Hey y’all, resurrecting this one as I’m working diligently on this part of my planning. Anyone have any updates they’d like to share?
I’m currently working on my ticket and am setting up a comm protocol for my immediate network. I picked up a Moto 7350e (UHF dualband) that’ll be worked up for FRS/GMRS and DMR.
One thing I’m specifically looking for is “the next level up” beyond the regular HAM groups of OG’s talking about their drive to work and blood pressure meds... i.e., radios, headsets, TTPs and first-world applications in the field for folks like us.
-What kit are you using?
-What freqs/spectrum/tech are you using?
-Does COMMSEC even exist commercially?
-Pros and cons...
Thanks in advance, and I hope to pick up a lot of new info!
In family/close to home, FRS/GMRS is the go to. It's plug and play, anyone you meet you can hand them a radio and they're off to the races. I keep a few extra around for that. Something to listen on shortwave is a must, emergency broadcasts go out on those, and even if you don't Ham it up, you can receive HF and get some out of local area SA.
I enjoy ham radio as a hobby, so I have some UHF/VHF HT's, including some UV5Rs. Those are nice because they can double up and us FRS/GMRS frequencies in an emergency(Please note that this is not legal and I am not advocating it in a non-emergency). Many communities have volunteer ham radio organizations to handle first responder and other emergency traffic in a grid down. With a cheap UHF/VHF HT or mobile rig, you're able to capture some of that traffic, or possibly be the link between municipal/county resources and your local neighborhood.
Again, I do ham radio stuff, and am in to HF. That gives me the ability to get beyond line of sight in a grid down. I can do voice or digital modes with my rig, and have even sent email over my HF radio through a gateway 1000 miles away. So in a local grid down, that gives me the ability to get news from further out, and to let out of state contacts know the situation locally.
Regarding COMMSEC, any attempt to encrypt, obscure, or otherwise hide the meaning of messages on amateur radio frequencies is against FCC rules. I believe this is also true on FRS/GMRS. True encryption is, however, available on business radio frequencies. That's a more expensive license, with often more expensive radios, but if you want to pay for it, the option is available.
As a reasonable alternative, you could get the lowest level of amateur radio license(technician), which is a very simple test that you can easily cram for, and get digital radios. Every joe schmo that bought a 'feng and put it on their amazon.com web gear can hear an analog FM transmission, but digital radio will just sound like garbage to them. This isn't encryption, because it's an openly published protocol, and anyone who bought radios that use the same protocol will be able to understand you, but it cuts out a huge swath of the people who might listen.
Another twist: if you do your research on the area, some of the ham bands are used much less than others. Almost everywhere you'll find 2m and 70cm in use. Most HT's, including the UV5R do both. The 220MHz band is dead silence in my area, and most HT's won't even be able to receive it. You can buy a tri-band baofeng that will do 220MHz, but few people do. Again, that's still open analog FM, and in theory anyone with the right radio will hear it, but it's at least cutting out a lot of the chaff.
Another possibility is if you're going to have line of sight to your or a friends residence, you could put up a mobile or base station that has crossband repeat, so it receives on UHF or VHF, then transmits on the other. You'd have to have a radio on your person with dual receive, or two radios, but that would at least limit someone to only hearing half of your conversation.
If you don't require spoken word, there are ways to send text over UHF/VHF, such as APRS and WINLINK. You'd need a computer and an interface, but those are easy to sort out. Once you get in to the realm of text, in an emergency you could use any agreed upon cypher, in theory. Again, this is patently not legal, but theoretically possible. If Red Dawn happens in your town, I doubt the FCC will come knocking.
Another thing to think about. UHF/VHF is pretty stable. If you have line of sight, you really should have good comms. When you start talking about HF, there are a lot of variables and communication becomes more unreliable. If you want to guarantee you'll have comms with your crew, shell out the bucks for sat phones. If you like radio as a hobby and want to play with it, and know that you'll at least have some local comms and a shot at getting further out, radio is for you.