A SHTF comms plan needs more than a radio and a frequency. Here are the actual components: PACE planning, rally points, defined roles, and a common list everyone can reference.
Your plan has to change every time you change location. Here’s how a seasonally mobile family handles that.
Cell, internet, and power fail on very different timelines, and most outages are hours, not the collapse scenario people picture.
You can’t assume a yard, a roof, or even a balcony. Here’s a comms plan sized to what renters actually have.
Why the PACE-driven, locked-down comms plan of a tactical team doesn’t hold up in a grid-down scenario, and what your radio setup actually needs instead.
Long before radar could see everything, ham radio operators were the eyes on the ground reporting severe weather in real time. SkyWarn still relies on that today, and it is one of the most genuinely useful volunteer roles in the hobby.
Repeaters turn a 5-watt handheld into a radio that can talk 40 miles. Here’s how that works, and why you shouldn’t bet your grid-down comms plan on one.