Cascadia Survivalist

Today Cascadia Survivalist would like to share an article from K0LWC: What Radios Are Ukrainian Military Using? The current war between Ukraine and Russia raises questions of how units communicate in the field, and how you might survive if you suddenly found yourself in the path of an invading army.    ----- Communications are essential for any military operation. So what kind of radios are being used by the Ukrainian military on the ground? I know what you’re thinking — it must be Baofeng radios, right? Not so fast. Prior to 2015, Ukraine used a variety of different analog radios to accomplish their mission. Their comms included Soviet-era radios that were extremely outdated. The main challenge was finding replacement part availability. Ground troops in Ukraine used a combination of Icom, Kenwood and Baofeng radios in the field. All of these were analog and did not offer the Ukrainian military the ability to encrypt their communications. That’s a serious strategic disadvanta...

  Zello ( https://zello.com/ ) is a free walkie-talkie app for smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers. The app requires an Internet connection to work properly, whether it’s through Wi-Fi or a mobile data network. Unlike the standard calls you can make on the device of your choice, Zello connects you to fellow users and radio channels where large groups can talk regardless of distance. According to Zello: Zello is designed to make optimal use of whatever network resources are available. Even if phone towers are down and radio waves are saturated with other signals, Zello cuts through loud and clear, using low-bandwidth 2G connectivity if it has to. Having a push-to-talk app in your pocket means access to instant or replayable voice communications, text, location and media sharing in one place. With the help of a gateway, you can even integrate Zello into your existing LMR system and completely eliminate dead zones. Channel communications are encrypted in transit, and d...

  Special Operations Forces (SOF) Operators need a variety of individual medical items that can generally be broken down into three types of medical kits: a major trauma kit, to treat major traumatic wounds; an inuse medical kit, to prevent or treat anticipated common medical conditions during operations; and a survival medical kit, to treat minor injuries and ailments when in a survival/evasion situation. These two articles discuss Special Operations Individual Medical Equipment and can also serve as a reference for those of us who spend a lot of time in remote and wilderness areas: Special Operations Individual Medical Equipment, Part I - The Major Trauma Kit ( http://www.jsomonline.org/Publications/2009443Geers.pdf ) Special Operations Individual Medical Equipment, Part II - The In-Use and Survival Medical Kits ( http://www.jsomonline.org/Publications/201013Geers.pdf ) While having a good first aid kit is important, having the knowledge to use it is essential. When building yo...

“With no antibiotics there would be no treatment for bacterial infections; pneumonia or a simple cut could kill again, contagious diseases (including those sexually transmitted) would make a come back, and high mortality rates would be associated with any surgery. Poor hygiene and disrupted water supplies would lead to an increase in diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Without vaccines there would be a progressive return in infectious diseases such as polio, tetanus, whooping cough, diphtheria, mumps, etc. especially among children. People suffering from chronic illnesses such as asthma, diabetes, or epilepsy would be severely affected with many dying (especially insulin-dependent diabetics). There would be no anesthetic agents resulting in return to tortuous surgical procedures with the patient awake or if they were lucky drunk or stoned. The same would apply to painkillers; a broken leg would be agony, and dying of cancer would be distressing for the patient and their family. Witho...

One of many benefits of Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) Digital is the ability to send SMS/text messages. While it is possible to send text messages through the Brandmeister DMR repeater network, and even send text messages through the SMS Gateway to the cellular network (yes, you can send a text message to a cell-phone with your radio), our interest today is in simplex text messaging between two (or more) DMR radios. With a digital simplex channel programmed into your radio, go to 'Menu' and select 'SMS Messages'. Choose 'New Message' and type in your message from the keypad (most radios also allow you to store a number of pre-programmed messages). As with text messages on the cellular network, DMR text messages are limited in length to about 100 characters. Click 'Send' and then either select a contact from your list, or click 'Manual Dial' and enter the DMR ID number of the station/person you want to send the SMS/Text Message to. If you are within ...

Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) is an international standard that has been defined for two-way radios. PNWDigital ( https://pnwdigital.net/ ) is an open Amateur Radio IPSC Network dedicated to maximizing DMR use in the Pacific Northwest using MotoTRBO repeaters and c-Bridges. All repeaters and networking are privately owned and funded solely by a handful of our members. The PNW DMR network is a system of open use DMR repeaters located in the Pacific Northwest. The PNW c-Bridge currently supports 35 plus MotoTRBO repeaters with 24 in Washington, 10 in Oregon and 1 in Idaho. They also have deployed several c-Bridges, an echo server and 8 MMDVM servers for additional repeater and hotSpot support. Where possible, the repeaters are IP linked via HamWAN, a private RF based IP backbone network. Some repeaters have dual IP sources with failover protection. BridgeCom Systems, Inc. is a major supplier of DMR radios. They have a short YouTube video "What is Digital Mobile Radio (DMR)? A Quick Int...

  World War II POW Code Have you ever wondered how WWII prisoners communicated information to organizations such as MI9? Colonel Albert Clark, an American trained by MI9, managed to send a message to MI9 while imprisoned. His coded message was sent from Stalag Luft III at Sagan, later inspiring the scene of the ‘great escape’ of March 1944. Guidelines: How to Use Code V. of MI9 to Send a Hidden Message First, you are going to need the letter writer’s number which, in our example, is 1. Then, you need to find the keyword in the encrypted letter which will give you the positions of the words that comprise the hidden message. Find the keyword Count the characters of the first two words of the letter and add the number of the letter writer. In the example embedded below, the first words are ‘I’m afraid’, hence 8 characters. We add 1 (the letter writer’s number), 8+1=9. The ninth word, in this case ‘keenly’, is our keyword! Find the codeword frequency Convert the keyword into numbers ba...

Survivalist / prepper communication usually assumes a long-term failure of local infrastructure (i.e. no cellular network, no Internet). While there are number of references for emergency communications, there are a few that are more focused on survivalist (prepper) communications. Every family / group should establish their own communications plan, and then test and practice that plan on a regular basis. The following references may be of value in your communications planning.    Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Guidebook by Dr. John A. Allocca, WB2LUA http://www.wb2lua.com/papers/Ecom_Guidebook.pdf Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Guidebook by Dr. John A. Allocca, WB2LUA (Part-2 Technical) http://www.va3rom.com/docs/Amateur%20Radio%20Emergency%20Communications%20Guidebook%20Part%202%20-%20Te chnical.pdf AmRRON SOI https://www.scribd.com/document/341207422/Communications-SOI-Version-3-pdf     COMMS UP! An Introduction to AmRRON (YouTube) https://...

by: Scott Stewart VP of Tactical Analysis, Stratfor (April 9, 2019) ( https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/emp-threat-real-it-shouldnt-keep-you-night ) U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 26 [2019] outlining the administration's policy pertaining to the threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). The policy mandates that a variety of government agencies coordinate with the private sector to warn of an impending EMP, and to take measures to prepare for, protect against, respond to and recover from an EMP event — outlining specific tasks for the departments of Homeland Security, Defense and Energy, among other agencies. Per the new mandate, the secretary of Homeland Security — in consultation with the aforementioned government agencies, organizations and private sector partners — will now submit regular reports to the U.S. president that not only analyze the technological options available to improve the resilience of critical infrastructure to the effects of ...

  Power Grid Failure Preparedness Guide Forget about the world coming to an end. Imagine the power grid getting knocked out for two weeks. That’s two weeks without refrigerated food and, in most places, two weeks without water, as most modern plumbing systems need electricity to operate. Do you know how to survive if the power grid goes down? For most Americans, the answer is likely nothing. However, power outage survival is a real concern. In fact, many have speculated that North Korea wants a nuclear weapon – not to incinerate Seattle, but to detonate the device in low orbit and knock out the American power grid. Worst of all, America doesn’t seem to be doing much to prepare for this likely attack. If you’re going to prepare for one disaster, a medium- to long-term power outage is the one. America’s power grid is woefully inadequate, outdated and ill-prepared for an attack or even a natural disaster. Whether it comes in the form of an EMP from North Korea or Chinese hackers or an...

In a report from the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council and published by the Department of Homeland Security, the government is urging the public to prepare for the up to six months without electricity, transportation, fuel, money, and healthcare. DHS has warned (in December 2018) that the electric grid is now the “prime target” of terrorists, and says Americans need to be prepared for a power outage of up to six months. The report says that “People no longer keep enough essentials within their homes, reducing their ability to sustain themselves during an extended, prolonged outage. We need to improve individual preparedness.” The report, titled "Surviving a Catastrophic Power Outage" (https://www.cisa.gov/publication/niac-catastrophic-power-outage-study ), warns that an attack would likely come with little to no notice and could cause complete chaos for at least a half a year, “Long-duration, lasting several weeks to months (at least 2 months, but more like...

 The famous Chapter 20 from " Living With Glocks " by Robert H. Boatman  There’s an old wisecrack, true as witticisms, proverbs and aphorisms usually are. It goes like this - funny the things you see when you don’t have a gun. Suzanna Gratia (now Gratia Hupp) was having a pleasant lunch with her parents in Luby’s cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, when she saw a pickup truck come crashing through the wall. A man armed with two guns and plenty of spare magazines emerged from the truck and started shooting everyone in sight, including Gratia’s mother and father. Al Gratia was shot fatally in the chest. Ursula Gratia was shot point-blank in the head. More than 20 other people in the cafeteria were murdered in cold blood before the killer turned one of his guns on himself and blew his own brains out. Suzanna hid under a table, clutching her purse which normally contained a .38 revolver. In deference to Texas law at that time, which prohibited carrying concealed weapons on one’s person,...