Baofeng's and a $5 programming cable and CHIRP (Free) you can do a ton.

Out of the box you can use the Baofeng as a poor man's scanner:

To scan all frequencies within the VHF (130-180MHz) or UHF(400-521Mhz) bands:
Turn on the radio
Press the red [VFO/MR] button to toggle to VFO mode
Hold down the [*SCAN] button until scanning begins. frequencies will quickly switch on the display
The radio will briefly pause on a frequency with activity

Press the [*SCAN] button to stop on the current frequency and end scanning

It scans VHF and UHF separately.

To activate FM Receiver:
Turn on the radio
Press red [VFO/MR] button to toggle to VFO mode
Press red [CALL] button on the side of the radio
Press [BAND] button to toggle between 65-75 MHz or 76-108MHz.
Type desired frequency into keypad

When finished press the red [CALL] button to return to VFO mode

You can use Repeaters to boost your reach

[KC5AV]

Regarding ham radio, it really depends on what you want to accomplish. if you’re looking for local comma, and mobile radio capable of 50 watts FM is more than sufficient. It will allow you to communicate via repeater pretty easily. There are tons of Youtube videos dealing with setting up most of the more popular radios.
If you’re wanting to stretch out your coverage beyond just the local area, HF is probably your best bet. Good radios can be found on the used market for anywhere from ‘come pick it up’ to ‘2n mortgage’.
Bottom line, what are you wanting to do?

[KC5AV]

Regarding repeaters, www.RepeaterBook.com is a good resource for finding local repeaters

[2farnorth]

The Feds can eliminate legal Amateur Radio any time they want too. All it would take is an edict from Biden/Harris. Just like Hitler did. There is no constitutional protection for us. But anyway, the constitution doesn't matter anymore to the usurpers. It's being stomped on every day.

N5PNZ

The new federal authority can eliminate anything that is now legal. The question is what are Americans going to do about it? Comply or resist tyranny?

It is normal and natural for people to have differences of opinion / values. Ideally we talk through these differences and come to a peaceful resolution. But when talk doesn't work, or in this case, when one side shuts out any differing opinions, we are left with much less desirable ways to settle our differences.

Shutting down debate inevitably leads to bloodshed. I pray that we find a way to reverse that course in our present case.

By the way, I'm not a technician, but I'm not sure the government can easily "shut down" radio frequencies. They can revoke licenses to use radio frequencies, but I believe the equipment people currently have would still work to broadcast and receive transmissions. I may be wrong about this.

Yes, the equipment will still work. They may confiscate. During WWII armature radio was shut down. I don't know if they confiscated any equipment though. The government/military now have massive jamming capabilities if they deem it necessary. They can block huge ranges of frequencies. It can be ground or airborne based. They also have capabilities to trace transmitters down to a few feet of the transmitting antenna.
So radio may not be dependable if the government becomes more oppressive.

[Soccerdad1995]

The Feds can eliminate legal Amateur Radio any time they want too. All it would take is an edict from Biden/Harris. Just like Hitler did. There is no constitutional protection for us. But anyway, the constitution doesn't matter anymore to the usurpers. It's being stomped on every day.

N5PNZ

The new federal authority can eliminate anything that is now legal. The question is what are Americans going to do about it? Comply or resist tyranny?

It is normal and natural for people to have differences of opinion / values. Ideally we talk through these differences and come to a peaceful resolution. But when talk doesn't work, or in this case, when one side shuts out any differing opinions, we are left with much less desirable ways to settle our differences.

Shutting down debate inevitably leads to bloodshed. I pray that we find a way to reverse that course in our present case.

By the way, I'm not a technician, but I'm not sure the government can easily "shut down" radio frequencies. They can revoke licenses to use radio frequencies, but I believe the equipment people currently have would still work to broadcast and receive transmissions. I may be wrong about this.

Yes, the equipment will still work. They may confiscate. During WWII armature radio was shut down. I don't know if they confiscated any equipment though. The government/military now have massive jamming capabilities if they deem it necessary. They can block huge ranges of frequencies. It can be ground or airborne based. They also have capabilities to trace transmitters down to a few feet of the transmitting antenna.
So radio may not be dependable if the government becomes more oppressive.

So basically the same net effect as a "ban" on gun ownership. Short of door to door confiscations, the guns / radio equipment would still be out there, just hard to actually use it without being detected. I think the old Army rule was to limit your transmissions to 6 seconds at a time. Not sure if that still works. Maybe combined with a mobile transmitting location (vehicle)?

And even a door to door confiscation will only get the things that are physically at an address vs hidden elsewhere.

[Flightmare]

The Feds can eliminate legal Amateur Radio any time they want too. All it would take is an edict from Biden/Harris. Just like Hitler did. There is no constitutional protection for us. But anyway, the constitution doesn't matter anymore to the usurpers. It's being stomped on every day.

N5PNZ

The new federal authority can eliminate anything that is now legal. The question is what are Americans going to do about it? Comply or resist tyranny?

It is normal and natural for people to have differences of opinion / values. Ideally we talk through these differences and come to a peaceful resolution. But when talk doesn't work, or in this case, when one side shuts out any differing opinions, we are left with much less desirable ways to settle our differences.

Shutting down debate inevitably leads to bloodshed. I pray that we find a way to reverse that course in our present case.

By the way, I'm not a technician, but I'm not sure the government can easily "shut down" radio frequencies. They can revoke licenses to use radio frequencies, but I believe the equipment people currently have would still work to broadcast and receive transmissions. I may be wrong about this.

Yes, the equipment will still work. They may confiscate. During WWII armature radio was shut down. I don't know if they confiscated any equipment though. The government/military now have massive jamming capabilities if they deem it necessary. They can block huge ranges of frequencies. It can be ground or airborne based. They also have capabilities to trace transmitters down to a few feet of the transmitting antenna.
So radio may not be dependable if the government becomes more oppressive.

So basically the same net effect as a "ban" on gun ownership. Short of door to door confiscations, the guns / radio equipment would still be out there, just hard to actually use it without being detected. I think the old Army rule was to limit your transmissions to 6 seconds at a time. Not sure if that still works. Maybe combined with a mobile transmitting location (vehicle)?

And even a door to door confiscation will only get the things that are physically at an address vs hidden elsewhere.

The guys in Richardson/Plano/Mckinney/Sacshe have been practicing with foxhunts every weekend. Some of these folks are VERY good at it.

[Soccerdad1995]

Regarding HAM Radios being potentially outlawed, am I correct in assuming that the only potential for detection relates to the transmitters and not the receiver? Obviously, things like having a huge antenna on your house would be a way to possibly detect a receiver, but short of that it seems the risk would be detection of the transmitter(s). Is this correct?

[Flightmare]

Regarding HAM Radios being potentially outlawed, am I correct in assuming that the only potential for detection relates to the transmitters and not the receiver? Obviously, things like having a huge antenna on your house would be a way to possibly detect a receiver, but short of that it seems the risk would be detection of the transmitter(s). Is this correct?

That is correct. The system is only detected when it transmits a signal. Think of it as a game of Marco Polo. They can only find/follow you when you make noise.