Ramblings on ice ash...

Howdy Folks,

It has been a hectic past couple of weeks here. A few weekends ago, I changed ALL the fluids on my Tractor, so it is good to go.

I had an accident at work a few weeks back where a careless homeowner left boards with nails out in his woods... now here is the bad part.... instead of stepping on them, I slipped and they wound up in my knee!!! Punctured a tendon but I am pretty much back to normal. I am thankful that we live in the modern world where such things as antibiotics and tetnus shots exist. An injury such as mine could have had a different outcome in a SHTF scenario! So stock some meds and first aid supplies. I have heard some experts say not to have advanced medical supplies if you do not know how to use them, but IMHO that is stupid thinking... You may come across someone who knows how to use them if only they have them... Remember the preppers mantra " IT IS BETTER TO HAVE IT AND NOT NEED IT, THEN TO NEED IT AND NOT HAVE IT!" of course that does not excuse you from having some skills and learning more!

On the farm I have been doing a little bush hogging try to keep that Spring green down to an acceptacle height as well as getting my garden ready. This year I plan on using part of my chicken coop as a garden. The chicken yard is turning a lovely brown color and digging always yields some nice earthworms! The chickens have also kept anything green from growing so it is the absolutely most weed free area I have around! We will have to see how that turns out.

Also I admit to having acquired a iPad and love it. That is also the reason my blogging has suffered, until I remembered I could actually type a blog on this thing! Great device and I really enjoy it. My only problem is after using the iPad, my iPhone looks REALLY tiny!!!

Now on to the topic of this post. Some relatives of mine are in Europe, taking care of family. They are supposed to fly back stateside in a couple of days. Problem is there is this volcano in Iceland spewing up abrasive ash into the air... in the same airspace that many airplanes fly to either get to or from Europe. So they are experiencing massive flight delays and many travelers are stuck wherever they happened to end up at.

I was actually reading the BBC tonight on the iPad and saw a video about folks being stranded justctrying to get home. They were interviewing an Indian gentlemen who was in England for a "holiday" and was worried because he already "blew all his money having fun" and was expecting someone to take care of him until he could get back home!!! Come on folks, you are in a foreign land, you had better have something to provide for you because you are on your own! I detest credit cards, but here is ONE instance I would want a platinum one!!!

Luckily my relatives have a place to stay, and this event is actually working in their favor since they were planning on extending their stay a few more weeks and with the air travel FUBAR now happening, they will not have to pay a penalty fee to stay longer! They are working on gathering a few extra supplies "just in case". Talking about a WORST CASE SCENARIO for bugging out...

Keep an eye on this folks as it could get interesting. Europe imports a lot of their food, but also grows some. What happens when they can no longer provide the food they used to grow and have to import more food??? What happens if this volcano keeps spewing ash for months and it weakens an already fragile European economy??? How will this effect the already fragile economy of the world??? What about Iceland ??? They were already having economic problems. Even if the volcano just spews ash for a few more weeks, think about the impact to their tourism industry!

It is going to get interesting... So keep up the preps, watch your six and God bless ya!

Thanks for reading!

Later,
ZA

Ramblings on SHTF Ham Radio...

Howdy Folks,

I finally got a little free time today, so I figured I would take on things to do with ham radio wtshtf.

So first lets flesh out the conditions. TSHTF and whatever caused it has pretty much taken out most of the infrastructure (power,communications,utilities) has been destroyed. Governments of the world are either gone or cannot help their people and you and yours are on your own...

1. The Ability to Communicate with Others Over Long Distances

With the internet, phone lines, and cable TV gone you will be in the dark for information. With your ham radio rig, you can reach out to those on the other side of town to communicate with those of your group who are hunkering down there. You can also reach out across your state, country or world to find out what the heck just happened!!! The ability to find out you are not the last family on earth is priceless!

2. The Ability to Setup a Cross Band Repeater to Establish Local Communications

A cross band repeater is a very handy radio. Dual band radios (usually 144/440mhz) sometime have a feature called cross band repeat. This feature helps you extend the range of your HT. I have used this feature to place the cross band radio on a mountaintop so I could talk with my buddies on the other side of the mountain. Since VHF/UHF radios are line of sight, we used the cross band radio to give us coverage to the blind sides of the mountain. Event a 5W cross band capable HT on a mountaintop would greatly increase the range of the HT's/mobiles in the valleys below.

3. The Ability to Talk to a Professional to Talk you Through a Problem

Imagine the scenario that someone in your group has taken ill, you have limited nursing skills. After TSHTF your ham radio guys have setup a national net to provide expertise in skills that groups are lacking. You contact net control and they put you in contact with a doctor that helps your team member survive.

4. The Ability to Send Pictures.

To expound on #3 a picture is worth 1000 words, so instead of the electrician on the national net trying to explain how to wire up a solar panel set, he simply sends you a picture of a wiring diagram. Hams routinely send pics over the air from across the country!

5. The Ability to Send Live Video

ATV or Amateur Television has the ability to send live video across short distances. So TV locally is doable.

6. The Ability to Operate Your Own UAV

With a Radio Controlled Airplane (or ground vehicle) with ATV (Amateur Television) you could have your own UAV that could provide you with intel without sacrificing your groups safety. A UAV could be a definite force multiplier.

7. Have Longer Range Communications Than Those With FRS/GRMS

FRS/GMRS radios do have their uses and will probably be prolific during a SHTF event (barring EMP), but they never operate anywhere close to the range stated on the blister pack. Even a Ham radio HT does not have a range of 27 miles... but a 2m HT will perform much better than those with FRS/GMRS radios! The ability to have communications superiority over those that may wish to do you harm will be an advantage!

8. The Ability to Operate with Odd Splits

Ham Radios have this really cool ability to operate with odd splits. What this means is that instead of transmitting and receiving on let's say 146.150 mhz we transmit on 440.500mhz and the station we are talking to is listening on 440.500mhz. When the station that is listening on 440.500mhz transmits, they transmit on 146.150mhz. This gives anyone listening a hard time following BOTH sides of the conversation unless you know the split. With ANY dual band radio this is possible. Pretty cool.

9. Setup a Packet Radio Network

With packet radio you can establish bulletin boards even send email. The only limits are to how far you can transmit. Even APRS (not using the GPS part) can transmit short messages on a very robust network. The newer D-Star technology has some very cool features with file transfers and video!

10. Having a useful skill

Since you are a ham radio operator, you have a very useful skill as you have already demonstrated that you have a basic knowledge of communications. You may not be able to build a radio from scratch, but you do have a knowledge of communication systems work! This can be a real asset to ANY group.

Hopefully this has given you some ideas of how ham radio can be a benefit to YOU WTSHTF. Get your license so when you need those skills you will have had plenty of time to practice them in a low pressure environment!

Thanks for reading!

Later,
ZA

Ramblings on the small farm tractor...

Howdy Folks,

Well just when I was going to jump into ham radio and TSHTF scenarios (I will get to it a little later), We inherited (wife's Grandpa and like my own as well) a small farm tractor so I have been kind of busy getting my ducks in a row with that.

I figured that it would be interesting to see how this will figure into my preps and its many uses on the homestead. Now this is not my first foray with farm tractors as my 'POP' lives close by and I can use his anytime I wanted... However this one is MINE (well as long as I stay married to my wife, so that will be like... FOREVER!!! LOL) and I don't have to spit shine and return in better condition when I am finished using it. At least that is what I do when I rarely borrow someone else's stuff!

This is my first experience with one with a front end loader and all I can say is... AWESOME!!!

This afternoon I had free and after PMing (old Army term called Preventative Maintenance)it I tested it out.

First off I had a raised bed in the front yard that was getting too much sun during the brutal summer afternoons. The loader had some homemade forklift spikes on it which I simply slid under the 2"x10"x10' boards and lifted the 4'x10' frame easily up and over the dirt. I then hauled it around back, dropped it off and then removed the spikes/forks and went to dirt scooping mode. I scooped up the rich soil and moved it to another raised bed where I have been composting chicken manure and dumped a couple of scoops in it. Later on I will mix it all up with a tiller. I need to find another place for the raised bed I moved today and I still have about half the soil to fill it up.

Next up I went to the creek at the ford where we cross it. After some big gully washers it deposited some nice piles of sand. I terraformed it to my liking and took two bucket fulls up to the house to use later. It is nice to be able to have that resource and be able to take advantage of it when it happens!


After that I decided to hook up the Bush Hog (yes it really is a Bush Hog) and mow a path in one of my back fields. Worked like a dream and was relaxing. The tractor has HST (Hydro Static Transmission) and IMHO it is a must if you want a loader on front, but I miss the 'cruise control' on the manual transmissions IF you are bush hogging all day long. Still I love the HST!

Now when I work all that OT in the summer and my yard gets high because I am working past dark and off days, I can just jump on the tractor and bush hog it instead of asking POP to use his from now on!!!

I also have quite a few implements to go along with the tractor but I am seriously considering getting a backhoe for the ultimate homestead tool!

The tractor is in EXCELLENT condition with only 705 hours on it (my riding mower gets that in a summer!!! LOL). Next full weekend I have off I am going to replace ALL the fluids in the tractor so I will know where I stand on my maintenance schedule.

I will try and point out how I use the tractor on the homestead and some of the things I am doing to prep for it. Right now I don't have any thing that uses diesel except the tractor so I have a limited amount of fuel for it. That will change and I am already getting things in order.

I would also like to apologize for not a bunch of pics, but a farm tractor has grease fittings on it and by the time I think, "man, I need to take some pics of this", my hands have a thick coat of grease on them! So no way I am gonna get grease on my lenses, DSLR or iPhone... but I will take some in the near future!


Now, I would like to thank the person who left me their little tractor and thought so much of my wife and myself to leave it to us...

I am very thankful to 'Papa Bill' but I am also very sad that all I have is my memories and his little orange tractor that he so lovingly maintained instead of his perpetual smile and good humor to make me feel like I was his grandson. Papa Bill, was the closest I have ever been to a genuine HERO. At age 8 he father died and he had to provide for the family. Family always came first with Bill, with him only considering his own needs after he was sure everyone else had plenty. The only thing that the man ever did wrong was lie about his age, so he could go fight the Germans in WWII. He fought in the Battle of Bulge. Was with the 9th Armored Division as they fought to keep the Germans from blowing up Remagen bridge so they could defeat the Nazi's quick and get back home! When he got back home, he worked in a textile mill as an electrician and maintenance guy supreme. When he got off work he farmed on the side to make money for his family. Then he woke up and delivered newspapers before he went back to the mills!

Eventually he retired from the mill, but he still worked as much as the government would allow him and not penalize him. The fields he farmed sprouted housing developments and there was not as much of a need for a large tractor. So after downsizing he eventually purchased his last tractor. One that helped him out and the one that we came to inherit.

Papa Bill, I miss you and you will live on in my heart and the hearts of your granddaughter and great grandchildren until we meet again. Thanks for your sacrifices, your service to our country, your kindness and that ever present smile!

Thanks for reading!

Later,
ZA

Ramblings on why Ham Radio Operators, "Get IT wrong"...

That is when we try and sell ourselves to the S&P community!

First off, let me offer up this disclaimer. I am a Ham Radio operator and I, myself, am guilty of some of the following things. This may ruffle some feathers, but it is my hope that we as Hams, don't try and sell the hobby, but instead sell the reason and capabilities to those in the S&P mindset.

Second, let me make it VERY CLEAR, I admire and respect the hams that provide public service to emergency organizations. My hats off to you and keep up the good work. This is in no way disrespectful of what you do...

OK, so why do ham radio operators get it wrong, when trying to encourage others to join our hobby so those of the like mind can be prepared???

It is in my opinion, that we sell it as an expensive hobby (sometimes), one where we will be stuck in some shelter for days on end providing communications, to talk to another human being on the other side of the world for no other reason than to make a friend. I can think of many more, but these always get mentioned!

When you extoll the many wonders of ham radio to someone new, you know you lost them when you say," I worked a JG1 call last night on LSB on 40 meters, running 5w from my FT-817 into a G5RV @ 40' signal was 5 by 9, ain't that cool???" as their eyes glaze over and quickly try and change the conversation!

The S&P (Survival & Preparedness) person that may be interested into learning about ham radio, does not care about what you do with it, but rather... WHAT IT CAN DO FOR THEM!!!

For example, you may have headed down to New Orleans with all your ham gear in tow and VOLUNTEERED a MONTH of your time to man a shelter so they would have a link to the outside world since all the normal means of comms were down, but to the average prepper, that does not sound like something he may want to do.

However, mentioning that sometimes the power fails, telephones are down, cable out and cell phones are a NO GO, but with ham radio you were able to talk into or out of those areas that not longer had any communications infrastructure... now that sounds pretty cool!

I don't think, in our hobby, that we sell ourselves very well in the S&P part. Telling folks that I and several other hams spent a week on a ghost town off of the Outer Banks of NC operating ham radio on solar and generator power for a week is much more interesting than talking about the latest contact we made the other night in Europe after supper.

Not to say there is not a place and time for such things, but it is not usually the 'HOOK' that make the non ham, wish to become part of our hobby.

S&Pers want to know WHY they should get licensed, how to use it WTSHTF/TEOTWAWKI, what are the benefits and so on. It is our job as hams to get those folks interested in ham radio. Maybe some of the S&P hams we recruit will go on to be a world class DXer, head of the county or state ARES/RACES, or maybe ham radio will be nothing more than a vital link to those they wish to communicate with when all other methods are not viable. Either way, it is a win for all hams, and a benefit to anyone that knows how to use a ham radio when the chips are down!

I have helped recruit many S&P minded folks into ham radio, often buying the study manual and telling them to 'pass it on' once they got licensed. Once they got a taste of what ham radio could many became involved in ARES/RACES, MARS, SKYWARN, and/or other emergency organizations. Some just wanted to capability to talk around town on repeaters and with a licensed spouse used them to communicate around the homestead.

I will be coming up with some ideas on how to use ham radios WTSHTF in the next week or so, to hopefully inspire folks to 'think outside the box' when it comes to ham radio and not use the 'old marketing' techniques that have been in place for so long.

Like I said, I mean no disrespect to any ham radio operator who volunteers their time for using their ham radio to provide comms, I just want us to think about how it sounds when we describe our hobby to others.

I mean come on... we have to compete against iPhones and computers that can do MANY of the things that ham radio can do (although hams were doing similar things years before the technology was perfected, and in many cases were the folks who came up with the ideas that inspired many communication technologies) as long as EVERYTHING is working right!

This should be an easy sell to those of the S&P mindset, so lets explain how it will benefit the user in the long run... Once they get their taste of what ham radio can do, THEN they will find out about the hobby and service aspects of it.

That may be why I think this way, for I never came from it from the 'ham radio is a cool hobby', but rather, ' ham radio is a vital skill for me as prepper' mindset. Once I played around with my new skill, I found out the best way to increase my skills was to learn the many different ways to send a message across town or around the world.

I hope that we hams of the S&P mindset, will stop and take a look at how we sell ham radio to folks, and quit trying to talk about the hobby and talk about it as a preparedness skill. We also need to do a better job in explaining HOW you can use this skill in your preparedness plan as a prepper and NOT just a ham radio operator. Just saying...

Thanks for reading and 73.

Later,
ZA

Ramblings on the movie "Pandorum"...

Howdy Folks,

The wife and I were looking for a flick to watch last night on PPV (pay per view) and came across Pandorum which was a very interesting sci-fi movie.

I was very impressed with the technology in the movie, mainly the emergency power!

In one scene there is no power for a computer station and it seems the engineers foresaw the need for backup power. With a few cranks of a wheel the computer station comes to life.

In another scene a crew member locates the weapon locker which has non-lethal riot weapons. The weapons mount on your wrist and shoot out a pulse. To power the weapon, you must first pump it up a few times to generate enough power.

In many scenes the pumping up of the wrist weapon replaced the racking of the slide on a semi-auto when trouble was near so that Hollywood cliche was still in action.

The movie, IMHO was pretty decent, but what impressed me was that emergency powered equipment!

I sure wish I had some of that power generation technology here on the farm right now!!!

Later,
ZA