Alternate means of communications?

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Originally Posted by USAFGopherMike

Old school rotaries with copper wire or one of those military radios where you have to crank it to charge the line. Also doubles as an excellent interrogation device if you have some jumper cables.

Edit - http://nwga.craigslist.org/clt/3483345767.html

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I just use my TA-312 [Coffee]
Attachment 20103

How about a handheld ham radio? Link on Amazon

Anyone have any experience with these? Seems like a good idea for backup, long-range communications.


On the UAV side-topic, there is now some very detailed info on the web about jamming these things (even found some schematics for an appropriate jammer). I won't link to it out of respect for site liability, but it's easy to find. As has been stated, they will probably RTB if comm is killed, but at least they can't loose a missile at you.

The cheap chinese radios work pretty decently from what I've heard, though how tough they are remains in question. The radios will work for local comms, however in the event of losing the internet, your range would be limited, as some repeaters use the internet to link to other repeaters. For those situations, using the HF, sub-50mhz frequencies would allow you to talk to others hundreds of miles away. Yeah, someone can jam you, but they would have a hard time jamming all the frequencies. Sure, they can pin your location, but if you are smart, you will not transmit long in one location, making it harder to find you.

Regardless, just like shooting, the time to learn how stuff works, and learn to be proficient at it, is not when SHTF, its before. Right now, we are still in the before stages, for now at least. Plenty of places to learn the material, and get a basic tech license and figure out how things work.

With good atmospheric conditions, HF can get you thousands of miles. I like that TA-312! What did you pay for it?

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Originally Posted by USAFGopherMike

With good atmospheric conditions, HF can get you thousands of miles. I like that TA-312! What did you pay for it?

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15 years [Coffee]
It was outdated and struck from inventory-supply sgt said on the way to the dumpster if it happens to fall anywhere,oh well....
Now to find me a gra39 setup so I can remote hook it to a radio :)
Every now and then I see 312's at surplus stores going for around $45

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Originally Posted by zteknik

I just use my TA-312 [Coffee]
Attachment 20103

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Those bring back some painful memories of JRTC for me. Nothing like running the wire from the TOC and holding the ends, attempting to hook them up to your phone when they decide to test the line. [taze]

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Originally Posted by Dave

Those bring back some painful memories of JRTC for me. Nothing like running the wire from the TOC and holding the ends, attempting to hook them up to your phone when they decide to test the line. [taze]

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[ROFL3]Even worse when it's wet out!![microwave]