Has anyone given any thoughts on communications during SHTF? Most people I have talked to or read information tend to gravitate towards Ham, my concern with ham is that it's great if I want to talk to someone on the other side of the world but ham doesn't lend itself well to more local communication. Part of my SHTF comms is CB and GMRS. So here is my question for anyone else using CB and GMRS.
Has anyone heard of or is there an agreed-upon channel? I know that most people would probably listen to channel 19, but that would only apply to CB are there any other channels that you plan to use, and what about GMRS?
while cb is a good for of comms it does have its draw backs. 1 being anyone can easily jump on the same channel and either listen in or broadcast into your conversation. another being, while most manufacturers say such and such radio is good for say 20 miles, what they don't tell you is that range depends on battery strength and line of sight. Also another thing that will have an affect on transmission or reception is wave interference. The frequency cb's operate on is very susceptible to this. "HAM" radios or vhf/uhf can work just fine in short range distances. It all depends on the radio itself as well as the frequencies utilized. The group I train with are all licensed and use vhf/uhf radios and they work pretty well for our needs. we've been able to maintain comms for several miles including times where an obstruction (such as small mountain ridge or heavy tree coverage) fell between us. We have also tested them in cities where you'd generally see higher wave interference due to emergency vehicle traffic and "trucker" traffic. I hope this helps with your info.
Either one you are limited to local radio traffic. Best idea is to discuss it with the people in your area and choose a