Radio Contra Episode 33 is up!
Radio Contra Episode 33: I cover a question from a reader concerning the practicality of clandestine communications devices that I described in Episode 31 and my fighting carbine setup.
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About the Author: NC Scout
NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .
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Thanks for keeping the podcasting up. It is one of the major motivators for me being a cash sponsor.
With the discussion on Russian vs US-made lasers. Here’s the BLUF: [[ Most people just need to buy the US-made civilian DBAL ]]
The complications on why are below if you’re interested.
*Zenitco Lasers*
For those thinking about the ~$400 Zenitco Perst-4 laser; it’s just a laser and has no illuminator. I had mine hacked to work with a Surefire IR Illuminator. Unless someone is cool with hacking those two together, the next option is the ~$1100 Perst-3 model that does have the illuminator + laser combo.
The reason for the popularity of the Perst lasers is that they’re made overseas so they don’t have to follow FDA laser laws limiting the output power. I’ve seen videos of the Perst 3 illuminator lighting up a target over 1000yrds away.
Unless you’re going to shoot very long distances with a magnified NOD setup, acquiring the extra power Russian laser / illuminator may not be worth the price or the lack of easy warranty work.
Unfortunately, I’ve heard sending your Perst back under warranty to Russia takes forever if it even makes it there.
* US Models are Likely Better for Most Folks*
The civilian eye-safe DBAL model NC Scout runs can be easily repaired under warranty here in the US. I’ve seen them as low as $680 on sale. Again, ask yourself if you really need the extra power of the Russian laser to justify the downsides.
It’s also important to note that unlike the power restrictions on _laser_ illuminators, there’s no FDA restriction on LED IR Illuminators. So if you really need lots of IR to light up a target, there are good US-made LED illuminators from folks like Surefire or TNVC available. The US models IR LEDs can also be easily paired with US-made lasers.
* Passive Setup *
There’s also the “passive” setup which is my current favorite and gaining popularity. It involves putting a PVS-14 over your dominant eye and using it to look directly through a red dot (most LPVOs and Prisms won’t support this). That means your cheek weld is the same for day / night and you generally don’t use any IR illumination unless you really need it. This lowers the likelihood of you revealing your position to any enemy that also has NVGs.
Some like the “passive” setup so they don’t have to buy a laser, and they can just run an IR LED light. Just remember, having just the IR light means you can’t quickly aim when switching to your non-dominant side without also swinging your J-Arm to the other eye. Good luck doing that under stress in the dark. So even with a passive setup, having a laser is still important in my opinion.
There are tons of trade-offs with NVGs and lasers. I found out many of them hard and expensive way. :-)
The DBAL is likely still the best option for most US civilians.
DBAL!
It’s badass!
Wish I had the money to put one on every rifle I own.
But I also wish I had a nice medium weapon thermal site.
Such is life.
What I really need is some homemade antennas.
I can’t spend any more money on Guns.
Im also never drinking or smoking again.
Thank you again for all you do. I’m supporting AP on Patreon and look forward to an interesting 2021.
Also look forward to your discussion on why not to use a carbine for home defense.
Thanks brother.
On the carbine / home defense topic, it depends on a large variety of factors, but over penetration for one. In a dynamic environment (home invasion being the first one coming to mind) you don’t get to pick your shots and rifle bullets don’t stop in people. And they don’t in walls either unless you live in a concrete lined bunker. Pistol rounds or even shotguns indoors are a better option and more maneuverable in all cases. The other big factor is defending your actions after the fact. If you live somewhere that you can get away with running that AR-15 as a grab n’ go weapon, then awesome, but unlike what you’ll read on 99.999% of the gun blogs, defending using that AR even in a conservative jurisdiction might be tough. But a handgun is not- carrying those is far and away more common and articulatable as a ‘heat of the moment’ response.
This is coming from a guy who’s had to use a rifle in a failed home invasion, so I know a little bit about what I’m talking about. This was in a very rural, conservative area outside Fort Bragg as well.
Cool, thanks for the response. This makes a lot of sense.
Just some random thoughts:
“There is no reason for anyone to be on Facebook”. Well there is no reason to be on Facebook under your real identity but if you are using a cheap throw away phone that lives in a Faraday case and is not traceable to you then a Facebook and other social media accounts are convenient ways to monitor enemy posts and to post one’s own propaganda.
Social media is one way to learn more about targets of interest.
“Go dark bags” or Faraday cases are worth a larger discussion on your podcast in my opinion. Where to purchase them, how to construct them and how to test them are worth while things to cover.
“There is no such thing as a burner phone.” True but there is such a thing as a decoy phone is there not. Tracfone has some inexpensive phones that one could employ to get someone’s attention and then sent on it way via train, some random bus or in some auto you find in a parking lot.
On the idea of removing the sim card and only using one’s cheap, throw away phone as a computer I have a few questions. If I type a text or take a photo or screenshot a map on a laptop and then put that on an SD card which is then installed in a throw away phone will there be anything on that SD card which would contain my laptop’s identity or IP address? Are files and photos traceable to the specific device that produced it?
I have a few Tracfones that were purchased with cash and were immediately placed in a Faraday bag and never has the bag been opened or the batteries installed until I am in a public wifi place. I now realize that I don’t even need to have the sim card in for most of what I need to do.
What should I be on guard against?
Enjoyed the podcast and look forward to more of the same.
Thanks for the comments and the kind words. Lemme answer some things:
On the social media front…are you aware of what tracking applications are running in the background while you’re browsing? If not, you might want to look into that. The AI managing the traffic on the site knows what your doing. Further, ‘monitoring targets of interest’ to do what, exactly? Know that they exist? I can do that with Maltego, and map their associations to boot. Nothing, and I mean nothing at all, good comes from social media. Those cool memes you like? Do you know what might be embedded in the background of them? If not, you REALLY need to check out what can be embedded in any JPEG image through several of the open-source steganography programs out there. Browsing 4Chan? You might be downloading CP and never know it until someone knocks on your door, seizes your devices with a Title III warrant and gives you a new pair of bracelets. Might sound extreme, but if I were a badguy that’s exactly what I’d do to take down a selected few dissident targets and crush a movement in its tracks.
“True but there is such a thing as a decoy phone is there not”
There is not. You’re co-locating data, towers and patterns of life. So no.
“On the idea of removing the sim card and only using one’s cheap, throw away phone as a computer I have a few questions. If I type a text or take a photo or screenshot a map on a laptop and then put that on an SD card which is then installed in a throw away phone will there be anything on that SD card which would contain my laptop’s identity or IP address? Are files and photos traceable to the specific device that produced it?”
Your IMEI number is assigned to the device, not the SIM card. Your phone’s embedded transmitter is still being pinged. Without the SIM you can still call 911 and relays geolocation data. The IMSI number is assigned to the SIM Card. Both are used to identify you based on your device’s data then cross-referenced to any search engine data you’ve indexed to geo-locate your position. Pictures are stamped with this data. You can scrub it by opting to remove the metadata after uploading it to a computer, but the real answer is to carry an actual camera and not a phone.
I wouldn’t bother with the Tracfones for anything other than using it as a standard mobile phone. Its what I do but as soon as its been activated, that geolocation data is already pinging you. Its self-defeating and hugely impractical. The easiest option is shooting for that cheap wifi tablet and loading up Signal, Wire and Tor (use with caution) and communicate only from open wifi networks.
Wow! I didn’t expect an entire podcast to be dedicated to my one contribution to the comments section. I grateful beyond words for the time and effort you put into that.
But I guess I expressed myself poorly. I am not interested in using a smartphone as a means of communication but for accessing files and gathering useful info such as weather reports and bus schedules and perhaps hailing a taxi. It’s not something that is going to be kept. A $30 purchase, then add my own SD card, use in a city, remove the SD card and toss the phone. $30 isn’t that much for this kind of thing. Most guys will think nothing of burning through $30 of ammo in a weekend. Of course the phone is being tracked but what can they do with the data? Someone bought a phone for a week and then went around town and lost the phone.
By contrast a tablet is more expensive (to expensive to just throw away afterwards) and cannot access the internet without a wifi hotspot.
I appreciate that you don’t understand my intentions and that is as it should be. Planning on “fighting for your freedoms someday” will get you put on a list but declaring that on Thursday you will hit Alfred in the face with a sock filled with chicken manure will likely entitle you to a visit from the authorities. Specifics can be used to make a case conspiracy.
Suffice it to say that while many tourists enjoy visiting national parks others might rather take a tour of the neighborhoods of notable leftists. Sort of like touring the homes of celebrities. It might prove useful someday to know if little Andy Tiffa who lives with his mommy helps out by cutting the grass every Sunday afternoon at around 5 p.m.
We are not all going to be serving as trigger pullers in this ordeal.
Again thanks for the time and effort in doing all that you do.
I’ll be dropping a donation in the kitty.
Thanks! I actually woke up this morning with those questions in mind and I really appreciate you asking them.