This is not a normal Sunday. We’re staring into a week that has more moving parts than most months get, and they’re grinding together in ways that could spark real trouble. If you’ve lived long enough, you know the smoke smell comes before the flames. This is one of those times. We’ve caught the “whiff of smoke” nearby.
Markets are on Edge
Stocks are lined up to rollover. Gold and silver aren’t sprinting yet, but they’re moving like old hounds catching scent. There were some worthwhile exercises in Peoplenomics‘ ChartPacl Saturday. Options markets show nervous hedging. If the roll becomes obvious this week, it could cascade faster than you’d think.
There are lots of reasons for the “bubble trouble” to start here: Everything from China’s ready to pounce on Taiwan – and a government shutdown here in the US might be just too tempting. But then what happens to the mostly Taiwanese AI bubble? It can’t all come here – we’re not ready – yet. War drums are beating harder and louder globally. What are us “smart people” supposed to do?
Smart Prepping Moves in Advance:
Cash buffer: Hold at least $300–$500 in small bills (tens and twenties). ATMs and banks can freeze during panics.
- Or be the Survival “iceberg”. Have your “invisible parts” unseen and way deep – food, water medicines – enough for 6-months to a year – along with crop starts for serious recovery if “stuff hits the fan” totally smelly.
Portfolio hedge: For anyone active in markets, simple stop-loss orders or a sliver of inverse ETF exposure. Not speculation, just insurance. Reader BCN posted about shorting from mid-week…
Hard assets: Even 200–400 ounces of silver coins is a working-person hedge. Bars are fine, but coins trade easier in a pinch. Gold’s useless for small stuff – food, right? The odd ounce here and there, accumulated overs time, is the approach.
Barter prep: Don’t overlook items like propane, .22 ammo, sanitary napkins, ciggies, small airline bottlse of Jack, and fuel stabilizer are practical hedges—they hold value when money feels slippery. Basics of life: Salt, sacks of rice and beans, dry spice powders. T-P and P towels – soap, Band-Aids, even antacids. Ganj seeds or some “Farm Bill legal” Delta 8 goodness?
Taiwan and the China Factor
We’ve been modeling this for several years. And the recent south China typhoon will not slow them down if China senses weakness in a government shutdown here.
Autumn is the military’s favorite season—weather manageable, food harvests settled, troops rested. China has a billion mouths to feed and a historical fixation on Taiwan. Add a potential US government shutdown this week and you have a cover story any strategist would salivate over. If Taiwan goes dark, AI chips don’t flow. Think back to the toilet paper shortage of 2020, then multiply by every industry trying to secure GPUs.
Smart Prepping Moves in Advance:
Fuel: 20 gallons stabilized gas, sealed tight. Rotate every 6 months. If you’ve got a generator, store what it eats, not just vehicle fuel. Ethanol-free is the blue handled pumps at the gas stations out front of WalMart.
Staple food: Minimum 100 lbs of rice, 50 lbs of beans, sealed in buckets with mylar and oxygen absorbers. That’s 3–4 months of calories for two adults. Not gourmet, but alive. Augment with a year’s worth of senior multi-vits per person. You might need a Geiger counter, but scurvy? Um, no…
- Medical supplies: Beyond bandages—think antibiotics (fish or vetmox sources if nothing else), broad pain relief, antiseptics, and a backup of any prescription.
Comms: A handheld ham radio (even unlicensed, for listening) or FRS radios. Practice using them now, not later. If the net goes down, neighbors become your network. Make a SIGINT plan for yourself. (More at the end of this column Appendix I…)
Comets and Fire from the Sky
History forgot the Peshtigo fire that burned off a whole city (October 8, 1871) because the same night the Great Chicago Fire stole the headlines. But Peshtigo burned hotter, faster, deadlier—very likely sparked by comet debris. This month Swan M’s debris tail crosses our path, while 3I/ATLAS sits in the watch box. Space doesn’t care about your schedule. You know we’re less than a week out from potential impacts, right?
Don’t obsess over odds, focus on consequences. A one-percent chance with civilization-level fallout deserves prep. Well, around our joint, anyhow.
Smart Prepping Moves in Advance:
Fire prep: Rural? Mow grass, cut back brush, clear 30 feet around structures. Urban? Check extinguishers, test smoke alarms. Have a bug-out plan. N100 masks for smoke (they will help in fallout too if things in the next two weeks roll that way…
Air quality: N95 masks are a good start for smoke, but HEPA purifiers or DIY box-fan filters make indoor air survivable. Have spares. Figure out how to get slightly pressurized filtered air into your house. You will need HEPA cleaned and pressurized air. Window and door air leak dangers minimized in advance.
Light: Three flashlights per household minimum. Two per person is better. LED headlamps leave hands free. Stock lithium batteries—they last. Find a way to recharge – a few solar panels, an MPPT charge controller and an auto battery or three. Something to power SIGINT and recharge the NV gear – the world could become a “first look – first shoot” in a week.
Data: Back up essentials to a thumb drive and one external hard drive stored in a Faraday bag or even a metal ammo can. If comms fry, you’ll want your records.
Yom Kippur and the Middle East
October 2 marks the end of Yom Kippur. The last time Israel fought a war during this holiday, it reshaped the region. Iran hasn’t slowed its sprint to the nuke bombs, and Israel’s red lines are carved in bedrock. The question isn’t if tension blows, but when.
The Saudis are planning gold clearing for BRICS oil-for-gold clearing in the Kingdom. They are now under Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella. And in Iran, expect nuclear facilities to be mixed in populated areas under “human shields theory.” (No, Israel won’t care, but this is PR sand land…)
If oil clears in gold, the dollar’s reserve premium is in play. That means inflation not just at the store, but at the strategic level. That kind of attack might drive Gold over $4,000 and silver over $50 and maybe $60+.
Smart Prepping Moves in Advance:
Potassium iodide: Tablets stocked and ready. Adults 130 mg, children scaled down by weight. Write the dosages on the bottle.
- Kearney’s “Nuclear War Surrvival Skills” is a must-have. You will have lots of time to read when the power’s down and your phone’s dead…
Radiation literacy: Keep your Geiger or dosimeter handy. Write down normal background levels today so you know when something changes.
Shelter: Pre-stage a safe room. Heavy plastic sheeting, duct tape, and a fan pulling air through a HEPA filter. Doesn’t need to be perfect—just buy time.
Water barrier: Keep extra 5-gallon jugs. Radiation falls on dust—dust settles in water. Clean water beats bottled air.
Housing Numbers Tuesday
On the surface it looks like boring econ data. In reality, it can whiplash the cost of living. A bad housing print means layoffs in construction and a ripple into small-town economies. A hot print means higher rates that jack costs from cars to credit cards.
Smart Prepping Moves in Advance:
Know your stance: Decide today if you’re buying, selling, or waiting. Headlines Tuesday won’t do that thinking for you. Pick your threshholds.
Rate game: Run your numbers at 1% higher and 1% lower. If you can’t survive the higher line, wait.
Material costs: If you’re mid-project, lock in supply quotes now. Lumber and concrete prices are more volatile than most remember.
Jobs Week Data
This week is a data barrage—JOLTS Tuesday, ADP Wednesday, Challenger cuts Thursday, federal numbers Friday. Every day another gut punch possible.
Smart Prepping Moves in Advance:
Résumé refresh: Update and export to PDF today. Keep copies on a thumb drive and in the cloud.
Side hustle: Even a small one. Selling firewood, fixing bikes, coding websites. Something you can scale if the paycheck dies. Make your hustles fun – any hobby angles you enjoy?
Debt trim: Pay down credit card balances. Interest supports the “money-changer class.” Unemployment is bad enough—don’t add high-interest shackles. If you can, zero your credit cards – if the grid goes down, do you want 6-months of interested piling up?
Work optics: Be the problem solver this week, not the complainer. When managers make cuts, the intangibles matter. The “company brown nose” eats more regularly than whiners.
Ranch Practicalities
Out here, prepping isn’t a concept—it’s a maintenance cycle. Today I’ll rotate 600 gallons of potable water. Hit the rifle range for an hour. Test, charge, and log radiation counters. Swap out batteries. It’s boring, repetitive, and exactly why it works. You don’t get a warning label when the crisis starts. The genset that hasn’t been run probably won’t when you need it. Exercise your equipment and yourself at a high level this week. Replace consumables instantly. No deficits of anything now.
Log Baseline Radiation References
Background sits around 0.1–0.2 micro sieverts per hour. At 1, you notice. At 5, you shelter. At 10 and above, you make decisions fast. Keep a pocket card with these thresholds. Keep radios and NOAA weather tuned and powered. Batteries matter more than opinions.
And if you needed a reminder from the earth itself, a near 6.0 quake just hit this week off Coos Bay, Oregon. Another one this morning: M 5.1 – 225 km W of Bandon, Oregon The Pacific Plate is grinding. Add it to the risk pile: markets, wars, comets, jobs, quakes. It adds to one blunt question—did you prep while there was still time?
You can’t have too much stored food, too much stored water, or be too deep into prepping for whatever comes after this week.
So sorry bout the somber mood, but a frouffy write-up on a shop project with lit fuses around just doesn’t make sense.
Oh – and not being too alarmist (so far) don’t forget Tropical Depression 9 at the National Hurricane Center website nhc.noaa.gov.
There…all set for a relaxing weekend?
Write when you get prepped,
George@Ure,net
Appendix: Collapse Capable Electronics Officer Training
*(This is a portion of a 2022 larger work on Peoplenomics here Peoplenomics Content (C) 1999-2022 G. Ure_
I did not include a specific “Listening Plan” in this docment. Because that’s on you – the operator. You need to practice in advance, though – and how to “read the future” is a much different task than “hearing news.,” This article is more a “survey and overview” piece for planning and training.
The “collapse capable electronics officer (CCEO) is the person on your team who understands multiple source collection and distillation of information into useful action.
A listening plan can be something simple like:
- At midnight tonight, I am going to listen to all available radio stations and compile a list of all the major sports event scores from last evening.
- A variant might be: Since Dallas is north of us, along with Oklahoma, New Mexico and Colorado, gather as much weather information (upwind of Texsas) and assemble a 24-hour meteorological forecast based on sources.
Another part of your listening mission may be as follows:
- On one (or more) scanners, reprogrammed to local fire/police/medic frequencies, make notes on reports (including traffic stops) on major highways approaching your home area.
- If you hear sirens, for example, with enough experience you will come to recognize which fire engines and medic units, or sheriffs or police units are responding in your immediate area.
For local op-sec you may also need to have:
- CB Radio scanning all 40 channels.
- A good quality GMRS receiver, also scanning.
- Even a scanning marine radio because especially near coast non-gov types will use whatever comms they can find for scouting and target penetration testing.
- Find online and study: Documents like the Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (MCWP) 3-35.3 and the older FM 90-10-1 provide doctrinal guidance and tactics for urban operations. For a more recent perspective, look for publications from entities like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on minimizing civilian harm in urban combat.
- Make reasonable use of FLIR and NVGs if you have them, but until an active subjext is acquired use ambient (no illuminator) because it will out your position.
- An air band radio for aviation weather if you’re line of sight to any airport with continu0us weather (ATIS/AWOS) [airport erminal information system / automated weather observation system]. Search your city at AirNav here: AirNav: Airport Information and look under Airport Communications heading or info. CTAF is the common traffic advisory frequency shared around untowered airports…
- Those “theft proof” bolts on solar panels pay off in here somewhere…
Ch. 2 CCEO Training and Supplies
Let’s begin with a simple training plan. Here’s the basic outline. Remember that
the mission will define the training. Recovery from a natural disaster will by
necessity have a different training focus than domestic revolutionary terrorism
response, and this in turn will be different from a foreign invasion after an EMT
attack, and so on.
The Basic Goals Are
• Ensure everyone in your group at the beginning of training has a good idea
of the “big picture” elements. What has happened, what is the threat
spectrum, and what might timeline and response be. Toward this end, the
Ready.gov website – where you can sign up for CERT (community
emergency response team) training is valuable.
• Ensure everyone has an assignment. In a disaster, it’s easy to under-utilize
people – especially those who are not thoroughly trained in advance.
However, there is always plenty to do is the training officer just puts some
focus on sharing responsibilities.
• Step 1: A Basic introduction to Electronic Surveillance (Ch. 3). This is the
most basic of “electronics operator.” It will include elements of radio
operation (voice and Morse code), satellite signals, broadcast and
shortwave listening. Critical will be the information summarization (ness
writing) skills used to pass on information.
• Step 2: Building and using an electronics operation plan.
• Step 3: The second level is the Electronics Installer (Ch. 4). This position is
largely focused on getting low power radio equipment to link up multiple
locations.
• Step 4: Third layer is the Electronics Technician (Ch. 5). These people are
able to be electronics operators, installers, but in addition they have some
basic skills such as troubleshooting simple equipment failures.
None of these are particularly difficult. They just take time and some repetition.
CCEO Concepts
Step 1 (EO’s – electronics operators) will need basic tools to do their jobs
effectively. Some of these include:
• The Operating Plan is made up of many components. Among these, useful
ones include the following:
• Intelligence plan (what to be listening for). An example would be: “We
need everything we can get on weather expected in our area in the next 7-
days.”
• Frequency plan (what part of spectrum they are assigned to). Example:
You may be tasked with checking the low earth orbit satellites and
capturing photos showing cloud formations and movement. Or you may be
tasked with listening to the AM radio band to decide what stations are on
the air.
• Radio log. Write down the call sign and frequency of each station you hear
and the time. These are critical log elements. Then what is heard. An entry
may look like this: 10:23 PM, 920 AM, Callsign KTTV, Short range 2-day
weather for XYZ City. Radio programming is NOT accidental. “Traffic and
weather on the 9’s” on an all-news station, means that at 9 minutes, 19, 29,
39, 49, and 59-minutes after the top of the hour, information will be
repeated.
• Peacetime Exercise: It is useful to use logging skills in peacetime to hone
your logging skills. Within an hour of logging, you may be able to learn a
radio station’s complete format. Station program directors call a 1-hour
clock face – with music and commercial instructions a “hot clock.”
Elements might include
o 00:00 Local news
o 03:00 National news
o 04:30: Sports scoreboard
o 05:00: Long range weather
o 06:00: “Golden oldie” song
o 09:00: (Segue – non-talking break) transition to next song
o 12:00: 2 one-minute ads back-to-back
o 14:00: Power rotation song (top 20)
o 16:30: Back announce title, time, temp, one line weather
o 17:00: …and so forth…
Lay out your “forward intel stations” well ahead of time and write down their hot clocks. So you can pull weather out of OKC at 2:20 AM, for example. Long-range radio intel skews to night ops due to AM band propagation being longer then.
Using logging skills, in a decent sized radio market, you can know exactly which
station and at what time music you might like will be played.
Radio Propagation 101
Electronics operators need to understand that some radio frequencies will behave
differently depending on the time of day. The frequency spectrum most prone to
change is from the low end of the AM broadcast band all they way up to 30-
Megahertz shortwave.
Propagation here is decided by the Maximum Useable Frequency (MUF) which is
a frequency generally stated in Megahertz. (1 megahertz is 1-million cycles of
A.C. electricity per second. Abbreviation is MHz) The MUF will give the operator
a sense of which “skip” is in and working.
Radio waves reflect (bounce) off the F2 layer of the ionosphere. At night, the F2
lowers and the MUF generally lowers at night, as well. “Skip” (sky wave
propagation) should be good for the coming 5-7 years as we are in a rising solar
sunspot cycle. At the bottom of sunspots, propagation is generally weaker and of
lesser distance.
This said, large solar flares may cause sporadic HF radio propagation outages on
long signal paths. In addition, the use of EMP military weapons can disrupt
propagation for several weeks, depending on location and power of the blast(s).
Three Types of Propagation:
1. Ground wave propagation travels along the earth’s surface mainly at long
wave to medium wave frequencies. Some ground wave on CB (27 MHz)
results in fair local coverage.
2. Sky wave propagation (varies by height of the F2 layer) may be
intercontinental distances. Ham radio operators in the (daytime) 10-30
MHz range and (nighttime) 1.8-10 MHz ranges are fond of chasing distant
radio contacts.
3. Line of Sight propagation is generally employed in Very High Frequency
(*VHF >30 MHZ and UHF >300 MHZ) operations.
“Special Propagation” modes:
• NVIS: Near vertical incident skywave. When the lower ham bands
(160,80, 60, and 40 meters are closes, some range extension is possible
with antennas sending all their energy vertically into the F2. It may be
heard over a wider area than ground wave.
• Ducted (and trans-equatorial): Occasionally used on 6-meter (50 MHz ham
band). Most common in the afternoon, especially early fall.
• Gray Line: As the sun comes up due to earth rotation, bands open (and
close) as rotation continues. For low power, ultra-long path message traffic
a 90-minutes before sunrise to 90 after. And 90 before and after sunset can
be the real “golden hours” on HF circuits where long distances are needed.
Antenna Length Formula
The “wavelength” of a radio wave is proportionate to the operating frequency. If
a transmitter on the AM band is working at 1,000 KHz (Kilohertz formerly
kilocycles) a ¼ wavelength vertical antenna is approximately 234 / frequency in
Mhz. So that AM medium wave station might have a 234-foot-high antenna.
At 3.5 MHz, bottom of the 80-meter ham radio band where Morse code is used)
the ¼ wave wire is 234 divided by 3.5 or 66.86 feet. Because it’s hard to buy 67-
foot vertical antennas at an economic price, two wires – one on either side of a
coaxial feedline – are hoisted as high as possible. This is a “1/2 wave dipole”
whose length overall is 468 divided by the frequency in Megahertz. 133.71 feet.
At 28.5 MHz, the quarter wavelength is 8.21 feet. (234/28.5=)
VHF antennas for handheld walkie-talkies on the 2-meter ham band (145 MHz)
only need an antenna 1.641 feet for each quarter wavelength. 19 ¾ inches.
The Art of Radio Listening
Having well over a half-century of radio experience, this could well turn into an
entire book by itself. Let’s go over the controls on a typical receiver:
1. Tuning knob. Seems obvious, doesn’t it? But you will after find in higher
quality SI-5351 based (and earlier) SDR radios that the tuning rate may be
adjusted.
2. Set tuning rate to the mode and goals. To cover a lot of spectrum quickly,
consider:
a. AM radio setting to 10 KHz. AM radio stations are assigned very
close frequency tolerances (20 Hz) so setting a receiver to 10 KHz
even assigned frequency centers (e.g., 1610, 1600, 1590, 1580)
will allow rapid identification or signals.
b. SSB radio listening try 1 KHz. Many voices will have a “Donald
Duck” like quality from not being exactly on frequency. So, if you
catch something of interest slow the tuning rate down to 100 HZ
or even 10 Hz for most natural sounding voices.
c. For Morse code 1 KHz. Then fine-tuned at 100 Hz is fine.
d. For FM broadcast: 200 KHz. The secret here is knowing that “The
FM broadcast in the United States starts at 88.0 MHz and ends at
108.0 MHz The band is divided into 100 channels, each 200 kHz
(0.2 MHz) wide. The center frequency is found at 1/2 the
bandwidth of the FM Channel, or 100 kHz (0.1 MHz) up from the
lower end of the channel.” As long as you get one frequency
“right” (like 101.5 MHz) the next station up would appear at 101.7
MHz or going lower 101.3 MHz
e. For VHF UHF commercial traffic: Direct entry of a list of
frequencies is advance is the preferred method since these are
intermittent services.
f. For NOAA All Hazards radio: Like pre-entry of frequencies for
commercial radio users (utilities and such) the NOAA channels
should all be programmed in advance.
3. Audio Gain Control: Turn the sound level to a comfortable listening level.
4. RF Gain Control: Not all radios will have this as a separate control. The
SDR radios generally do not. However, if you have a radio frequency gain
control, turn it up to the point where the signal you’re hearing has the best
sounding signal.
5. Antenna Trimmer: This will adjust the matching between your antenna
and the radio receiver. In a transceiver, the antenna tuner does the same
thing but at higher useful power levels.
6. Squelch: Some radios have a squelch circuit to stop all noise when nothing
is being received. Set it to just cut off sound when nothing is being said.
BARELY off. Any further and you will reduce overall sensitivity overall. For
weak signal work turn the squelch so it’s not cutting off anything.
7. MODE Select: This switch (or menu option) will allow you to decode AM,
SSB voice and Morse code, and sometimes FM, as well. The only “trick
shot” is to remembers that by convention most commercial and military
traffic is on USB (*upper sideband). Lower sideband (LSB) is the defacto
ham standard for the 160-, 80-, and 40-meter ham bands while USB is the
default for all other frequencies.
[Sidebar: Why LSB on low bands?
Simply, one of the pioneers of early ham radio SSB transmitters was the McCoy
Crystal Company which made a filter running about 9 MHz Since the critical stage
of an SSB transmitter, was the oscillator, its stability was paramount. It was found
that a Variable Frequency Oscillator (VFO) could be used for generating a 75-
meter signal and a 20-meter signal using a 5 to 5.5 MHz tuning range. That’s
because 5 MHz PLUS 9 MHz would heterodyne to 14 MHz while the 9 MHz filter
MINUS 5 MHz from the VFO would hit 4 MHz
Designed for USB on 20 meters, the “mirror” heterodyned signal was inverted on
the lower ham bands. So, the LSB on the lower HF ham bands was born. Today,
with few other exceptions, USB is the predominant mode!]
Building a Listening Plan
What is a Basic CCEO Supplies list?
Defining the Mission defines the Skills to Train
Basic CCEO Tools
Mindset and tools
Mission Plan
Frequency references
MF station List
Shortwave stations list
HF Ham Band chart
Global callsign table
VHF Ham repeaters
Commercial VHF/UHF ref
Q-Codes and Z-Codes
Satellite TV reference
Optional: Beam headings chart
Optional: Direction-finding local, state, and regional maps
CCRO Personal effects
A technician class license
Perhaps a low power HF radio ($300 or less)
Perhaps a VHF walkie talkie
A number of antennas
Experience in a “field day” setting
Headphones
Wristwatch
Pencils and yellow pads
Radio key (Morse)
Glasses, contacts & supplies, and meds such as BP, diabetic, asthma, etc.
Basic Radio System Block Diagrams
All Depend on power
A minimal HF radio
Receiver
Transmitters
Transceiver
Power supply
Antenna
Schedule
A minimal VHF radio
Handy talkie
High ground
Gain antenna
Basic Free to Air Satellite ability
FTA receiver
Television
Power for both
Channel tables
Radio Operations
99% radio listening
Understanding the Bands
F2
MUF
Day and Night differences
Radio situational surveillance
Listen – take good notes
Only send minimum necessary
Do not give names or locations
Use minimum power to preserve power
Executive summary
Radio Installer
Fixed or mobile
Power assessment – operating limits
VHF radios – repeater
VHF Radio installs
HF radios – voice and Morse, SSTV
HF Radio installs.
Intelligence Officer
Supervises multiple DROs
Formulate key questions (with DROs and unit)
Radio plan and key task assignments
Collections, parses, disseminates
Threat management
Radio direction finding equipment and tasks
Radio Maintainer
Able to teach all radio skills such as direction finding
EMP driven means repair of local equipment
Solar and fossil gens
Repair/replacement of critical parts
Soldering skills
Alignment of equipment
Before You Specialize, Get Good General Skills
Personal skill-building plan
Before Trouble Strikes – Create “missions”
Example: Find details on one extreme weather event using only the radio gear
you personally own. What is your plan? Options:
AM radio. Late night is best for greatest distance High end of the band opens
first
FM Radio – music intensive unless you find an NPR station and it’s morning.
Ham radio operators (bands depend on time of day)
Satellite television reception on open air Galaxy 19
Own and operate one SDR radio and one analog radio Receiver or Transceiver.
Mission 1: Listen and log
5- Different countries in one operating session
5 different states in one op session
Create a good listening antenna
A good long wire antenna
A ferrite loop antenna for MW and HF direction finding
Small beam antenna for VHF direction
Personal radio watch at least one day per week
Make up a current mission and seek intel
Home Intelligence Platform -See PN article
Advanced ham gear and information
Digital modes are bad
Morse is best
Voice is 2nd best
Information distribution ARES and Morse
Neighborhood communications GMRS, CB, and more.
Test “Activations”
What’s a “net” and when is it called?
Social versus directed nets
Net control operators
Directed net format
Social net format
Continuous nets
Examples are LEO dispatch
Maritime mobile services net
Code free Technician Ham Test
Reasons to get licensed
Compact learning formats
Community contacts
Volunteer services such as Sky Warn and ARES
Radio operating tools
Power plan
Security (OpSec) Plan
Personnel assignment to Frequency ranges
Equipment Checks
Operator Schedule
Time checks
Coffee food and snack plan
Disaster Arrival and Tiered Response
SitRep Summary
…When
…Who
…What
…Why
…Where
…How
Weather Outlooks
Special comm tools
How to bring up an SDR weather station
Victims, LEOs, and Community support
Health and Welfare messages (traffic) – Weather or fallout refugees
Pandemic and other bioweapons
Nuclear nightmares
Grid hard down
Appendix II: Nuclear Blast Fallout Planning
No, we do not expect a nuclear exchange anywhere in the next 7-14 days. However, there’s Iran and there’s Yom Kippur ending Thursday.
As part of your personal survival skills, how are you set on radiation avoidance and forecasting? some things to consider:
Which wind layers matter for near-term fallout
For the first 24–48 hours after a surface or near-surface detonation, focus on winds from the surface up through roughly 25,000–30,000 ft. That lower–mid troposphere band carries most fallout-sized particles tens to hundreds of miles downwind before deposition.
By burst type and yield
Surface or low air bursts (sub-megaton): Mushroom tops often reach 30,000–50,000 ft, but the heavier, dangerous particles spend most of their travel time below ~20–25 kft, steered by boundary-layer and lower-tropospheric winds.
Large surface bursts (megaton-class): Some debris reaches the upper troposphere and even the lower stratosphere, but early, hazardous fallout still tracks with 0–30 kft winds; very fine particles lofted higher contribute to delayed, diluted deposition days to months later.
High air bursts: Minimal local fallout; upper-level winds matter mostly for long-range, delayed background deposition.
Practical quick-check altitude bands
Surface–1,000 ft: Drives hyper-local plume spread and where/when it first touches down.
1,000–10,000 ft: Primary steering for early fallout footprints within ~50–150 miles.
10,000–25,000/30,000 ft: Controls regional plume translation, bends, and timing out to several hundred miles.
Fast read using standard pressure levels
850 mb (~4–5 kft): Low-level transport and the first few counties downwind.
700 mb (~10 kft): Core steering for most early fallout plumes.
500 mb (~18 kft): Mid-level track and turning; captures bigger jogs in the plume path.
300 mb (~30 kft): Useful for large yields; helps bound the far-edge track in the first day.
Simple field method for the first day
Mark ground zero and draw the surface wind direction for the first 2–4 hours to locate initial deposition.
Overlay 850 mb wind for the next 6–12 hours to project the primary axis.
Add 700 mb for turns/curvature and timing of the plume nose.
Check 500 mb to bound the outer swath and anticipate secondary lobes if shear is strong.
Adjust for precipitation zones that will scavenge more particles and shift maxima under rain bands.
Rules of thumb
Early hazard = 0–30 kft winds; global background = stratospheric circulation.
Stronger vertical shear widens the plume and makes kinks more likely where wind direction flips with height.
Stable nights trap near-surface material; daytime mixing spreads it vertically but usually not above ~10 kft unless convection develops.
Rain or snow beneath the plume sharply increases local deposition downwind of the precip area.
What not to overweigh for quick checks
Pure stratospheric wind charts: important for long-term dilution, not immediate threat.
Only surface winds: adequate for first touch-down but insufficient for where the plume goes by hour 3–24.
Exact cloud-top height: helpful context, but for operational protection the 850/700/500 mb layers drive most early outcomes.
Minimum viable workflow
Read surface and 850 mb winds to set the initial corridor.
Use 700 mb to refine the axis and bends.
Use 500 mb to set an outer safety buffer and ETA windows.
Overlay precip to spot deposition hot spots.
Update every 3–6 hours as wind fields shift.
Plan Ahead – Get an Image
In the event of an actual blast/event, you may not have time to think and work through the forecasting process. In which case, having a good mental picture of generally prevailing winds in your area will be at least a leg up on the un-preppoed masses.
Naturally, communications may be consider SNAFU in advance, so start buildindg your personal database (and it will be seasonal) as follows:
To use aviationweather.gov, go to the Weather or Products tab and select Winds or Wind/Temps Aloft. You can view information as interactive graphical charts with an altitude slider and route tool, or access text-based wind and temperature reports in a tabular format for a specific area. The graphical tool allows you to draw a route and get tailwind information, while the text tables provide precise wind direction, speed (in knots), and temperature (in Celsius) for selected airports and altitudes.
# # #
Thanks.
“Looks like I picked a bad day to quit sniffing glue.”
– Airplane (1980)
if you sniff ‘super’ glue, can u fly like superman?
How To Get The Ray Milland “Look” in Panic in Year Zero!
Clothing technology has increased—and expected sartorial decorum has decreased—since Panic in Year Zero! was made during the hottest years of the Cold War, so serious survivalists probably wouldn’t be taking to the mountains dressed as stylishly as Ray Milland’s Harry Baldwin in his sporty corduroy jacket and fedora, but Harry presents a handsome template for imbuing class and comfort into your rugged weekender style.
Dark-brown corduroy loafer jacket with narrow ulster collar, four woven leather buttons, horizontal front and back yokes, inverted front and back pleats, vertical on-seam hand pockets, 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
Khaki cotton work shirt with point collar, front placket, two patch-style chest pockets (with single-button pointed flaps), and single-button cuffs
Khaki cotton flat-front trousers with variating belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets (with button-through left-back pocket), and turn-ups/cuff
Dark edge-stitched leather belt with squared single-prong buckle
Dark-brown leather plain-toe 7-eyelet derby-laced work boots
Mid-colored felt self-edged fedora with dark grosgrain band
Cushion-cased wristwatch with round light-colored dial (with non-numeric hour indices) on dark edge-stitched leather strap
Buck Mason Craftsman Corduroy Sportsman Jacket in “golden walnut”
($198, Buck Mason)
https://bamfstyle.com/2024/04/18/panic-in-year-zero-milland/
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
Panic in Year Zero! (1962) Original Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpriTp9BkiY
Harry: I killed two men.
Ann: I tried to kill them too, but I missed, I just wasn’t a good enough shot.
i cant remember who once said it on Urban Survival in the comment section but i found this to be Sound Prepping advise.
in the chance of a nuclear exchange if you dont have a handy
Geiger counter, a good alternative is to put a few popcorn kernals in your shirt pocket.
If they start popping off, you want to skidaddle, you are getting close to the fall out.”
to the Logos mind, it seems legit.
As an industrial photographer at Collins Radio Co, I used to carry flashbulbs in my pocket when working around the huge satellite antennas to tell me if one got turned on.
I suspect if radiation was hot enough to pop popcorn, it’s probably too late to worry about it.
ya. it is was pretty funny. i still laugh about it. there is some regular comedians on urban survival.
Which is good. it is good to laugh.
i think having a a good sense of humor is an important prepping tool.
I Win with God within.
Cue: ~ Burning Love ~
https://youtu.be/TmnqKmgesw4?si=1ieMVGfT042l2yfz
Elvis.
The Advanced development of the intuitive apparatus of the working mind is a good preping tool in the year zero as well.
thanks for the video JC.
:)
Et has phoned Home..
They knew what would be awaiting them down here upon Rtn, hell they warned their pet project (Sinumum-Ameri Indians – of divine source/unaltered ancestry) about the white man coming from the East with alcohol to take their lands..
Imagine the Qi is going to inform a great deal regards personal “karma” .
Thinkz we are going to be “weighed and measured” – begging the Question ; Whats on Ure Spirit & Souls’ (Ka &Ba) Hard Drive ?
I would imagine they only contain 1 Lifetimes worth of Data, as all previous Lives Data would have been wiped clean during previous Reincarnation processes.
All roads lead to the OG swastika, maybe learn bout the old Germanic Tribes..how many ? War is hear and me thinks Ure boy of the bible, yahoo, bout to get his ass kicked in…again.
or as they say on Always Sunny in Philadelphia – “getting blasted in the Ass” again.
re: Ezra the Scribe
aka: Malachi? (The Messenger)
dj ed k nite,
It seems like Israeli-skeptic poster “Shadow of Ezra” has deleted his posts on Telegram for the period of Sept. 22nd to 25th. Maybe I’m simply mis-remembering.
I don’t go to telegram , but Ezra has X account
https://x.com/ShadowofEzra/status/1970573275919999334
or , you scroll down to the dates you’re missing and see if the same missing posts are here
https://x.com/ShadowofEzra
Radio: good morning wonderful people. I have just returned to the USofA after more than a decade of being an Ex-Pat. Family concerns and helping out.
I would like a radio to listen (AM/FM) to and to receive SW. I would have a Ham license and a Heath kit but I can not spell so no CW. Dyslexia might be the problem but spelling is getting better at 80+ years of age. Radio suggestions are welcome along with other useful info.
Cheers
No Morse code required – even for voice anymore. To get a license, join a club https://www.arrl.org/joining-a-club sand read a book or two – then take test – not too bad if you take oyur time with the book work.
As for a radio – and I think Hank would agree – a simple icom 7300 and power supply with an OCFD antenna would ber a great
“eassy on an old man” kit to launch with. For listening only? I’d look at this one https://amzn.to/4nSLWqs on sale for just under $100
Thanks George. I had an Icom on the catamaran. Loved it! Talked to the Coasties once or twice on it.
Will check out the sites.
Cheers
Good step up from the $9.99 XHData 219. The XHData D808 is a good radio for the price if you want more capability
(my comparable radio is the tried and true Tecsun PL880 … also have Ham Gear too, personally partial to Yaesu since I think you get more bang for your buck with Yaesu for a mid level Ham)
This radio has about the best reception of any under $100 portable I have had my hands on:
https://www.amazon.com/QODOSEN-DX-286-Automotive-Shortwave-Attenuator/dp/B0D3V3H356
The FM reception is unbelievable. This is the one I keep in a RFI gasketed metal box on the kitchen island.
Todderbert has reviewed it several times:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1Ex-WzwY68
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amdujzFGeF4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSYiJuSp5VA
The icon 7300 is currently $400 off at Gigaparts…
Damn’ spell check…
This is why I try to never post with my phone…
Well, the 7300 IS iconic, so what’s the problem? ;-)
George has mentioned the below transistor radio a couple of times.
For a very inexpensive AM /FM /SW transistor receiver that has a very sharp digital tuner chip driving it with a very sensitive receiver (all digital transistor radio EXCEPT the freq indicator on the front is old style analogue) is the XHData 219 … only $9.99 on Amazon at the moment. You won’t find a better inexpensive small transistor radio for AM and SW PERIOD! (and the FM is good too, but NOT stereo)
Uses 2 regular AA batteries, so no need to find a power source to recharge it … and it has a nice kickstand on the back so it can sit on the table next to you. The speaker is better than anything else you will find even at 4x+ the price.
At night the IC DIGITAL tuner easily pulls in the AM Clear Channel stations from at least the half of the part of the country you live in (there are 18 of them in North America) and most of the Full Powered AM stations that are within 500 miles of where you live. VERY SENSITIVE receiver.
The SW reception is reportedly AMAZING for the radio, but I only use mine for sitting on the table next to me so as to listen to a couple of local stations and for long distance AM listening at night. For better SW reception you can add a roll up “clip on” sw antenna to the radio for $7.98.
I have now bought probably 20 or so of the XHData 219’s since I give them away all the time to people so that they have a decent battery powered transistor radio at home (most people do NOT have such a radio anymore)… and tell them to keep it in one of their kitchen cabinets so it’s not buried and unfindable in the dark in some drawer somewhere.
AM /FM /SW Radio:
https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Shortwave-Operated-Reception-Earphone/dp/B0BPKJ1XP1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1B3DJO8NT7R1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.2B5zDCUMUkl2FJrpxAM2ohRg0aQUHaEup5zxSlY1YwowTTlc7Jku90AnSfqS4An_yO0-Sv6QaLctsVAlxG6nIb24HDKN5lVfqqCrR20uL4ddcbztAtAKE3KbTmq0kQ49Y_GKWMiaFIqdPGGtv2UmAg.Jvs2NlFL6buiwlZHa4ifemleNIMg3ldqn4w8MqAYmcg&dib_tag=se&keywords=xhdata+219&qid=1759077829&sprefix=xhdata+219%2Caps%2C471&sr=8-1
Roll Up SW Antenna:
https://www.amazon.com/Wenpzeray-Shortwave-Telescopic-External-Reception/dp/B0CG9VXYQ1/ref=sr_1_9?crid=1Y9FOXFZZHH7Q&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.QkRaNgGjeGi5xMUSMpmS35C5iF68MrTaek8YCXVIus7Zlo6KEoXUA1z9o37BYAo8LXbsxCEf52swQDvLsvsnJH76M8t_DMBAUSvKLqcN9O6fuKk_LR9ImuWKAgZLk9DAl1izhbN6vrxxVolxeKJHYr-bjZWZu8dQHT0ke6Xv3bEdoDOfclSsQmNrVSXYH9fCzWqayOxkPMm2Z6IemAmJK9TstLWNFBdZ4QS67839V-A.O-JGwtHgIZsOO-T3_2skJ2Yp0xzpDU7rFvsXzBTf_fw&dib_tag=se&keywords=shortwave+roll+up+antenna&qid=1759077265&sprefix=shortwave+roll+up+antenna%2Caps%2C284&sr=8-9
fwiw … I keep one in each car as well as having a couple of home and one in my camping equipment box.
Trump deployed troops into Portland and authorized ‘full force’. If the country does slide sideways it’s likely Trump will send troops to the preppers house authorized to use ‘full force’. The force may not be dressed as a federale but instead a local sheriff who’s been authorized to save the other townsfolk. So there’s that to be aware of. ‘Go along to get along’.
OK. So why?
Where do you get your ideas?
nuclear war survival skills..the PDF version is available..
While nations like China, Russia, and Iran have invested heavily in civil resilience—constructing underground cities, reinforcing electrical grids with decentralized backups, and preparing their populations for catastrophic scenarios—the United States has largely neglected its citizens in favor of elite continuity. Instead of greenscaping urban centers, distributing grid-tie solar systems and building solar towers to act as mini grids , or fortifying water and healthcare infrastructure, U.S. leadership has prioritized outsourcing, extended foreign conflicts, and profit-driven models that hollow out domestic stability. The result is a fragile society where survival odds for the general population in a true collapse scenario are alarmingly low, not due to lack of technology or resources, but due to a systemic failure to value care, continuity, and community over short-term gain.Its the business model.. Stuff big buck billies pockets and justify multi digit wages rather than the essential needs of the citizens. all studies say the same thing..the vast majority of us won’t be here..gold and silver worthless metals and paper currency for fuel to heat with or wipe with..what I learned during my sad days was that the basic need for a quality of life knowledge.. how to do it..community ..like the colonies.. each has a skill an ability to share and teach..
http://oism.org/nwss/nwss.pdf
went out for a smoke and saw 8 deer in the front yard. my prepping is going great. everyone keeps asking me about MSC. i keep telling them all my ducks are in a row and quaking, it going to happen, when it happens. just wating on the THE DUDE to provide the way.
even those at MSC who have been taking their sweet time on boarding me with a NEO start date, are working on THE DUDES time line. time and time again, has proven to me over and over and over, Im right where im supposed to be doing exactly what im supposed to be, right when im supposed to do it, with whatever i need in adavnced, to do it. if i dont have it, i must not need it. if I needed it, THE DUDE would make sure I had it, in advance.
since i am not currenly out to sea, there must be a good reason for it and i will be out to sea, when i am to be there. this is not prepping advise for anyone else, its simply a way of life for me.
adventure and exploring. a change will do me good and I have a little pocket change.
I Win with God Within.
If one is rural one prepping for long term survival makes sense. If one is city based, like I am prepping for long term survival is a waste of money since the collapse of city around you will make your local untenable as a long term survival location.
Water .. except for NYC most cities will start to collapse after a week of no electricity to power the water system (NYC is a gravity fed system – water goes underground about 50-60 miles north of the city – with NO pumping required for water delivery up to about the 4th floor of the buildings in the city) (note the situation when Toledo Ohio, 500,000, lost water for 3 days a decade ago)
Food … once food delivery to a city stops the population will only stay “nice” for about 14 more days
Heat in the winter for northern cities … 30 days of NO electricity or gas in mid winter and most northern cities will be almost unlivable (note the problems from the Great Quebec Ice Storm in 1999 – 30 days without electricity and gas for many places in Quebec in the dead of winter)
“Prepping” is very location specific. Why prep stuff that the crowds are going to be willing to kill you for once THEIR supplies run out if you live in a big city?
UFOs AND CANNIBALS
Nostradamus Quatrain II-75
The voice of the rare bird heard,
Over the cannon breathtaking coinciding,
So high will the bushel of wheat rise,
That man will be eating his fellow man.
Nostradamus and The Third Age of Mars, The Prophecies of World War III, G. A. Stewart, 2019, Page 889
Once again, we see this term “insolit oyseau”, “rare bird”. “Insoli” can mean “rare”, “unusual”, “bizarre”, or “freaky”.
“Respirer” means “to breath”. Extrapolating from seeing something rare that coincides with a great war that leads to cannibalism, I would say that the intent is some event that takes people’s breath away.
“Estaige” is “etage”. As a masculine noun, “etage” can mean “floor”, as a verb it means “to superpose” or “to place something above something else”; in geometry, it means, “to make two figures coincide exactly”.
This is such a very serious Quatrain that is straight out of the book of Revelation. The passage from The Epistle to Henry ties this Quatrain to The Third Antichrist and the War of the Gods.
“Over the [sounds of] cannon breathtaking coinciding [with war]”, “The voice of the rare bird heard”.
The global UFO sighting prior to nuclear war will fulfill the myths of the gods going to war with humanity. Will the warning come before the detonation of the first three nuclear weapons, which may be terrorist attacks, or will it come with global nuclear war?
https://theageofdesolation.com/nostradamus/2024/04/13/dying-time-is-here/
You nailed it Stephen 2. I am sure that less than 0.1% of urban citizens are even remotely aware of the need to prep. Those of us who have prepped will have a very short period of peace.
“No man can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach.”
Woodrow Wilson
If I had to prep in a city, I would live in a single family dwelling with a basement, if possible, purchase a 90 day prepackaged food supply and a couple poly barrels (make sure they didn’t contain a persistent poison), and plan on not bathing, moving, or creating any presence of life. After about two weeks, and until about eight weeks, anyone seen will be killed on the spot.
After about 10 weeks there’ll be no one left. They will all have died or left town. All cities will become bastions of death and disease, as rotting corpses and a plethora of bacteria permeate everything within miles.
Cities – not good. Y’all have to understand and accept the risks, or implement a bug out plan before everyone else becomes aware of the situation…
The problem i see is people view prepping as a whole..i tell everyone one can extra.. just like JC’s heading we cannot fathom the horror because its not part of our life experiences..Prepping has been distorted by spectacle—seen as bunkers and hoarding for cataclysm—when its true power lies in quiet, consistent care: one extra can, one shared blanket, one act of foresight that becomes someone else’s lifeline. While nations like China have built underground cities and decentralized grids to protect their populations, the United States has largely prepared only for elite continuity, leaving everyday citizens exposed. Leaders like Thomas Monson of the LDS Church reminded us that preparation is not just for self-preservation, but for assisting those who cannot prepare themselves the due unto others…. True resilience isn’t about isolation—it’s about community, stewardship which is why I have said many times that I see the colonies as the way. each has a purpose a gift. A skill that they enjoy that is beneficial to the whole..community the village.. a person I know was preparing to survive a challenge on naked and afraid..they made the journey to live with an indigenous tribe..one thing they were amazed at was a hunter would bring the game to be cooked..he got first bite then the elderly got second bite and the food was passed around..at the colony yesterday one of the elders basically told me the exact same thing.. and the sacred duty to remember that survival without compassion is not survival at all.just existence..
New York has an excellent water supply system, but sewage treatment is what shuts down metro areas in hurricanes. Water gathering equipment and storage is still applicable. Without power, upper floors of high rise condos and apartments become places of refuge, if you can get the water up there, and deal with sewage. It isn’t much different from desert survival discipline, except more climbing, and more environmental hazards (like dad’s with starving babies).
Hiding Ure-self and your supplies in a congested urban area is tough, but possible, if you get deliveries sent to a remote drop, and are very careful about being discrete when bringing in supplies. Maybe use a suitcase with wheels, or a portable grocery cart with apartment dweller camo.
I have done some of this in urban apartments in decades past, but never any place as demanding as NY, I will acknowledge.
I always recommend keeping arctic-level sleeping gear on hand in the closet. You can also put up an improvised insulated self-supporting tent in the floor for desperate scenarios. By the time things progress to those sorts of issues, you should have multiple removable 2×4’s or better bolting the entry doors, and windows. Hell, I do that in my house.
You just have to think things through, and make your mods gradually. If you move somewhere else, put the preps in U-Haul boxes, and mark the boxes with obfuscation descriptions. Then just haul’em out with a dolly.
Hmmm…New York City’s water supply system is often praised as one of the best in the world, but its infrastructure is aging and vulnerable, especially the Delaware Aqueduct, which supplies about half of the city’s drinking water from our neglect in maintaining the infrastructure.. instead we go to war destroy whole countries to fill big buck billies pockets with coins and neglect the vital security of our county and its citizens. According to recent reports, the aqueduct has been leaking 35 million gallons per day in areas near Newburgh and Ulster County, prompting a massive $2 billion repair project that includes a 2.5-mile bypass tunnel to seal off the damaged sections [source: NYC Mayor’s Office, 2024] I don’t know about you but for me that says oops no water for you..
This isn’t just a leak—it’s a structural threat. If left unchecked, the compromised aquifer pipeline could destabilize surrounding land, potentially affecting towns upstate before the water even reaches New York City. The American Society of Civil Engineers has consistently graded U.S. water infrastructure poorly, and New York is no exception. The risk isn’t just water loss—it’s subsidence, sinkholes, and community dispthousands or a freak snowstorm in texas. you would think tgey would say hey we neen to take care of this instead they build multi billion dollar wind turbines at great distances instead they should be thinking the fluttering of a butterfly wings.. Building solar towers and handing out grid tie systems to every homeowner.. While other nations invest in resilient infrastructure for their people, the U.S. continues to neglect the basic essentials. Our electrical grid is so fragile that a squirrel can shut down power for tens of thousands or a freak snowstorm that almost shut down the core of the country. Natural gas pipelines are corroding, bridges and roadways are crumbling, and vital systems like water and healthcare are dangerously underfunded. Yet our politicians seem more concerned with protecting elite interests and chasing economic optics than ensuring the survival and dignity of everyday citizens. Prepping shouldn’t be about bunkers for the few—it should be about community care, one extra can at a time, and restoring the systems that sustain us all. what was it that was said..
“There’s never enough for the greedy—and always too little for the just.”It’s not just a saying from the past but a pattern of how civilizations crumble and fall—it’s a mirror. Greed operates on a hunger that consumes without satisfaction..
“its infrastructure is aging and vulnerable, especially the Delaware Aqueduct, which supplies about half of the city’s drinking water from our neglect in maintaining the infrastructure.. instead we go to war destroy whole countries to fill big buck billies pockets with coins and neglect the vital security of our county and its citizens.”
AFAIK neither the Mayor of New York nor New York’s Governor have gone to war. It is THEIR job and responsibility, not that of anyone in Washington D.C., to maintain infrastructure. The only “infrastructure” the Federal government is responsible for is the maintenance of Federal highways.
If New Yorkers are so irresponsible they repeatedly elect asshats who spend money to keep themselves in office, rather than to take care of the lives of their constituents, they deserve to go thirsty when the tunnel or viaduct collapses.
My Dad was one of the tens of thousands of WPA “employees” who made $13/wk, building the NY-State / NY-City reservoir system. I have no sympathy for either the insane PopNYC who vote for ever more Leftist administrations, yet expect things to improve, or the human detritus who foul Albany so badly their stench pollutes the air in northern Vermont and New Hampster, and who refuse to take care of their own.
Want better results? Make better choices…
All easily understandable.
They do not care if hundreds of millions die.
That’s why there is no preps for the general population.
I am guessing everyone gets this by now.
I was in an ice storm. I was in my car in a parking lot and wanted to return a couple of books to the library. It was maybe fifty feet from the parking spot to the book return. I couldn’t make it.
It was raining as I drove there and it turned to ice as I was pulling into the parking lot. I thought it might ease off. It didn’t. The rain began to freeze onto my car and other vehicles around me. I had to turn up the wipers to max. To prevent the ice from freezing onto the windshield I was blasting the anti freeze most of the way home.
I caught a lucky break. I was behind a truck that was throwing salt spray from the road onto my car which melted some of the ice and allowed me a few minutes of respite from spraying antifreeze.
When I parked the car I had to push the door open because it was caked in ice. While I was without power for twelve hours my cousin was without power for a week. His house had a working fire place and they used it. Also the ice brought down several trees which he cut up for fire wood. He even helped neighbours get rid of downed tree branches. They were happy and his family was warm.
Because he was burning uncured “wet” wood it was smoky and that meant he needed to hire a chimney sweep in the spring. He was then advised that his chimney was rusted galvanized single layer steel and the code required him to upgrade to a double lined stainless steel flue for three thousand dollars! So to summarize: at the end of the day one week of power failure cost him $3,000.00.
That is one of the lessons of prepping for power failure or natural disaster. You really don’t actually know what your “surprise” challenges are until you are stuck in the middle of it.
I have just discovered the amazing art of cloud reading. Not the internet, the blue above. Living in the northwest offers unlimited opportunities to use it but I have yet to see what shows. What I have learned is what an earthquake cloud formation looks like and what it tells.
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006AGUFM.T31A0426D/abstract
I got to see the really thin, well defined lines of one formation in the northwest direction at the same time an earthquake registered at 5.6 occurred 89 miles north west.
Yesterday’s big one at Bandon Oregon ocean had the whole of the south western sky filled with formations from tightest to the south west to bigger and broader clouds traveling north.
Just thought it might help read the environment if we have no other means.
However this might all be mute when our seasonal November rains keep the skies covered all day everyday. I look forward to knowing!
(“I have just discovered the amazing art of cloud reading. Not the internet, the blue above.”)
A huge amen to that… observing clouds has been one of my favorite pastime afternoon on the veranda hobbies.. I can sit for hours doing that..both the wife and I enjoy it..try some butterfly tea and English muffins.. turns a pleasurable time into an almost heaven event…
Now I need to look up butterfly tea! Sounds heavenly! Thank you!
One more thing…,
Something you might want to consider adding to your prep-list.., while there is still time and availability.
I took it upon myself to teach and train all my local trade partners weapons handling and shooting. I am a certified instructor [ pistol and rifle ] and a certified Range Safety Officer.., plus a lot of practical experience – and close to twenty years combat competition shooting.
Example. My “Mrs” had no experience with weapons. None. So, we had to start from the very beginning. Once we got to actually shooting [ pistol ] she couldn’t handle my 1911 45acp. Just too large and too much recoil., [ equals – too dangerous.] But now, you should see her handle and shoot a five shot Body Guard Special [ 38 cal ] . Fast, consistent and deadly accurate. We practice together at least once a month. Same thing with my AR10., but does pretty well with the 556.
.., and I did this with all my trade partners. [ Though a couple were very ‘resistant’ when we first started – as they knew everything..,] I want them around if the SHTF with any force.
This is just a personal opinion.., but something I think you should consider for your own safety and peace-of-mind. Protecting and providing for your loved-ones comes from many different avenues.
I would need that training..hell I have a pepperball gun and don’t even know how to put them in it.. much less use it..
dLynn : that ^ brings to mind my failure to target shoot in a bit too long. Soon the deer hunters will make so much racket my firing will be less obtrusive (I don’t go far, literally shoot from our mailbox into a corn field). My Mrs. was not against weapons, just not experienced at all.
I had her use a very tidy 380 semi. Once I had her fire out the garage door into the hill behind the cottage. It was very loud. That was thee point. If you are required to fire inside the house the noise and shock wave should deter an aggressor. If not, well you have one choice and 8 cartridges.
A select few friends have been invited, to retreat from the city, and join us here (with their associated specialties and arsenals). Until 2019 we lived in a very nice fringe area in the city Burbs (with SWAT sqd. / Detective plain clothes neighbors). We are much much safer here.
Note: for those unwilling. There are rather a lot of promising kinetic and gaseous non-lethal options. I have 2 friends who live in Indianapolis, train together, and each purchased a kinetic defense option (in addition to arsenals). Dunno. Maybe I could shoot a bag left handed?
Though a piffle in comparison, I have been shooting since childhood. Both summer camps in the area had rifle ranges, a pile of single shot bolt action 22s and a team of Range Masters. One was YMCA and the other Boy Scouts. It was wholesome and safe.
We are rocked from the shootings in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
This state has odd history with militias …
We are all armed.
“This state has odd history with militias …”
You have NO IDEA. Draw a line from Pentwater to Clare to Saganing. Over the years I’ve stumbled across dozens, maybe hundreds of “private camps,” complete with pillboxes, armored guard shacks, tank traps (made from RR rails), and gate/chokepoints that’d make the folks who designed Soviet border crossings, green with envy. I’ve spent a lot of time on the road over the past 25 years, more than a little of it in the LP. I talk to folks, test the political waters, get a clue on local eateries and weather conditions, make networking connections (the life of someone who buys collectibles or salvage.) Where these “camps” exist, I don’t stop unless I have to and never talk, if I do. I’m pretty sure none are equipped with prayer rugs, though.
I notice no one is talking about the decorated 40yo Marine who served in Iraq in 2007 and 08, and shot up the marina in North Carolina, a few hours before this decorated 40yo Marine who served in Iraq in 2007 and 08 shot up the Mormon church in Grand Blanc.
Ain’t nothing to see here…
It’s OK to treat and store diesel for a year or more at a time. Gasoline needs to be treated and rotated continuously. Empty a can and refill every week, and send it to the back of the queue. If you can find ethanol-free gasoline, use that, and pay the extra quarter a gallon. Locally, Bucky’s and Casey’s carry it. Use gasketed storage cans for gasoline. Don’t keep all of it one place. Have enough gasoline to make a round trip of 150 -200 miles to get away from what the winds blow in. Digging holes by hand is a bitch.
Having a trailer with vents makes carrying gasoline easy.
The rest of Ure prep stuff looks like a pretty good overview. You can’t correct a lifetime of complacency in a week, but you can make adjustments that will save you. You do need some food which can be consumed with minimal or no heat. The only hooch I keep in the house is grain fuel for alcohol stoves (and barter). I also have some denatured alcohol. Those are generally safe indoors. Just remember that if you have non-electric stoves, you need fuel in hand. With power off, anything on the shelf will be gone in 24 hrs, and fuel stations will be shut down.
I witnessed the aftermath of `the first Covid grocery store meltdown. Grocery, box and hardware stores are not the place to be when things turn ugly.
Do you have an operating hard address for Urban Survival ?
While many post-apocalyptic movies have their salt-of-the-earth protagonists struggle to get by while those around them lose all sense of decency, “Panic in the Year Zero!” presents us with a family whose own values are compromised, almost immediately, by the attacks.
When a petrol pump attendant is assaulted by a thief, Harry refuses to step in and help him, saying, “My mother didn’t raise me to be a hero!”
Later, when a hardware store owner refuses to hand over several guns, Harry robs the man at gunpoint (though he promises to reimburse him later).
At almost every step along the way, Harry turns down the chance to help others, and if anything it’s the idea of lawless savagery that poses more of a threat in this world than even the oft-mentioned nuclear fallout.
https://wearecult.rocks/panic-in-the-year-zero-revisited
On the other hand, don’t fear. Float. Be completely self OK. Don’t need to be shore power tied. Two hundred pounds of 25year long term food. Tools. Fishing gear. Spear gun. Simple rig. Rice, beans, nuts, vacuum packed. Choose places that need your skills. Stay away from the obvious crazy dirt. Be human first. Let the Dude help always.
Fear… the first step to oppression. The entities feed on it. Live for the day with joy and gratitude.
Works for us.
Stiks
Quoting Oddball… what’s with all the negative waves?..
I hear ya..The phrase “It takes a village”—Is often attributed to African wisdom—that teaches that no one thrives alone. Children, elders, and even ideas need the hands, hearts, and care of many to grow strong.
And then a favorite story Stone there are Versions of the tale that appear in French, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian, and Eastern European traditions, often surfacing after wars, famines, or economic collapse, when communities were forced to confront the tension between individual hoarding and collective survival. That’s the story of a quiet transformation. A stranger arrives with nothing but a stone, and through curiosity, generosity, and shared contribution, a feast emerges from scarcity. Each person adds a little—carrots, salt, a bone—and what was impossible alone becomes abundant together.These stories aren’t just for children but to teach the parents reading the story. They’re basic blueprints for survival, especially in times of collapse or uncertainty.
stone soup….https://youtu.be/q4nMP2YBiW4?si=dCbiC8op2_E9YWKc
A timeless child’s story..similar to the economy and the trajectory of the dollar…Stone Soup, the fading value of currency, and the parable of the spoons. Each speaks to the same truth wealth thats hard for some to comprehend without a country working foor its citizens will end it’s starvation in disguise.My favorite plato story besides allegory of the cave told by a rabi ..
https://youtu.be/dx7Pjsi0hZ0?si=ZBMg-H_Ih0Gprofit and controlWhat’s truly absurd is how we, as a nation, have chased phantom numbers on spreadsheets—outsourcing industry, waging endless wars, and spreading destruction in the name of profit—while forgetting the message of the Creator who sat Adam down and asked for cooperation, not self-inflicted penance. We abandoned the old country wisdom, where the mother stayed home as the adult presence, guiding children with care and maturity. By outsourcing labor and chasing metrics, we stripped communities of their economic lifeblood and moral compass. Now we sit in a room where no one feeds each other, each holding a spoon too long to serve themselves, and wondering how we got here. The answer is simple yet ignored… greed replaced guidance, and war replaced wisdom neglecting the needs of the citizens but hardship rather than prosperity. our industrial cities look like war torn and destroyed.. ignoring and avoiding the true needs of the country has our infrastructure weak crumbling and in drastic need of repair..our national security is weak and vulnerable.. so.. in my simple mind and consideration of the velocity of money and faith..what good did those endless wars chasing for gain end up.. the true treasures if the world walk around everywhere..the smile of a child a look of relief from a sick person ..their skills and teachings.. give a path forward..
“The phrase “It takes a village”—Is often attributed to African wisdom—that teaches that no one thrives alone.”
Jim Bridger would have disagreed…
Getting rather dicey around here…,
The Sugar Loaf fire is now 37,000+ acres., and has crossed over into the Entiat River Basin., but is growing rapidly southward.., surprise – surprise.
The Labor Mountain Fire has cut off Highway 97 – Blewett Pass – major mountain pass route over the Cascades and is heading at flank speed north. Also just over 37,000 acres.[21,000 two days ago.]
Right in between is the town of Cashmere -population 3,200 [ with that many again in out lying areas – beautiful country side. The entire area has now been declared a Level Three Evacuation – “GO Now !” fire alert. 5,000 people have only one way to get out – let us hope it remains open.
Smoke once again has filled in the Lake Chelan valley – can’t even see across the lake – air quality is nearing the Dangerous Levels.
Got a moment ? – send some positive thoughts their way.
So, two mass shootings in ~18hrs, one of them a Mormon church…?
Perhaps it’s time for the wackos to go back to the asylums…
According to NBC each shooter is a 40yo ex-Marine with a generic “White guy” name, who served as a noncom in Iraq in 2007 and 2008.
What’re the chances this is purely coincidental…?
Correction – Labor Mountain Fire is 31,000+., not 37,000. My bad. Typing too fast.
Stay safe wrt the fire. Only seen one BIG western wildfire up real close, it was in the Sierras near Columbia CA (the restored gold mining town).
Started about 100 yards from where we had just driven past early in the AM leaving Yosemite and by 4 PM it was a monster. It grew with the same speed as the one that destroyed Paradise a few years later. By the time we fled east over the Sierras at 4 (we were the last car they let take the mountain road across the spine of the Sierras in that area) it was already in the 14-18,000+- acre range (in about 7 hours).
From a distance I have seen several western wildfires and while interesting was not fearful of them … man this one was different from those and was moving along at 20-30 mph by mid /late afternoon. It was one scary beast.
I developed a different level of respect for Western wildfires watching that one grow during the day as we were doing all the touristy stuff in Columbia (and they had pumper trucks on it within 15 minutes of it starting too! and firefighting aircraft within an hour but still couldn’t stop its march across the landscape).
Hopefully they get those fires contained and can save the town and the structures around it (and your area)
In a potential radiological contamination situation (i.e.: fallout is around you, from nuclear explosions or from a dirty bomb, or from a cooked off reactor), potassium iodide (KI is the chemical shorthand) works to do basically one thing – protect your thyroid gland. Thyroid glands love iodine. They will try to absorb as much as they can. Most of us go thru life slightly low on iodine. The fallout problem is that iodine the element comes in several versions, and one of them is radioactive. That isotopic version is found rather abundantly in fallout. If your thyroid gland is low on iodine, it will absorb (and subsequently concentrate) the available radioactive iodine. That is a real world “ticking time bomb” for thyroid cancer later. So, what’s the remedy? That’s where the potassium iodide (KI) supplements come in. By flooding your body with clean, non-radioactive iodine, you enable your thyroid to feast on it. It gets full, and can basically hold no more iodine. When you subsequently become exposed to radioactive isotopes of iodine, your thyroid, being ‘Thanksgiving Dinner-level full’ of nice, non-radioactive iodine, says “no, thank you!” and does not absorb the radioactive isotopes. That’s a good thing!
Well, if you cannot find potassium iodide pills (there are a number of sources. Captain Gooding likes ki4u.com), what can you do? Captain Gooding has the answer to that question. Get some Maui Babe Browning Lotion. It’s a creamy product that contains a lot of iodine, which it uses to brown your skin (artificial sun tan). It also smells great, and it’s good for your skin – leaves it nice and soft. Your skin actually absorbs the iodine, some of which which then gets in your bloodstream, and feeds your thyroid with nice, clean, non-radioactive iodine to munch on. Maui Babe Browning Lotion is available in many drugstores, and of course, on line. Your local drugstore may not have potassium iodide pills, but there’s a good chance they will have Maui Babe Browning Lotion somewhere next to the Coppertone.
The amount of KI to take varies based on body weight. There’s a chart at this New York State website: https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/radiological/potassium_iodide/fact_sheet.htm
However, because your skin gets bigger as you grow up, using topically applied iodine, like in Maui Babe Browning Lotion, naturally varies based on how big you are. If you just use it on your arms, little baby arms are a lot smaller than adult arms, so the absorbed dose varies appropriately.
Please note that Captain Gooding is NOT a physician or medical professional. The course of action described above is for radiological emergencies only, and only then in the case of being unable to obtain potassium iodide oral supplements. Don’t do stupid stuff. Go read the free information posted at http://www.ki4u.com
The good news is that the half life of iodine 131 (the radioactive isotope of iodine) is 8 days. That means 8 days after it is created, there is only half of it left. 8 days later, there is only 1/4 of it left. 8 days after that, there is only 1/8 of it left. And so on… Point is, you don’t need to be continually taking clean iodine after a radiological incident forever. Your body will hang onto the clean iodine you’ve given it for a while, and by the time it begins to leave your thyroid, there won’t be much radioactive iodine left. Yay! (But you’ll have other issues to deal with.)
(If you eat miso soup, and put in edible dried seaweed the way the Japanese do, your natural iodine levels are probably going to be fairly high anyway.)
And for those wondering, the Captain has absolutely NO idea what will be talked about to all the flag rank officers by the President and the Secretary of War. I guess we’ll all learn together when the news is released.
An old theory on how to quickly get THE PROPER AMOUNT of iodine into your system is to take typical First Aid Iodine, 10% concentration (standard strength) and put it into a glass and then dip you LITTLE FINGER into it up to the FIRST KNUCKLE ONLY. This will give you approximately the amount of Iodine it takes to flood your system wiithOUT overdosing. After first two /three days redo every other day until the radioactive threat has passed.
Since kids have smaller fingers than adults the dosing will automatically be less for them, thus lessening the risk of overdosing them with iodine.
Heavy Dosing of Iodine DOES STRESS YOUR ORGANS, in fact can do a lot of damage … so you will want to taper off ASAP.
Something else people forget about iodine is that it can be used to purify water (bacteria and some viruses)… but for doing that the dosing levels for purification need to be STRICT since overdosing wrt Iodine can easily happen.
There is still one Wilderness Iodine Water Purification system on the market (was off the market for a few years because of Fed Regulation dealing with Meth production). IT IS CHEAP too!! “POLAR PURE”
For my wilderness trips I always carry Polar Pure as my backup Water Purification System since it is very very small and lightweight (used it exclusively for one entire two week trip into the Canadian North about 15 years ago… and survived! – I KNOW some of the water we purified with it was BAD water but nobody got sick). The system is simple to use, even though behind the scenes it is jumping through multiple hoops so that the proper amount of iodine is utilized for purifying the water involved (amount varies depending upon temperature).
The iodine in the Polar Pure system NEVER EXPIRES (it is in the form of crystals) so you can buy it now and use it 10 even 20 years from now and still get the same protection as when it was brand new.
You can buy the Polar Pure water purification system again and one $20 bottle (which MUST be used for it’s dispensing – it is an integral part of the system) treats 2000 liters and costs $20 (can order via Wal Mart and also Amazon now stocks it too). .
Wal Mart’s listing for the “Polar Pure” iodine water purification system
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Polar-Pure-340450-Water-Disinfectant/144530590
(the pill form of iodine water purification DOES deteriorate with time … so those bottles, particularly once opened, only have a limited lifespan unlike the iodine in the Polar Pure system)
OH … and for radiation do the finger thing daily for the first 2 to 3 days and then you can back off to every other day for maintenance levels (not sure that was clear in my post above)
Captain Gooding also has an old brown bottle of Polar Pure in his survival and camping supplies, for all the very good reasons you’ve laid out. Well said!