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| Sunday, May 12th, 2013 | 1:24 pm
[mirage31]
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| | Saturday, June 16th, 2012 | 8:45 pm
[roadrash1970]
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Emergency Coms
Figured today may be a good day to mention it, For those in the Survival Community who haven't been exposed to Amateur Radio, Next weekend (Saturday 2:00pm - Sunday 2:00pm) almost every ham club in the US will be transmitting (likely from a visible public location, like a local ball field or School or similar location) for the yearly Field Day. Many clubs may also be running whats called a GOTA station, Get-on-the-air... which would allow an unlicensed person to try out amateur radio with the assistance of a licensed ham at the station. I don't post frequently but as some may know, I started on Jan 01 of this year with the intention of getting licensed, given the critical need to be able to communicate or gather information during a disaster or event... Studied in Jan and took the first two tests in late Feb (Technician and General) and today, passed the Amateur Extra exam. To be honest when first starting out, would have never believed that the hobby was going to be this fun... was looking at it from a purely practical need to get the gear and make sure things were working. Didn't take long at all to be bitten by the bug and in the first 1.5 months, logged 72 Countries on a 50 dollar piece of wire hung between two trees. 100% hooked at this point. Back to field day... from what I've been told its a casual event where the goal is to have fun but also has two other very important aspects to it.. 1) Introduce the public to Amateur radio and 2) Demonstrate that a group of Amateur operators can setup at a location (often times with limited or ZERO services, grid power) and carry out extensive communications around the country and with the rest of the world. Sooooooo, if you haven't been exposed to this, I would encourage anyone with a survivalist trait to check the web for any local ham clubs in your area and visit their site next weekend. I'm sure that a local club would be very excited to have folks inquire and there's no better group to ask/demonstrate the capabilities. If you're a good study, I'm sure it can be done in way less than 6 months from not knowing anything about radio to the top of the class. | | Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 | 5:28 pm
[roadrash1970]
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Giant Leap Forward
In the last week, we've made a Giant leap forward with Coms... General Ticket finally showed up in the FCC DB And A Ten Tec Omni VII arrived :-) Hi-Q 160/6 should be here in a couple weeks, for the time being though I've got the Buddi-pole configured for 40m and picking up lots of traffic from PA, NJ, Toronto | | Monday, January 23rd, 2012 | 6:47 pm
[roadrash1970]
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| | Monday, November 7th, 2011 | 11:52 am
[scottks]
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this is a test, this is only a test
 There was a large scale internet outage this morning. It got me thinking about the nationwide test coming in a few days. http://transition.fcc.gov/pshs/services/eas/On Wednesday, November 9th, the the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will conduct the first ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). It will be conducted Wednesday, November 9 at 2:00 PM EST, and will occur on all radio stations, TV stations, cable stations, dish stations, and satellite radio. The FCC says it will not involve Internet, LAN or mobile telephones. Mobile phones will come a little later (see below**). According to the Blaze, “the authority to seize control of all television and civilian communication has been asserted by the executive branch and handed to a government agency.” Glenn Beck said that this system was not activated during 9-11. We didn't need it. Local stations brought us the information we needed. So why the need to simultaneously grab control of all broadcast systems? My only thought is that Obama or some future U.S. president might want to prevent information flow, or to only allow "official information" to reach the American people. Do you have a shortwave radio currently stored away with Faraday preparations? Do you have ham radio gear tucked away in the same manner? This test might be a good motivator if you haven't yet. Not that an imminent EMP attack is scheduled, but you never know. Whether our own government shuts down communications, or terrorists with three EMP blasts, you'll want to access info after a disaster. http://youtu.be/EoQZY1FtI3c -- trash can Faraday Cage. ** DHS and FEMA are currently working on expanding the EAS by developing the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), which will allow nationwide alerts to be sent to wireless mobile devices and phones. Working with the FCC, they are also working on the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) and the Personalized Local Alert Network (PLAN), which would allow local alerts to be sent wireless technology and devices. | | Saturday, November 5th, 2011 | 11:09 am
[jack_rubicon] |
| | Friday, November 4th, 2011 | 10:03 pm
[chairtomorrow]
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Possibly In The Wrong Comm
Hi, folks. I don't know if this is the right place to ask this question, but I DO know from past threads that we're a wealth of all kinds of info, so here we go. I'm in the market for a wireless camera/bug detector. There are dozens available on eBay for a few bucks shipped from HK, but there are others that sell for a lot more. Obviously, my gut says that the five-dollar model will be little more than an LED light with an antenna, but I've been surprised in the past...does anyone here have any experience with this kind of privacy technology? I have a female friend who just got a new job that will involve a lot of travel and she's (understandably) concerned about hotel room security. Thank in advance, Ed | | Monday, October 10th, 2011 | 2:07 pm
[nehemiahgroup] |
Enemies within our borders
Occupy Wall Street? Boston? LA? Were these people born stupid or did they have to practice to get like they are? Led by communist front organizations such as Acorn, SEIU and other unions, these people are very clearly and succinctly calling for an armed, violent overthrow of the Government in order to set up a socilist/Marxist dictatorship. That is called TREASON. They have openly declared that they are at war with our capitalist society and that they are enemies of our Constitutional Republic government. Where is the self-proclaimed POTUS that vowed to defend the country against all enemies both foreign and domestic? Oh, wait - he is just as much of a traitor as the rest of them. He is not defending us - he is giving aid and comfort to a declared enemy. | | Thursday, October 6th, 2011 | 10:37 am
[scottks]
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the 5 Gs
 Robert Kiyosaki, author of the popular Rich Dad series of books, was on GBTV yesterday. He is the second person I have heard lately that says now is a great time for rich people to make a lot of money. But he also believes we are probably headed for total collapse. Collapse as in big cities facing cannibalism. He recommends the "5 Gs" just in case things deteriorate so badly that anarchy is the law of the land: Gold, Ground, Gasoline, Grub, and Guns. "Ground" meaning owning your home outright. | | Friday, September 23rd, 2011 | 8:22 pm
[scottks]
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| | Saturday, September 17th, 2011 | 3:28 am
[eviltwin2] |
Winch mount
I finished a mount for my winch. The winch needs to be up off the ground about 10 inches or so for the crank handle to clear the ground when at maximum extension. Since the mount only receives vertical force and not horizontal, it doesn't have to be heavily bound together. It only needs to be sucre enough to keep from falling apart; the fasteners carry no load other than the mounts own weight.  I used doubles up pressure treated 6x6's held together with 5/8 - 11 threaded steel rod. I have to trim off the excess material but will leave it on until I'm sure how I want to mount the wheels and handle that will let me roll this around.  If the weather holds this weekend I'm going to see how this does on some small stumps. | | Tuesday, September 13th, 2011 | 10:16 am
[eviltwin2] |
I have been familiar with the SPEC-OPS line of nylon tactical goodness for a while but have not really had an opportunity to get my hands on any of their stuff. Recently  commander_zero posted that SPECOPS had a clearance/closeout page with some interesting deals. The prices seemed about right for some experimenting. Most of the stuff was upwards of %60-80 off, so stuff that I would like to examine but couldn’t really afford suddenly comes within reach. A lot of makers will start having closeouts on stuff like Woodland Camo and 3-Color Desert camo as the uniform regs shift away towards different camo patterns. Ditto with attachments. Companies sitting on a warehouse full of stuff that is ALICE compatible only are either planning big sales or dumping lots of R&D time into retrofits. Now I’m an old fashioned sort of fellow; for me ALICE gear has always been ‘it’. I had it when I took ROTC and I had it in Boot Camp. I’m not opposed to something new as long as it’s better. That being said, I do have certain preferences. I’m not a huge fan of Velcro (or as the knock off folks call it ‘hook and loop fastener’). When new it’s great, when older it’s good, but when it gets on a few years it tends to lose its ability to stay fastened. Also, there are some designs that I just can’t get used to. More on this later. I ordered the following items: X6 M4/M16 Magazine Pouch – A 6-mag pouch. Regularly $32.95 on clearance for $6.95 (%79 off). X4 M4/M16 Magazine Pouch – A 4-mag pouch. Regularly $27.95 on clearance for $5.95 (%79 off). Super Straps – Replacement ruck straps in the medium ALICE pattern but mostly universal. Regularly $49.95 on clearance for $9.95 (%80 off) SAW M249 Pouch – A pouch for plastic SAW ammo boxes. Regularly $32.95 on clearance for $9.95 (%70 off). Soldiers Optimized Bag – An updated ‘buttpack’. Regularly $69.95 on clearance for $14.95 (%79 off). Ready-Fire MODE (M4) – Mounts a mag on your M4 stock. Regularly $31.95 on clearance for $9.95 (%69 off). MOUT Rig Military – An 8-mag chest pouch w/ harness. Regularly $121.95 on clearance for $19.95 (%84 off). ( Floor porn and reviews behind the Tupelo cut....Collapse ) | | Sunday, September 11th, 2011 | 12:29 am
[thomascrown]
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Quick Movie Review -- "Contagion"
I just came home from seeing this movie, and overall I liked the film. The film makers kept things pretty straight forward, and kept the Hollywood cliches to a minimum. I think they did a pretty decent job portraying what might actually happen during a major pandemic. I would recommend the film. | | Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 | 3:48 am
[eviltwin2] |
Picked up my winch yesterday. While I don’t really have much use for a winch right now it is one of tose things that when you need one, you –really- need one. Behold:  . .  . .  . It’s made by a company out of Seattle called Beebe Bros. and is their 2 ton model. I went online and appearantly there are quite a few of these and the 5 ton models still in use. NOS 5 ton models seem to go for about $1,500-2,000. I got this one for $50. It’s coated in red paint although the handle and some other parts are OD green. Ex-military? It’s rather interesting construction and is pretty much everything I want in a piece of machinery. There are no screws that hold it together. 4 bolts and bayonet catches. Nothing plastic. Everything user-servicable. When you think of bomb-proof machinery, this is it. This is a very simple and well thought out design. Its elegance lies in it’s simplicity of design and strength of construction. Here’s one of the things that I find so cool and well thought out about this thing: .  .  .. .Notice those holes in the base? The horizontal base holes are for bolting this thing to a stand. As it came to me, it was mounted on a 2 foot by 2 foot block of timber that was infested with carpenter ants. I used my handy dandy Stanley Entry FUBAR to dismount the winch and split the block of wood open prior to dousing it with unleaded and lighting it off. Those holes that go horizontally through the frame are what are so clever. You can hook chains up to those and secure the winch to an anchor point like a big ass tree or rock. See:  This thing weighs about 70 pounds or so and does strain the limits of one man portability but a good stand with a couple carrying handles would allow a 2 man team to move it easily to where needed. I suppose since the purpose of the block is to elevate it high enough for the handle to clear the ground, you could put wheels and a handle on the block and move it like a handtruck. Once it’s chained to an anchor it’s not going to move, wheels or not. I’ve done some looking around on line and have seen these used in multiple applications; mounted on trailers for pulling up boats and vehicles, chained to tow hooks on the front of trucks and used to winch heavy loads and even one fellow who had a DEEP bumper on his truck with quick-mount bolts so he could throw the winch on the bumper and then quickly dismount it when done. The condition is quite good. What looks like rust or scale in the images is actually a quarter inch thick in places layer of congealed and dirty grease. The drum has about 40-50 feet of what I think is 3/8 steel cable. For now I’m going to break it down again, clean and degrease the whole thing, replace a couple buggered up grease fittings and then re-grease and re-assemble. When I get my eventual dream utility trailer to pull behind my dream truck this winch will be quick-mounted on the tongue and there will also be a mounting option in the back of the truck. | | Saturday, August 27th, 2011 | 8:27 pm
[eviltwin2] |
Off to work tonight. I am unhappy that I will be at work while the bad weather is hitting the county but there’s not much I can do. The fire company will probably be kept hopping starting tomorrow. We went and did PMCS on the pumps and pre-packaged some of the gear that we anticipate using.Now it’s just waiting for things to start. It’s a 50/50 chance that I’ll get mandated tomorrow and have to work a double at work. The only saving grace to being mandated is that if it happens I get paid doubletime. I loaded up my vehicle so that I can get home. There are already a few road closures. Chainsaw and related gear, comealong and chains, tools, spare Cherry Coke, good boots and gloves. Not shown: turnout gear, lights, rope, flares, rescue radio.  One thing that has been giving me issues in getting the house squared away has been water supply. I have two wells of which I use only one. The water supply runs on 240 and I have everything set up now for 120v. While the house and property are on a slope, the house is on the top of the slope so I can’t really use gravity to my advantage. My plan is eventually to have 2 barrels of potable water and two barrels of spare kerosene and fuel oil set up on a small platform in the basement that will allow them to gravity feed. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten around to that yet. Since I expect power issues this weekend and the electric system at the moment won’t support 240v I need to make a –temporary- arrangement. Thus:  An associate gave me about a dozen of these 50 gallon barrels. I picked up 8 cinderblocks for $1.50 each at Home Depot. Stacked 4 on top of 4 these give me enough height that the bottom of the barrel is still higher than the top of the 5 gallon watercans and buckets. Some one inch PVC was run from the top bung down to within a half inch of the bottom. It comes out the top and dewscribes a u-turn and is then reduced to a section of 1 inch hose. There’s a small valve that shuts off the water if needed. This should give HH6 enough water until I can get home. If I’m home I can always tap the rain gutters although, again, that’s a system that I –still- haven’t gotten around to doing although I do have the plans done up. | | Sunday, August 14th, 2011 | 7:01 pm
[eviltwin2] |
commander_zero has a post up today about looters and how their projected lifespan/career advancement varies by region. The classic disaster line is “Looters Will Be Shot”. While I advocate this position, I think it’s worth looking at why looters should be shot. In the good old days and up into the early 1970’s the policy of the police, militia and National Guard was “Looters Will Be Shot”. Think about this: A man takes a brick and breaks the front window of a store, goes in and grabs merchandise and then runs out. As he does this he is observed by a policeman. Unless the man is armed or threatens the officer, he is fairly safe from being shot. The police are usually not permitted to use deadly force against someone committing a property crime WITHOUT using a weapon or threatening someone. Yet if the policeman observes the same activity during a riot or disaster, he shoots (or at least they used to). Why? The reason, I believe, was because a person who would commit burglary (which is what looting essentially is) under the cover of disorder and disaster is on a different moral plane than fellow citizens and even fellow criminals. A looter is a person who, when everyone else is trying to do their best when times are at their worst, seeks only profit in the chaos and confusion. We hope that our fellow citizens will step forward and work towards the common good but they may also simply stand aside and do nothing with no repercussion save for their own moral concerns. A looter however does not help or stand aside; citizens bring order from chaos while the looter adds to it. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-[ Through some rather complicated circumstances SuperTrooper has been appointed the executor of an estate that contains vehicles, a house and contents. The vehicles are a 2003 Ford Explorer and a 2007 H-D Electraglide. Both interesting vehicles but the H-D is more touring than cruiser and I really prefer cruisers. The deceased fellow was a maintanace man and as such had a garage chock full of tools. SuperTrooper and I hemmed, we hawed, we did the little dance and we made a deal: all the tools for $600. I think this is a good deal. First off. The deal includes a nice rolling upright toolchest and drawers. Craftsman. Catalog price $350 just for the cabinets. Then theres all the hand tools. There are at least 3 big metal tool boxes filled with assorted wrenches, multiple socket sets, etc. all of decent or better quality. I am going to try and get the power tools folded into the deal as well. Definitely a good deal. My motorcycle mechanic (who I just paid $150 to replace my brakes) would be interested in any duplicates within the estate tools. Also, found a very interesting item that I don’t currently have a use for but may have some future value. An old cast iron winch that looks a lot like this one:  Cast into the side it reads TWO TONS. I have no idea what to use it for right now but it seems like a handy thing to have and it is built to last for the ages. All cast iron. Every part part held in place by pins or bolts. Nothing that can’t be worked on by the end user. | | Sunday, August 7th, 2011 | 2:32 pm
[chairtomorrow]
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| | Thursday, May 26th, 2011 | 10:16 pm
[scottks]
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| | Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 | 6:09 pm
[scottks]
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| | Sunday, May 15th, 2011 | 3:45 pm
[theonlytime]
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