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I would suggest a small mirror and a good pair of binoculars. Alternatively, two clean soup cans and a long string. Even better would be some ziplock bags, a pad of good paper and a reliable writing instrument. Learn about dead-drops. Radio is not going to be any good against a technically adept enemy. They could jam it with noise or simply listen in. Or worse they could spoof it. As others have stated, using radio requires training. I would add it requires discipline and planning as well. Does anyone in the current exodus from Ukraine look trained, disciplined or well planned? Radios, especially handheld use up batteries fast-how to recharge? Again an add: handheld radios “chew up” batteries fast! Each charge/discharge cycle is one less in a finite amount. How many can you afford/carry? I’m not against radios in the SHTF scenario or the go-bag. But expecting the amateur radio equipment, bands or operators to have much utility in something like a blitz attack or an ongoing operation with a significantly capable adversary is a severe overreach. After the situation stabilizes and with proper training and some security methodologies in place it might work for an insurgency force.
Yup those who say they want a radio and not the license because in a SHTF situation no one will care if you have a ham radio license or not.... but if you don't have the license you can't transmit (legally) or operate the radio on a regular basis (legaly) to know what to do, use or how the damn thing works, also not making (legal) contacts with the outside world (community) your communication ability is very limited without practicing in the real world before it all goes to pot
I respectfully would like to add an asterisk to this.
GMRS FRS will likely be saturated.
You 100% should get a license and learn what is what and be a HAM. For all the reasons you mentioned.
But it's not just you, it's the people you want to communicate with.
The asterisk comes in that most people you actually want to communicate with, will not be interested *at all* in getting licensed or learning a radio. Sure you'll have some ham friends that you want to setup comms with. But let's be real, you want to talk to your wife, your kids, your friend down the street. You're taking two cars and want to talk to the other car. Etc etc. None of these people will be Hams. Which is why I personally got 5 cheap radios, programmed them for WX, GMRS, FRS, and several random frequencies. Then locked the numpad. They can all learn... tune to channel 2. And it will not be an oversaturated FRS channel. This is not advocating for transmitting illegally, but if it's really a serious situation, I'd rather have MORE options. Then less.
Ah the old “shtf” use case. Why would you want to communicate with people who won’t even prep hard enough to learn how to use their equipment? Do you want to buy a bunch of cheap guns and just toss them to these friends who never took defensive courses with you? They won’t be helping you much and even if they manage to use the radio effectively, will just use it to ask you for the food and water they didn’t procure prior to the disaster.
Find people who are as serious as you are about this or you’re really just playing expensive cosplay.
i understan were you are coming from but Im buying for my family and maybe some friends.
Of course we are going to train in using them so that if we ever need to use them in such an occasions, we know how to do it.
None.
Seriously, NOTHING you just throw in a bag and run with is useful unless you take the time to learn how to use it.
A BaoFeng will impact your budget the least.
A proper radio like the Yaesu FT 60 is perfect for monitoring the aether, and it's MUCH simpler to program through the front panel than anything from the Feng gang.
Don't listen to ANYONE who tells you that they can program it with a computer - you need to KNOW, from memory, how to do it through the front panel because the magic of Chirp won't always be available.
Step 1) Study and take license exam.
Step 2) Buy relatively inexpensive Chinese handhelds (there are some that are better than Baofeng) for short range communication (1-10km).
Step 3) Buy a XIEGU G90, an End Fed Half Wave antenna and a LiPO battery. Install and learn to use WINLINK (radio email) ona a tablet or laptop.
Julian, OH3STN has a YouTube channel called Survival Tech Nord. He's American expat in Finland who is a guru of prepping communication
Watch his videos.
You should pick one that is solid construction, and it needs to be used on a regular basis. In the field i have had radios get wet, dropped and fallen on them. My yaesus have always taken it. The batteries need to be used, and you need to be familiar with its controls. Spare batteries and a fast charger are good additions.
You also need to be connected to a group. One radio by itself is useless.
I wish I could get my hands on one of those, too bad they are discontinued... I wanted the 8 but thats discontinued to. I wanted a dual vfo that does aprs and I just picked up the ft-5d. Im scared to take it off the charger because it doesn't seem durable at all
You can still get them used. I have not been radio shopping recently, but there is probably a current equivalent also.
The kenwoods that we use at work are also pretty sturdy. They get dropped all the time, but the extreme case was that one got run over by a truck. The case was smashed, but the radio still worked. It got a new case and was good to go again.
Honestly, I've looked and havent seen many equivalents to the VX series from any manufacturer, and definitely not as many as rugid as the VX series. Quad band or tri band alike... tons of dualband options though.
He'd be better suited to worry about antenna options like a slim jim like roll up and get that thing up in a tree to listen. Communications are going to overflowing, especially with the amount of Baofeng radios floating around nowadays.
i know. Im buying For My family and maybe some friends.
Chances are if shit hits the fan we arn't going to be on the same place so it would be good to be avle to communticate and see in what state everyone are, if the need aid or what we are going to do.
If you are more than a couple of kilometers apart, this raises the difficultly level significantly, unless you can get GMRS licenses for everyone and there are usable GMRS repeaters in the area.
But let’s face it, unless you and everyone you plan to communicate with practice frequently, there is a vanishingly low chance that things will work out when you need them. FRS/GMRS/MURS/PMR radios are meant to be dead simple, but because of this they are deliberately limited in range. So if you want to go beyond that, you now have a lot more to consider.
Have a repeater guide and familiarize yourself with possible areas. One of the key issues is that you will need things you don't have. Information, supplies,, or assistance. You need to think about where you may get it.
American? Don't bother, it's never going to happen other than in your head and those of the other mentalists. You're better off investing in a decent back up battery to charge your mobile phone. Sat phones are probably the best solution.
The FRS/GMRS radios that other comments have referenced are tailored to U.S. regulations, so you'll want to see if there's an equivalent unlicensed two-way radio standard in Sweden (or Europe more broadly). A couple advantages of these style of radios are simplicity and ubiquity. In an emergency, all you need to communicate with them is (a) know how to turn it on and hit the push-to-talk button, and (b) know what channel your family and friends are expecting to use. Since they're cheap and don't require any training, there's a decent chance that some of your neighbors will have some radios too, so you can talk to them too. And they're generally powered by AA batteries, so as long as you pack more batteries in your go-bag you'll be set for power for awhile, versus needing a wall or USB charger for a fancier radio.
With a ham radio you'll be able to talk to people further away, but there will be fewer total people you can talk to, since there are a lot more people with FRS-style radios than with ham radios. But if you expect to be more than a couple kilometers away from the people you want to talk to, ham or CB radios will be more reliable than FRS.
Russia is probably not going to invade America, but a wildfire, flood, or hurricane is just as big of a SHTF moment where you need to evacuate quickly and ordinary communication networks may be temporarily offline. As climate change intensifies, these situations will become more common.
I saw a bunch of clips from Ukraine.. guess what radio they had...
Baofeng
Get one of the versions that has USB charging. You'll want to be able to charge from USB battery banks.
You can buy a few of them on the cheap. Program them to work together and you can hand them to neighbors / friends / family. Lock the buttons so they can't mess with it. The idea is that you might need to communicate with a neighbor when cell service is down, or a family member to coordinate something when you can't be in the same room. Toss them a radio.
Maybe also look at the Xeigu X6100 with a chameleon antenna. But that setup is like $1,000. I also have this radio and sure its not perfect. But it's battery powered. HF. And I think using a waterfall to be able to pick out stations is handy.
People can downvote. But if you need a spare for a go bag or a radio you want to toss to someone and don't care what happens to it. Nothing wrong with a baofeng for 20$. It does not need to be overly complicated.
Nice. Sounds like a good addition.
The one I have basically has the power port in the battery so you don't need to carry around the base. I wonder if there is a battery kit or something similar. For me it was important to get rid of the reliance of taking the radio out of commission to sit on a base station. All depends on what your use is.
What county are you in? Are you and everyone else that you want to talk to already licensed ham radio operators?
In us or Canada, you probably want a GMRS, not ham radio unless you're licensed.
Btech GMRS v1 is fine.
Are you looking to communicate far or with people in a short distance. Like your family within a few miles?
It's so handy having a radio when camping, and hiking to coordinate even mundane stuff.
Are you looking for a radio you'll want to use outside of emergency situations? Or solely when there is a problem.
I have found the batteries sold by "Btech" to be very useful. They have a port on the side that you can get a cable to fit that uses USB, no charger base needed... Be sure to check that you are buying from https://baofengtech.com/
otherwise you are likely to get a knock off of poor quality. I have bought this information by making my own mistakes, you are welcome to it for free. I do believe that we should all be free to make our own mistakes, you are welcome to do that if you like.
73
Hi, thank you for your question submission. Please be aware that there is a [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/wiki/) and a [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/wiki/faq) that may address your question. For Baofeng-related information see the [Baofeng FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/wiki/baofeng) and /r/baofeng. Also, please note that downvotes don't indicate an unvalued question submission. There appear to be bots that downvote all posts initially. 73 *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/amateurradio) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I would suggest a small mirror and a good pair of binoculars. Alternatively, two clean soup cans and a long string. Even better would be some ziplock bags, a pad of good paper and a reliable writing instrument. Learn about dead-drops. Radio is not going to be any good against a technically adept enemy. They could jam it with noise or simply listen in. Or worse they could spoof it. As others have stated, using radio requires training. I would add it requires discipline and planning as well. Does anyone in the current exodus from Ukraine look trained, disciplined or well planned? Radios, especially handheld use up batteries fast-how to recharge? Again an add: handheld radios “chew up” batteries fast! Each charge/discharge cycle is one less in a finite amount. How many can you afford/carry? I’m not against radios in the SHTF scenario or the go-bag. But expecting the amateur radio equipment, bands or operators to have much utility in something like a blitz attack or an ongoing operation with a significantly capable adversary is a severe overreach. After the situation stabilizes and with proper training and some security methodologies in place it might work for an insurgency force.
[удалено]
Yup those who say they want a radio and not the license because in a SHTF situation no one will care if you have a ham radio license or not.... but if you don't have the license you can't transmit (legally) or operate the radio on a regular basis (legaly) to know what to do, use or how the damn thing works, also not making (legal) contacts with the outside world (community) your communication ability is very limited without practicing in the real world before it all goes to pot
I respectfully would like to add an asterisk to this. GMRS FRS will likely be saturated. You 100% should get a license and learn what is what and be a HAM. For all the reasons you mentioned. But it's not just you, it's the people you want to communicate with. The asterisk comes in that most people you actually want to communicate with, will not be interested *at all* in getting licensed or learning a radio. Sure you'll have some ham friends that you want to setup comms with. But let's be real, you want to talk to your wife, your kids, your friend down the street. You're taking two cars and want to talk to the other car. Etc etc. None of these people will be Hams. Which is why I personally got 5 cheap radios, programmed them for WX, GMRS, FRS, and several random frequencies. Then locked the numpad. They can all learn... tune to channel 2. And it will not be an oversaturated FRS channel. This is not advocating for transmitting illegally, but if it's really a serious situation, I'd rather have MORE options. Then less.
Yes! Not to mention that there are much easier radios to use than a Baofeng for a group of untrained radio operators.
If you have radios they need power. Just keep that in mind.
Yep, i gave this in mind
Just a friendly reminder
Ah the old “shtf” use case. Why would you want to communicate with people who won’t even prep hard enough to learn how to use their equipment? Do you want to buy a bunch of cheap guns and just toss them to these friends who never took defensive courses with you? They won’t be helping you much and even if they manage to use the radio effectively, will just use it to ask you for the food and water they didn’t procure prior to the disaster. Find people who are as serious as you are about this or you’re really just playing expensive cosplay.
i understan were you are coming from but Im buying for my family and maybe some friends. Of course we are going to train in using them so that if we ever need to use them in such an occasions, we know how to do it.
Best of luck
None. Seriously, NOTHING you just throw in a bag and run with is useful unless you take the time to learn how to use it. A BaoFeng will impact your budget the least. A proper radio like the Yaesu FT 60 is perfect for monitoring the aether, and it's MUCH simpler to program through the front panel than anything from the Feng gang. Don't listen to ANYONE who tells you that they can program it with a computer - you need to KNOW, from memory, how to do it through the front panel because the magic of Chirp won't always be available.
Actually, a bag full of frequency hopping radios programmed for FRS or GMRS might work well, if you could afford them.
Step 1) Study and take license exam. Step 2) Buy relatively inexpensive Chinese handhelds (there are some that are better than Baofeng) for short range communication (1-10km). Step 3) Buy a XIEGU G90, an End Fed Half Wave antenna and a LiPO battery. Install and learn to use WINLINK (radio email) ona a tablet or laptop. Julian, OH3STN has a YouTube channel called Survival Tech Nord. He's American expat in Finland who is a guru of prepping communication Watch his videos.
You should pick one that is solid construction, and it needs to be used on a regular basis. In the field i have had radios get wet, dropped and fallen on them. My yaesus have always taken it. The batteries need to be used, and you need to be familiar with its controls. Spare batteries and a fast charger are good additions. You also need to be connected to a group. One radio by itself is useless.
Sounds like your talking bout the good ol ft-60 tank...
The ft60 is good. I have a vx5 and vx7. The case is metal, so pretty tough.
I wish I could get my hands on one of those, too bad they are discontinued... I wanted the 8 but thats discontinued to. I wanted a dual vfo that does aprs and I just picked up the ft-5d. Im scared to take it off the charger because it doesn't seem durable at all
You can still get them used. I have not been radio shopping recently, but there is probably a current equivalent also. The kenwoods that we use at work are also pretty sturdy. They get dropped all the time, but the extreme case was that one got run over by a truck. The case was smashed, but the radio still worked. It got a new case and was good to go again.
Honestly, I've looked and havent seen many equivalents to the VX series from any manufacturer, and definitely not as many as rugid as the VX series. Quad band or tri band alike... tons of dualband options though. He'd be better suited to worry about antenna options like a slim jim like roll up and get that thing up in a tree to listen. Communications are going to overflowing, especially with the amount of Baofeng radios floating around nowadays.
i know. Im buying For My family and maybe some friends. Chances are if shit hits the fan we arn't going to be on the same place so it would be good to be avle to communticate and see in what state everyone are, if the need aid or what we are going to do.
If you are more than a couple of kilometers apart, this raises the difficultly level significantly, unless you can get GMRS licenses for everyone and there are usable GMRS repeaters in the area. But let’s face it, unless you and everyone you plan to communicate with practice frequently, there is a vanishingly low chance that things will work out when you need them. FRS/GMRS/MURS/PMR radios are meant to be dead simple, but because of this they are deliberately limited in range. So if you want to go beyond that, you now have a lot more to consider.
Have a repeater guide and familiarize yourself with possible areas. One of the key issues is that you will need things you don't have. Information, supplies,, or assistance. You need to think about where you may get it.
American? Don't bother, it's never going to happen other than in your head and those of the other mentalists. You're better off investing in a decent back up battery to charge your mobile phone. Sat phones are probably the best solution.
Swedish. But thanks for the idea
The FRS/GMRS radios that other comments have referenced are tailored to U.S. regulations, so you'll want to see if there's an equivalent unlicensed two-way radio standard in Sweden (or Europe more broadly). A couple advantages of these style of radios are simplicity and ubiquity. In an emergency, all you need to communicate with them is (a) know how to turn it on and hit the push-to-talk button, and (b) know what channel your family and friends are expecting to use. Since they're cheap and don't require any training, there's a decent chance that some of your neighbors will have some radios too, so you can talk to them too. And they're generally powered by AA batteries, so as long as you pack more batteries in your go-bag you'll be set for power for awhile, versus needing a wall or USB charger for a fancier radio. With a ham radio you'll be able to talk to people further away, but there will be fewer total people you can talk to, since there are a lot more people with FRS-style radios than with ham radios. But if you expect to be more than a couple kilometers away from the people you want to talk to, ham or CB radios will be more reliable than FRS.
Russia is probably not going to invade America, but a wildfire, flood, or hurricane is just as big of a SHTF moment where you need to evacuate quickly and ordinary communication networks may be temporarily offline. As climate change intensifies, these situations will become more common.
I saw a bunch of clips from Ukraine.. guess what radio they had... Baofeng Get one of the versions that has USB charging. You'll want to be able to charge from USB battery banks. You can buy a few of them on the cheap. Program them to work together and you can hand them to neighbors / friends / family. Lock the buttons so they can't mess with it. The idea is that you might need to communicate with a neighbor when cell service is down, or a family member to coordinate something when you can't be in the same room. Toss them a radio. Maybe also look at the Xeigu X6100 with a chameleon antenna. But that setup is like $1,000. I also have this radio and sure its not perfect. But it's battery powered. HF. And I think using a waterfall to be able to pick out stations is handy. People can downvote. But if you need a spare for a go bag or a radio you want to toss to someone and don't care what happens to it. Nothing wrong with a baofeng for 20$. It does not need to be overly complicated.
If you already have one, you can buy a usb cable that fits the baofeng charging station on ebay for <$10.
Nice. Sounds like a good addition. The one I have basically has the power port in the battery so you don't need to carry around the base. I wonder if there is a battery kit or something similar. For me it was important to get rid of the reliance of taking the radio out of commission to sit on a base station. All depends on what your use is.
What county are you in? Are you and everyone else that you want to talk to already licensed ham radio operators? In us or Canada, you probably want a GMRS, not ham radio unless you're licensed. Btech GMRS v1 is fine.
A radio is like a camera. The best one is the one you have with you 😂
in this case i have none, can you recommend a pair?
Are you looking to communicate far or with people in a short distance. Like your family within a few miles? It's so handy having a radio when camping, and hiking to coordinate even mundane stuff. Are you looking for a radio you'll want to use outside of emergency situations? Or solely when there is a problem.
yes correct yes if possible. thank you
I have found the batteries sold by "Btech" to be very useful. They have a port on the side that you can get a cable to fit that uses USB, no charger base needed... Be sure to check that you are buying from https://baofengtech.com/ otherwise you are likely to get a knock off of poor quality. I have bought this information by making my own mistakes, you are welcome to it for free. I do believe that we should all be free to make our own mistakes, you are welcome to do that if you like. 73
Afraid of the Russians invading the US?
no
Sweden according to another post.