Many people believe that Edward Snowden and other like him that have leaked classified information about the National Security Agency (NSA), and others within the intelligence community spying on American citizens are traitors and should be put to death. Most people have no idea of the extent that the intelligence community spies on American citizens. More likely they refuse to believe that our government would actively spy on them because they have the mistaken belief that they would need a search warrant to collect that information. Since the Snowden incident, the NSA is no longer even attempts to hide the fact that they are actively spying in us. Here is what they openly show on their Uta
I have been searching for the right emergency communications (Emcomms) radio for my go-kit. I need a radio that will at least cover the 2-meter, 20-meter, and 40-meter bands. It needs to be able to transmit at least 35 to 50 watts of power. It also needs to be small and easily transportable to a deployment site and set up quickly. I already have a 50-watt dual band 2-mater / 70cm mobile radio but it does not cover the HF bands. I will be installing this radio in my van that I am setting up as a response vehicle for any ARES or RACES deployments. For an Emcomms radio it needs to have the HF bands so that I have long-distance communications to the mainland along with the local on island commun
I already had a discussion about the need for amateur radio in your EmComms plans as a prepper, but now I want to talk briefly about one specific aspect of your communications after a SHTF situation. Digital Communications. When the SHTF and the whole world has turned upside down and no one knows what to do, gathering reliable information that will help you to determine your next move will be a priority. Also, having a reliable communication system that the gang of thieves down the road is not able to listen to will be a must if you want to keep the supplies that you have so faithfully stocked up. No, I am not talking about digital encryption, although it will amount to something almost as e
Well, this is an interesting turn of events. I decided while I am studying for my Extra class license that I would give back to the community and see about becoming an instructor for new hams. I just received notice today that the ARRL has accepted me as a Registered Licensing Instructor. I am now able to teach both the Technician and General license preparation classes. I will not be able to teach the Extra class until after I receive my Extra ticket myself, but I can now teach the other classes. My Instructor Textbook and other materials will arrive in a couple days and I am going over the PowerPoint presentations to make sure they are ready to go. I don't want to teach my first class unti
This past week and a half has been torture waiting for the FCC to process my General class amateur radio license and issue a callsign, but they finally processed it today. My original callsign from over 30 years ago was already used by someone else, so they had to issue me a new callsign: WH6FQE That is a mouthful, so I applied for a vanity callsign that will be easier for me to remember. It will take a couple weeks for them to process the modification to my license, so I will use this callsign until then. I wasn't really expecting the license to be processed until Monday, so I didn't start checking the database until then, but nothing. Every few hours I would check again, and still no list
I have spoken to several amateur radio operators regarding the Amateur Radio Parity Act (ARPA), it's need for those hams living in home owner's associations, and what the ARPA would mean to them if it passes. First off, lets take a look at what the ARPA is so that we can better understand it. The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2017 was introduced in the US Senate on July 12, marking another step forward for this landmark legislation. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are the Senate sponsors. The measure will, for the first time, guarantee all radio amateurs living in deed-restricted communities governed by a homeowner's association (HOA) or subject to any private land u
Ok, so you have decided to get your ham radio license, so let's take a look at what is involved. Amateur radio currently has 3 levels of licenses; Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. Each higher license level that you attain gives you additional frequency privileges and additional modes of operation that you can use on those frequencies. The technician class is the "entry level" license class. The technician exam is a 35 question multiple-choice exam taken from a pool of 426 questions that you must get at least 26 questions correct on. The general license also requires a 35 question multiple-choice exam taken from a pool of 462 questions that you also must get a minimum of 26 questions c
For radio communications, there are a lot of options out there, and many people that I speak to are confused as to which one is right for them. There isn't really a one-size-fits-all answer that I can give you. There are a lot of variables to consider when choosing a radio communications system which I will attempt to go over a few of in this article. First off, lets decide who you want to be able to communicate with via radio. Do you only want or need to communicate with your family around your property? Do you need to communicate with people within a one-mile range? Do you need to communicate with people farther away? Let's take a look at each radio type, their benefits, and their limits:
In the past couple days since passing my Technician and General class license exams I have had a couple preppers ask me why I am wasting my time studying to upgrade to the Amateur Extra class license when I only need a Technician class license to utilize my VHF/UHF radios. It actually surprised me to get this question from preppers because preppers are supposed to be all about emergency radio communication systems and being able to communicate after a SHTF situation happens. Apparently, they did not read my Communication After SHTF article in my Sensible Prepper Series where I went into detail about how their handheld VHF/UHF radios were going to basically be useless for communications outsi
Many preppers have the belief that they will get their Technician class amateur radio license and purchase a cheap Chinese made $30 Baofeng dual-band handheld VHF/UHF radio from Amazon and they are all set with their Emergency Communications, also known as EmComms. I am going to set the record straight and burst some of their bubbles here. Getting your Technician level license is just the start, it is not the finish line that you should be striving for. With each level of licensure from the Federal Communications Commission, you receive more privileges with the addition of available frequencies, and additional modes that you can use on the various frequencies. In an emergency or after a disa
Ok, I just got home and wanted to post a quick update. I took both the Technician and General level amateur radio license exams tonight and I was able to pass both exams with flying colors. On the Technician exam, I made a perfect score of 100%. On the General exam, I was not as fortunate. I missed one question because I marked the wrong answer by mistake so I only ended up with a 97% on that one. Here is my CSCE (Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination) for both the Technician and General level exams. Now I just have to wait for about a week and a half for the Federal Communications Commission to issue my amateur radio callsign and then I can get back on the air. I guess I will
Well, the day that I have been dreading has finally come. This evening I will attempt to take the written exams for both the Technician and General level amateur radio operators licenses. I have attempted to cram so much information into my little head so quickly that at times I felt like my head was swimming. As some of you know, I suffer from frequent debilitating migraine headaches. Usually 3 to 4 times a month. Over the past month we have had a lot of unusual weather here in Hawaii which has affected my studies. Normally the summer and fall months are dry and we have to worry about droughts. This year was not a normal year though as we have had a lot of storms and rain move through the a
The past few weeks have gone by so quickly. The last session of my technician license class was this past Monday night. The class started out with 6 students, and by the last session I was the only student remaining. I had planned on studying for all three license exams at the same time, technician, general, and amateur extra, however the instructor of the class advised me to only concentrate on the technician exam and not worry about studying for the others. Unfortunately, I did follow his advice and have only been studying for the technician exam for the past couple months. I have taken four online practice exams for the technician class license exam and received scores of 94%, 91%, 91%, a
Over the past few days mass-hysteria has been taking place on social media websites like Facebook and YouTube that we need to discuss. A large number of people are making videos claiming that information was "leaked" about the Department of Defense plans to shut off the national electrical grid, turn off telephones, shut down cellular phone service, and shut down the internet tomorrow so that Antifa can continue with their plans to overthrow the government and kill American citizens and we will not be able to contact anyone for help. This is complete and utter bullshit and is so far from the truth that it is incomprehensible to any sane, lucid, person who uses common sense and rationality wh
