Your Comms in A Grid Down World

There has been a lot of noise concerning our grid going down due to terrorism attacks. With the recent attack on the Saudi Arabian oil fields by drones and other means, I am surprised that this has not happened here in the United States as yet. Just think what would happen if a squadron of Semtex loaded drones made an attack on an electrical substation in your AO.

Elements of a substation A: Primary power lines’ side B: Secondary power lines’ side 1. Primary power lines 2. Ground wire 3. Overhead lines 4. Transformer for measurement of electric voltage 5. Disconnect switch 6. Circuit breaker 7. Current transformer 8. Lightning arrester 9. Main transformer 10. Control building 11. Security fence 12. Secondary power lines

Putting aside a squadron of drones attacking your electrical substation down the street what would happen to your power grid if mother nature throws something at your electrical substation. Texas and Puerto Rico found out post Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria respectively. As a matter of fact, with no communications possible post those two hurricanes amateur radio operators went to the scene of the drama to help with communication between first responders and offering the ability to pass on traffic (Messages) to family outside the affected area.

Once your electrical substation goes down communication along with other things that electricity provides will be gone too. What is your plan to generate enough electricity to keep your furnace going, freezers freezing, and communications happening? Certainly, if you have a generator and plenty of fuel you and your family can survive but, all the power in the world at your home will not allow you to communicate blocks away let away states away if the cell towers have no power. What is your communication plan post a grid down situation and the backup generators at the cell towers run out of fuel?

Communication can take two forms; active and passive. Active would allow you to transmit (TX) and receive (RX) communications and passive just RX. Let’s look at both ways to collect and in some cases TX information in a grid down event.

Passive

Short-wave radios are a great source of information during a grid down situation. Many radio’s like the SSB CCrane Skyway radio can receive broadcasts on AM/FM shortwave, and SSB (Single Side Band) shortwave. There are several great radios out there, but they need to be SSB capable. To not have SSB is fine however you will only hear one side of a SSB conversation. Most amateur radio operators TX and RX on SSB because the signal uses transmitter power and bandwidth more efficiently. If you do not have the SSB function on your passive radio, no big deal other than you will only be able to RX one side of the conversation between two or more hams using SSB.

Even though most short-wave receivers come with a telescoping antenna those antennas are poor. You will need to invest some money in a better antenna. I don’t want to get into the weeds here, but I will direct you to what is called a ground wave antenna if you are frugal like me and want to build one rather than buying one.

Take 70-feet of 14 to 18 gauge insulated single strand wire (You could use double speaker wire too) and put it up on the ceiling using thumb tacks in the room your radio is located using a square or circular format, 16-feet a side with the ends hanging down which are then attached to the radio. Attach the ends of the wire to the back of your radio where directed in your instructions. Voila! You have a great RXing antenna.

Active

An active radio is a transceiver. It will send TX and receive RX signals typically from frequency’s anywhere from 10 to 80-meters. Some transceivers will go from UHF (450-806 Mhz) to VHF (144-148 Mhz) and all the way up to 160-meters. You do not need to have an amateur radio license to own and listen with a transceiver. You just cannot transmit unless it is an emergency. Brand new transceivers start at around $700- and go up to and surpass $5,000-. With that written, used transceivers like the Icom IC- 735 will go for around $250-. How do you find a used transceiver you might ask? I suggest you befriend a licensed ham who will keep their eyes open for you. These deals come up often but are very seldom advertised. Another opportunity is to attend a “ham fest”. A ham fest is a kind of rummage sale but only for ham radio equipment. If you go this route, make sure you know ahead of time what you are looking for.

Just like the passive radio you will need a good antenna. The ground wave that I described earlier would certainly work but just for RXing. To TX you would need an antenna that would accomplish this. For new hams I always recommend a G5RV type of antenna. I wrote an article on how to build one titled, Building A Simple, Affordable, High-Quality Multi-Band Antenna or just go and buy one. Here is a good one from Amazon.

The G5RV antenna can be put up horizontally (Flat top) or as an inverted “V”. If you go with the flat top (Optimal) you will need about 102-feet of horizontal space using trees or supports at both ends and be able to go 30 to 40-feet high. Or you can go with an inverted “V” which only needs one hoist point about 30 to 40-feet high at its azimuth.

Getting your license

Recently I was in South Carolina touring Palmetto State Armory (PSA) You can read about my visit going here. I had several folks approach me asking how to get  their Technicians ticket. I explained to them that it was easy if they followed a three-step process which I wrote about in a earlier article titled, ARRL Field Day 2019.

The last thing I want to talk about is power to run your radio if the electrical grid goes down. My back-up power is simple. It is made up of the following components.

  • One deep cycle marine 12-volt battery. I used a Group 27
  • Battery box to keep battery in and terminals covered
  • 10-gauge coated wire to go from the battery to the radio for power
  • A 12-volt smart battery charger to keep the battery up to snuff
  • A gallon of distilled water. Yes, if you buy a lead acid battery, you will need to top off the water in the cells every 3-months or so, and
  • To make things easier some Anderson Power Pole connectors to make connections easier and foolproof between the battery and radio.

There you go folks…No excuse to be left out in the dark with no communications in a grid down situation. And last, if you’re new to all this and are looking for instruction, there’s a class to get you up to speed. Check out the training calendar.

73 folks!

Freedom Through Self-Reliance®

 

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28 Comments

  1. Anonymous September 29, 2019 at 10:43

    4.5

  2. Anonymous September 29, 2019 at 11:27

    5

  3. Grid Down! Communicate! | Reality Check September 29, 2019 at 11:42

    […] Don’t believe me? Read this guy’s blog entry too: https://www.americanpartisan.org/2019/09/your-comms-in-a-grid-down-world/ […]

  4. Grid Down! Communicate! | Rick Donaldson September 29, 2019 at 11:46

    […] Don’t believe me? Read this guy’s blog entry too: https://www.americanpartisan.org/2019/09/your-comms-in-a-grid-down-world/ […]

  5. Charlie Prime September 29, 2019 at 17:29

    Some great channels on YouTube…

    For small solar, search “Will Prowse off-grid solar”.

    For off-grid, man-portable HF comms, search “OH8STN”

    For using cheap SDR dongles to gather SigIntel, search “SignalsEverywhere”

    • johnyMac September 30, 2019 at 07:47

      Thank you Charlie Prime for your suggestions.

      One thing I did not mention in my article is recharging my marine deep cycle battery if the grid doesn’t come back on for awhile. I currently run part of my house off of a bank of batteries charged via solar panels. When the radio battery goes below 12-volts, I will switch it out with one of my grp 27 marine deep cycle batteries that are being charged via solar.

      Thanks Brother reading.

  6. Homer September 30, 2019 at 07:15

    One thing to keep in mind. Power Pole connectors attached to the battery are subject to corrosion and it doesn’t take too long for it to happen. I had some gremlins in my setup that was finally tracked down to this. So make sure your Power Poles for the deep cycle battery are on at least a three foot wire. Hth

    • johnyMac September 30, 2019 at 07:55

      Thank you Homer for your advise.

      I just took a gander at my power wires from my marine deep cycle battery and it is around 4-feet long. This might explain why I haven’t had any issues for the two years or so I have had this back-up system.

      To make sure my back-up power system works, I disconnect the 120/12-volt power amp and hook up the battery and run my radios for a week or so. I believe you need to exercise deep cycle batteries for longevity of the battery.

      Good stuff Brother

  7. JB September 30, 2019 at 10:55

    Listening to a SSB conversation with a non-SSB radio doesn’t allow you to hear only one side of the conversation. Amateur radio operators speak to each other on the same side band. Not having SSB prevents you from understanding an SSB conversation at all. It’s akin to trying to listen to an AM radio station while in FM modulation on that same radio. You’d be able to tell the conversation is there, but wouldn’t understand it because you can’t focus on the signal properly.

  8. cadwell September 30, 2019 at 13:17

    To calculate the length of a each side of a dipole antenna, in feet, such as illustrated one cal use the formula 234/frequency in MHz. Multiply the result by 12 to get the length in inches. You can use the 468/freq for the overall length and cut the wire is half, also. The center insulator should not be more than 2 inches wide.

    Many older Kenwood, Drake, Yaesu et. al. radios will transmit out of band, with mods. As a note, pawn shops are a good resource for used scanners and short wave antennas.

    • NC Scout September 30, 2019 at 13:42

      I cover all of this (including all of the students constructing antennas) in my RTO Course. Check the calendar out, I’ve got one more date for the basic course this year.

    • johnyMac October 1, 2019 at 08:51

      Yes cadwell, the correct formula for figuring out the length of wire you need for a full wave dipole antenna is; 968/the frequency you want to work. For folks wanting to make a frequency dedicated dipole antenna there are many frequency calculators for all types of antennas on line just do a search. I do not want to get in the weeds to scare folks away from getting into ham radio.

      The older radios are great but you do have to recalibrate them or have a dope sheet letting the user know how much to move +/- of the desired frequency.

      I love the idea of pawn shops. Good call Brother.

  9. Matt in Oklahoma September 30, 2019 at 14:12

    I’ve got so much to learn in this realm it ain’t even funny. I appreciate this stuff and what NC Scout put out.

    • johnyMac October 1, 2019 at 08:53

      Matt in Oklahoma,

      It’s like everything in life…If you apply yourself you will be successful. \”/

      Check out Scout’s RTO class. It is a great place to start.

  10. Greg September 30, 2019 at 15:31

    @Matt in OK, Humbling, isn’t it? Am a week in and have dispelled at least 10 of my notions. Learned a bunch as well. It gets to what Scout was saying about the night vision equipment. We have to go learn/practice before the SHTF, or it may be a moot point.

    Another great source for equipment is Craigslist.

    Standard dipoles are good for base (probably for field as well), but I built a yagi, and while directional, it really works great That same 468/f=length in feet for whole dipole width works as well. Mine is for 2m, but it receives a pretty wide range if pointed in the right direction.

    Another great article Jmac…something I thought about when reading this article; committing info to computer search or on the computer period, is semi-problematic. It doesn’t hurt to write stuff down, and teach someone in the pod. Just in case one gets taken out somehow. Formula for traps would be one of them, or the dipole thing. Maybe even where to scavenge parts like tuneable capacitors for an antenna tuner, strategies, etc.

    • johnyMac October 1, 2019 at 08:56

      Thanks Greg!

  11. Bad Brad September 30, 2019 at 16:26

    The Ham route might be too much for most people. I suggest they stick with classic CB
    unlicensed radio. Cheap and they are High Frequency at 11 meters. You can get base stations,
    mobile units, and handhelds. Learn the basics there. Especially when it comes to antennas,
    ground planes, and conditions. Many of the units have Single Side band but that also is more
    than many people will grasp this late in the game. Cobra, Uniden, Midland all make simple
    AM only units.
    Since the FCC has lightened up a bit on Family Radio Service (FRS). Those little walkie
    talkies can transmit up to 2 watts on some channels. Stick with quality units and have rechargeable
    batteries in the cradle units. They are a good FM signal at about 462 MHz. Most times all you
    need is a dependable signal out to 1/4 of a mile.
    Last is MURS. It too is only 2 watts at VHF. Retrevis(?) makes some quality units for about
    $25 each. Cheap, unlicensed but needs more country/rural area to do well.
    My concern is a lot of people get a Ham license, then purchase one of those cheap Chinese
    walkie talkies and think they have it made. They don’t. There is a learning curve in a society
    with a short attention span.

    • NC Scout September 30, 2019 at 19:54

      The notion of ‘only’ using this or that is lazy and will get you killed.

      As students I’ve taught in the SIGINT course found out quickly, the less work someone puts into a commo plan, the more exploitable they are. And without any sort of training against an adversary who knows what they’re doing, you’re finished in short order.

    • johnyMac October 1, 2019 at 09:11

      Bad Brad,

      Mmmm, trying to get this wording correct so I do not insult you…

      1) The Ham route might be too much for most people, you wrote. That is narrow minded thinking. I have seen 12-year-old kids get their license as I have written about in the past. Same drive but different gear. I have seen people claim they could not hit a man sized gong 1-mile away yet with coaching they did. Ya got to love 6.5 CM!
      2) I will not limit myself nor my group to one frequency, firearm – Primary or secondary. To do so will get ya’ dead.
      3) All though I do agree with part of your statement, My concern is a lot of people get a Ham license, then purchase one of those cheap Chinese
      walkie talkies and think they have it made.
      , I disagree that the BaoFeng and other Chinese radios are cheap. Assuming you mean cheap being quality; I cut my teeth on them. I still have the original four I purchased awhile back. Have I upgraded, of course. Those radios are now being loaned to visitors at the redoubt.

      Ya’ have to play to the tools that your group comes with whether it be a Mosin Nagant, Remington 700, BeoFeng radio, CB, AR, Ak…You get the idea.

      Thanks for reading Brother.

  12. - James Fetzer October 1, 2019 at 21:59

    […] at AmericanPartisan.org has published an excellent new article that discusses the importance of realizing that your comms will go down when the grid goes down. […]

  13. It could be worse. | October 2, 2019 at 02:40

    […] at AmericanPartisan.org has published an excellent new article that discusses the importance of realizing that your comms will go down when the grid goes down. […]

  14. […] at AmericanPartisan.org has published an excellent new article that discusses the importance of realizing that your comms will go down when the grid […]

  15. Greg October 3, 2019 at 15:25

    @Bad Brad
    Being new to the radio thing, I was thinking along your lines, but realized that certain strategies need to be tried long before SHTF. For one thing, there will be a whole host of individuals operating solely on the FM frequencies. AM and FM are not the same thing and in certain instances need to be handled slightly different. I even envisioned one possibility of working both types for evasion.

    You mentioned CB, and they may have CB repeaters. Of course in Grid down you can use whatever is best for your survival. Point is, we have considered all kinds of possible scenarios, that we need to game out to check effectiveness or all out flaws. One of them is using a sacrificial repeater, and QRP signals at like a 1/4 watt individually, to evacuate our team from a hot zone without detection. People like Mac and Scout could probably pick it off…when or if it gets tested, we will need people at their level to get involved obviously, and so it takes people with wide range skills to work possibilities. Practice, Practice, Practice!

    • johnyMac October 3, 2019 at 18:38

      Amen Greg! Practice, Practice, Practice!

      This is why I am a proponent of folks AT LEAST getting there Technicians ticket.As Vince Lombardi is reported to have said, Practice does not make perfect. Only Perfect Practice makes perfect.

      As a side note: I am putting together a home brew repeater at the moment. The main radio will be a BaoFeng. The components will be a small cooler, BaoFeng, Lithium Battery, a dipole antenna, and a small solar panel. To be put on top of a hill or better yet a mountain maybe hoisted into a tree to camo it.

      Thanks Brother for your comments.

  16. Greg October 4, 2019 at 10:38

    @JohnyMac Brilliant, simply Brilliant…no one in their right mind would walk up and flip the lid on a camouflaged cooler, that’s emitting radio, and flip the lid to see what’s inside. In fact, they best be trying to follow their footsteps in, looking for boobies on the way out. Even better is the tree idea.

    About 7 years ago a conversation about guns and why they are trying to tie ownership to hunting as the only use popped up. I believe they are going to pivot to “there’s no game to hunt, so no reason for gun.” After all, why would they replace one apex predator (humans that can be controlled) with all the others (wolves, bears and cougars) that can’t? It dawned on us that the only thing left would be for the government to set up microphones to pick up people’s illegal gun use, blah, blah, blah. It spawned an idea similar to yours.

    Similar to the repeater to get my team out of a hot zone idea, I thought about making small aluminum, one use, remote controlled 22 barrels. The idea being that we could put them up in trees of our AO and either use them to draw opposition to, or get their attention directed to, so we could slide out. The best part is, the longer they sit up in the tree before use, the less the signature that we put them there.

    • johnyMac October 4, 2019 at 20:50

      Greg wrote, The idea being that we could put them up in trees of our AO and either use them to draw opposition to, or get their attention directed to, so we could slide out. The best part is, the longer they sit up in the tree before use, the less the signature that we put them there. Amen Brother…Amen.

      Scout and I were hypothesizing awhile back doing what you describe to do some black Freq. Ops. Man O’man that would drive a RDF team crazy and could lure them into a not so friendly “meet & Greet”.

      That’s the kind of thinking I like to hear Brother. \”/

  17. […] na AmericanPartisan.org, publicou um excelente novo artigo que discute a importância de perceber que sua capacidade de comunicações diminuirão […]

  18. […] at AmericanPartisan.org has published an excellent new article that discusses the importance of realizing that your comms will go down when the grid goes down. […]

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