Category: Preparedness

  • What Is a MARS/CAP Mod? How It Works and the Legal Reality

    What a MARS/CAP mod actually does, who’s legally allowed to use it, and how to unlock extended transmit range on the Icom IC-2730A, AnyTone AT-D878UV II Plus, and AT-D578UV III Plus.

  • What Is AMRRON? The American Redoubt Radio Operators Network Explained

    AMRRON is a volunteer network of licensed and unlicensed operators built to keep information moving when normal communications fail. Here’s what it actually is and how it works.

  • 2000: MURS Opens Up License-Free VHF for the Public

    Part of our The Evolution of Amateur Radio timeline series. FRS gave the public a license-free option on UHF in 1996. Four years later, the FCC did essentially the same thing on VHF, opening the Multi-Use Radio Service in 2000 and rounding out the trio of personal radio services that sit alongside amateur radio today:…

  • 1996: FRS Launches, No License Required

    Part of our The Evolution of Amateur Radio timeline series. By the mid 1990s, the FCC had already created GMRS as a licensed family service, but it still required an application, a fee, and a wait. In 1996, the Family Radio Service arrived to close that gap completely: no license, no fee, no waiting. Just…

  • When the Repeater Goes Silent: Your Backup Plan for Grid-Down Comms

    Part of our Emergency Communications and Preparedness guide. Repeaters are one of the best parts of this hobby. Stick a repeater on a tower or a mountain and suddenly two handhelds that couldn’t hear each other across town can talk clearly across a whole metro area. Under normal conditions, this is exactly what GMRS and…

  • Backup Power for the Shack: Generators, Solar, and Batteries for Extended Outages

    Part of our Emergency Communications and Preparedness guide. I’ve written plenty about LiFePO4 batteries and solar charging for field kits, but there’s a bigger question I haven’t tackled directly: what actually keeps the shack itself running when the grid is down for days instead of hours. Batteries alone won’t carry a base station forever, so…

  • MURS vs GMRS vs FRS: Which One (or Combination) Actually Fits Your Family

    I write a lot about GMRS and FRS on this site, but MURS almost never comes up, and that’s a gap. It’s the license-free service most people have never heard of, and for certain family and neighborhood comms setups it’s worth understanding alongside the two everyone already knows. The Quick Version FRS is license-free, low…

  • What Is GhostNet? S2 Underground’s Off-Grid HF Comms Plan Explained

    GhostNet is S2 Underground’s free, off-grid HF communications plan: weekly check-in nets, regional data bridges, and ALE. Here’s how it works and where to find it.

  • Packing an FTX-1 Go-Bag: What I Actually Carry

    My grab-and-go FTX-1 bag, built for showing up ready whether that’s an EmComm callout or a last-minute activation.

  • Building a PACE Communications Plan for Grid-Down Scenarios

    How to build a PACE (Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency) radio communications plan combining GMRS, ham radio, and non-radio backups.

  • Setting Up Winlink: RMS Express, VARA, and Sending Your First Message

    Part of our Emergency Communications and Preparedness guide. I’ve explained what Winlink is and why EmComm operators rely on it, but I’ve never walked through actually setting it up. This is that post: getting RMS Express and VARA installed and sending a real message through the system for the first time. What You Need A…

  • Building a Faraday Cage for Your Backup Radios

    You don’t need to buy a purpose-built product. Here’s what a Faraday cage actually protects against and how to build one.

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