Survival Communications

First and foremost, I am going to put a disclaimer here for everyone to read and heed.

The Author (American Patriot)  takes NO responsibility for anything you try to do that is ILLEGAL — that is, if you do it, you’re gonna get screwed. If I tell you something then assume it is legal if you’re LICENSED to do it.  If I tell you that something is illegal in the United States, remember I’m not a lawyer and you should double check things yourself.

Furthermore, before you go ANY further, I strongly recommend anyone planning on broadcasting, or transmitting on ANY frequency in the United States learn what they are doing FIRST and be licensed for the frequencies you plan to use if that particular radio service is required to have a license.

1) Get your HAM license. Makes it legal to transmit on literally thouands of frequencies in many modes from morse code to FM, AM, SSB etc. I currently hold a United States, Amateur Extra Class license granted me by the Federal Communications Commission. Therefore anything I tell you here, I will tell you the legal and illegal aspects of such a thing. I WILL cover being a ham radio operator in other threads.  A General Class license isn’t difficult to get at all.  A Technician license is easy.

2) Get a General Radio Telephone Operators license.  It lets you work on, operate and maintain radio equipment, specifically commercial stuff.

3) Ships – Ship to shore, etc (Marine SSB HF )

WHO NEEDS A SHIP STATION LICENSE?

You do not need a license to operate a marine VHF radio, radar, or EPIRBs aboard voluntary ships operating domestically. The terms “voluntary” and “domestic” are defined below. Although a license is no longer required for these ships, you may still obtain a license (and call sign) by following the procedures outlined in Section IV. (From the FCC site at http://wireless.fcc.gov/marine/fctsht14.html)

also:
WHAT RADIO EQUIPMENT MAY I USE?

You do not need a license to use marine VHF radios, any type of EPIRB, any type of radar, GPS or LORAN receivers, depth finders, CB radio, or amateur radio (an amateur license is required). Ships that use MF/HF single side-band radio, satellite communications, or telegraphy must continue to be licensed by the FCC. On April 17, 1996, the U.S. Coast Guard suspended enforcement activities concerning FCC Radio Station Licenses carried aboard voluntary ships.

4) I said it once, but will reiterate this, if you need a license for the particular radio service you wish to use, GET A LICENSE.  Pay the money, take the tests if required and do it LEGALLY. Understand the REGULATIONS. The United States and other countries fall under something called the (http://www.itu.int/home/) International telecommunications Union. They (and we, as signatories for the treaty) set up international standards by which all countries operate on the Radio Frequency Spectrum (RF Spectrum).

As signers of this treaty we (the United States) are responsible to help maintain certain protocols in the use of the limited RF spectrum. This is why is is basically illegal for “Pirate broadcasters” to pick and chose HF, medium (AM band), FM frequencies or anything at random anywhere in the spectrum. This can cause (and usually does cause) interference to some other legitimate station.

This does NOT mean that countries and their military for example or governments (as in the case of China, North Korea, Russia, Cuba and other such places where Communism is rampant) will not jam other stations in other countries. The United States has even been known to jam other shortwave (SWL) stations. We use jamming on military frequencies where applicable. So does everyone else.

Some examples of LEGAL tranmissions in the US are commerical stations, whether they are SWL, AM stations, FM stations or commerical stations like trucking systems, railroads, police, fire, ambulance and other emergency stations, Amateur radio (aka Ham radio), Citizens Band (CB) and personal radio communications like Family Radio Service (FRS) and General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS).

Right now, if you’re interested in using radio systems at all, I recommend you look into GMRS, FRS and Ham radio right off the bat. Most of you are probably familiar with CB radio to some extent, but I’ll cover a bit of history on thatlater.

A bit about GMRS can be found here:
http://www.provide.net/~prsg/wi-gmrs.htm
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/ind…general_mobile

A lot about Ham radio can be found here:
http://www.arrl.org/
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/ind…ome&id=amateur

A little bit about CB can be found here:
http://www.tech-faq.com/cb-citizens-band-radio.shtml
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/ind…ice_home&id=cb

A little about the FRS can be found here:
http://www.electronics-tutorials.com…io-service.htm
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/ind…home&id=family

Almost any information you need regarding any PERSONAL radio service can be found here:
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/ind…personal_radio

And this link to the FCC site contains a list of ALL the types of RF services available (which by the way are regulated by the FCC and other similar agencies of other counties IN other countries).
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/ind…_services_home

Ok, that’s a start.

The very first thing you need to consider is, “Do I need or want some kind of personal communications? I have a cellular phone, a home phone, a work phone and hell, I’ve got the internet! What more do I need?”

Final notes for this page.  Many of you will simply say “Screw that, screw what he said, I don’t need no damned stinkin’ license and the man will track me down and abuse me, etc etc etc”

I agree with you that if you do not want to get a license, don’t.  But if you interfere with any radio service, you will be fined thousands of dollars for each incident, per day, to the tune of up to several thousand dollars PER INCIDENT.  Right now the world is “normal”.  The Shit Hasn’t Hit the Fan yet.  There’s no reason to pretend it has.  There are still laws and rules, even if we don’t all agree with them.  And who CARES if the “Man” can track you, find you, hate you, hunt you, spy on you, or take your toys away?  If we get to the point the Government tells the Hams (or whoever) to stop transmitting, there’s a SERIOUS problem with our country – and then all bets are off, all call signs are void and rules are out the door.

Until the day of Armageddon I recommend strongly that you follow the “rules of society” at least in an outwardly appearance to prevent yourself from becoming an “Example”.

With that said, good luck. I hope you learn something.