Ramblings on commo capabilities every prepper should have...

Every Survivalist/Prepper should have commo :)

The type of communication capability is a question that only you can answer for yourself, but these are IMHO the very basic communications one needs. You can always do better than this list... it is just a place to START.

Two way radios:

Sometimes you need to talk to someone past yelling range. A pair of FRS/GMRS radio (make sure you pay the money and get your GMRS license) are better than nothing. So a pair of these in your BOB (to talk to your allies along the way) or to talk to your party while you patrol your perimeter is always a good thing. Be sure to have this capability!

AM/FM/Shortwave Radio:

Being able to listen to your local AM/FM radio is a definate plus when something is going FUBAR. Add Shortwave capability so you can listen to far away stations in case your local ones are out.

Weather Radio with S.A.M.E alert:

Weather Radios have come along way since the beginning. These radios can be programmed to go off ONLY when there is an alert for your county. So no more getting woke up @ 3 am for an alert for a county 50 miles away! These things give you a heads up for severe thunderstorms, hurricane reports, tornado warnings, winter storm warnings, etc. so having one is a great for getting a heads up and SURVIVING!

Scanner:

A good VHF (and higher) scanner can give you a heads up as to what your police department, fire department, EMS, utilities, ham radio operators, etc. are doing. Be advised, depending on your locale, your public service frequencies may be digital and trunked, so your scanner will need to have this capability.

I really like to listen to the public service freqs to track the occasional severe weather that tears through our area. Knowledge is power!

So get you some commo... you never know when it will come in handy!

This is a basic list... I highly encourage you to look into Amateur (Ham) Radio to give you some truly awesome capabilities!!!

Later,
ZA

Ramblings on the S&P minded web resouces that ZA reads and listens to...

A lot of folks ask me, "who do you read on the web and who inspires you???"

First off, I have been into the S&P idealogy since the mid 80's (wow whatta decade!!!) and although I have been at it awhile, there is still MUCH to learn! Some folks that I have met in the S&P world have this, "I am so smart NO ONE can teach me anything because I already know it" attitude!!! What jerks!!! The moment YOU think YOU know it all is about the time you fnd out YOU know NOTHING with that attitude!!!

While I am no spring chicken, I am constantly looking for better ways to do things I already know as well as learn new things! I frankly DO NOT CARE if the dude starting prepping yesterday or been at it for fifty years... if it is a better way or a good piece of info... I am gonna use it!!!

Probably one of the best blogs on the web on Survival and Preparedness is James Wesley, Rawles of Survival Blog (links at the top of my blog) who is constantly pumping out info on stuff I can use, news and ideas. Updated DAILY this website is a powerhouse of knowledge. If you don't read it, you should!!! Also I highly recommend JWR's "Patriots" work of fiction which also has a bunch of ideas to get you started.

Also another fellar that is tireless in his efforts to get out knowledge to the masses is Jack Spirko of the Survival Podcast(links at top of blog). Jack usually puts out a podcast once a day that runs from 35-45 minutes. A bunch of the podcasts revovle around the "Modern Survival Mindset". Instead of preaching to just store food, Jack encourages you to also grow some of your own food! I have always been a gardener, but through Jack's podcasts I have learned there are better ways to do these things. Jack Spirko YOU ARE DA MAN!!! Also be sure to check out the great forums there as there are a bunch of like minded people who have a bunch of experience doing things that you will want to try!!!

Another podcast I listen to is The Preparedness Podcast (link at top of blog) which is also a great podcast. This generally run once a week and have been known to flirt with the 120 minute mark in length. There is a bunch of great info that is handed out in each podcast. I really think the Capabilities Checklist is a great tool to evaluate your needs of what you need to acquire to make your SHTF experience less stressful! Good work Rob, Greg and Mike!!!

Finally my other information source is Glenn Beck. Very entertaining, usually spot on in my political idealogy, and a great sense of humor! I prefer to listen to him in the podcast format as I like to be able to pause the program as needed. You can catch him on numerous radio stations around the country as well as the Fox News Channel. IMHO he is way better than Rush or Hannity. You go Glenn!!!

So there you go, this is where ole ZA draws his plans, encouragement, ideas for S&P minded matters on the web!

I encourage everyone to check out the above sources of info, if you do not already, as I feel they are great places to stimulate the thought process and learn about new things!

So again thanks, James, Jack, Rob, Greg, Mike and Glenn for all you do to get the word out!!!

Thanks for reading!

Later,
ZA

Ramblings on Green and Red lasers...

Sometimes you try something that is full of hype and find out the claims are not entirely true and in the process of testing it you find something out you never knew...

I have been very interested in the claims of the highly visible Green Lasers on the market that claim they work well in ALL lighting conditions. The green lasers are notably brighter than their red counterparts but does it justify that extra money???

First of all, this is not a criticism of LaserMax products as I find they are extremely well made lasers. It is a unbiased totally unscientific test. I used my eyes as the testing equipment and that was my only basis for the test. If it looked brighter to me then it looked brighter to me... nuff said.


The green laser is noticeably brighter when you can see it. I don't care what the claims are, the green laser washes out in bright sunlight and is not easy to pick up even at close ranges IN BRIGHT SUNLIGHT.



I tried many different takes to capture an image of the green laser in bright sunlight, but they did not turn out. The only one that turned out was the one above when I aimed the laser in an old shed that provided enough shade to see the green dot. This was walked off to about 25 yards. It shows up well in the shade.


Now you take away that bright sunlight and change it to overcast/dusk/dawn and it becomes visible at significantly longer ranges.



At night, the green laser has an extremely bright dot and visible beam and is very easy to pick up. As you can barely see (about 50 yards away) the green laser is brighter that the red laser. Both will get the job done! The camera obviously does not do this any justice... but I tried!

So in my testing, the green laser beats out the red laser in brightness and all the photos support this...except for the ones taken through a Night Vision Device!!!



The red laser is the one that shows the trail on the left. The green laser would not show up unless it was reflecting on a close object. To get the picture I had to aim the green laser on a tree about 50 yards away.

I suspect that this has a bunch to do with the green image as seen through the Night Vision Device... but still I thought light was light!!!



Above is the red laser by itself. It won in the Night Vision contest so it deserves its own picture!

This really shocked me as I had expected BOTH to do well about equally.

In summary... the green laser IS brighter in all lighting conditions, but is still wiped out in bright sunlight. If you can't get an IR (infra red) laser for your weapon and you want it to show up through through a Night Vision Device then go with red!


Also, before anyone gets all upset and tells me what a dummy I am for using a VISIBLE laser with a Night Vision Device... I know that one can see the laser beam and KNOW exactly where it is coming from. This was purely a test and I thought the results were very interesting... at least to me!

Finally, I think LaserMax Uni-Max Green Laser deserves a little attention so I will throw in a quick review and comments...



I do not understand why these folks who make tactical lights/laser combo's put the laser underneath the flashlight??? Maybe I don't understand technology or engineering, but would you not rather have the laser CLOSER to the bore of the weapon, rather than far away???

I liked the concept of the laser/light combo, but I could never get over the laser being on the bottom...



Then one day I saw the Uni-max which will attach to ANY picatinny rail and it ALSO has a rail below the laser to attach a light. Now the light can be attached to the bottom... where I thought it should be :)



I obviously got the green LaserMax Uni-Max for this test and found it to be a nice and easy to use unit. I tested it on a pistol rail as well as a Carbine rail... This little laser performs BIG!!!

I also have a Streamlight TLR-1 LED weapon light that I mounted below the laser! Very nice setup IMHO.

I will be doing a review of the TLR-1 and Glock Light in the future so stay tuned.

I hope you have found this blog entry interesting and imformative tonight. As always, thanks for reading!!!

Later,
ZA

Ramblings on "What the Heck is a Hamfest Anyway???"

So maybe you folks have heard about this crazy thing called a hamfest and have been wondering what the heck is a HAMFEST???

First of all, although the name Ham is in it, it has NOTHING to do with Ham. I have seen some ham biscuits for sale though.





Anyways...

A hamfest is many things. It is a place to buy some new communication gear, some old gear, accessories and mainly a place for hams to finally get a chance to meet face to face after all those wireless coversations. It is also a place to learn new things and well as an opportunity to take a test to get your license or an upgrade.

Ham Radio Operators are also called Amateur Radio operators but we just usually refer to ourselves as 'hams'.



You can also test out some of the newest gear at the manufacturer booths at the larger hamfests (Kenwood and Yaesu were present at this one).







Today,I planned to meet up with a few folks at the Charlotte Hamfest. It was a rainy day. IOW it was a prefect day for an INDOOR hamfest. I browsed around with Freedom Defender from Xcolony.com who was in town to take the Technician test. Which I am happy to say he aced!!! Congrats Freedom Defender!!!

I picked up some cool toys as well as all the latest catalogs from the dealers.

I also some ideas for some new antennas. There was a really nice idea of someone using electric horse fence tape for making a dipole antenna... Pretty impressive!

So if there is a hamfest coming to YOUR town be sure to check it out. Also I encourage you to get your ham radio license and just for clarification, THERE IS NO LONGER ANY MORSE CODE REQUIREMENT, so NO EXCUSES!

Take it easy, 73 (ham speak for best wishes) and thanks for reading!!!

Later,
ZA

Updates to Zombie Axe's Blog...

Howdy Folks,

I just wanted to let you know about some new things ole' ZA has added to the blog.

First off, I figured that ya'll followers that ACTUALLY claim to read this blog, deserved to be recognized for your insanity and certainly for your support! So THANKS!!!

I also added a way to subscribe to my entries via RSS readers. Sorry it took so long for me to get out of the dark ages!

I also added some of my favorite links and I will try and keep the list short, but these links deserve a mention because either I really like them or they have great info.

So hope you like the changes and again, thanks for your support!

Later,
ZA