Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Community Watch using Safety Communications and Security preparations.

From the Desk of Paul Stramer
Montana Comm Leader
for Oath Keepers


Trump Can't Save America, just by the fact that he will now become the CEO of the UNITED STATES INC. 

Yes he can do some things, at great peril to himself, to undo some of the damage caused by the leftists who have had the power for many years. He can do those things within minutes of being sworn in, AND THE ENEMIES OF AMERICA KNOW IT, especially those hiding inside our own government.
We are headed for some violent times, compliments of the radical leftists who call themselves "progressive" and "democratic" and other euphemisms that remind us of the radicals of the 60s who bombed buildings and killed policemen.  They are already starting their organized and pre-planned riots using their  incitement agents.  These people are really just consummate OUTLAWS.  They will stop at NOTHING to preserve their power, and their global agenda.

Without the continuous long term activity for freedom of each and every one of the people who voted for Trump, and many more people, our communities will not increase in safety. Exactly the opposite. We now need to be in a condition yellow alert all day and all night continuously to preserve peace and good order in our communities. This is what the founders had in mind anyway when they gave us the Militia model for community safety and freedom.

These leftists talk about peace, but their brand of peace is something entirely different than what we have understood.  Their brand of peace happens only when anyone who would oppose them have been eliminated or locked up, so they can no longer oppose them.

There are not enough police, military, sheriffs or any other paid "law enforcement" to help you in what you see beginning in the cities right now. The left is NOT going to stop. They know the jig is up. They know their evil is being exposed for all the world to see. They know if they don't consolidate power right now, this time around, they won't have another opportunity in America for decades if ever.

What can YOU do?


What is it that we should all be aiming for over the next few months.

First, we need to thank God for the short reprieve He might have given us to finish our preparations, and we need to resolve to get our spiritual lives in order. God's law always comes first.

Second, we need to be aiming at law and order in our local communities. We need to show the American people that they can count on us, the people who have taken the oath to support and defend the supreme (human) law, the Constitution for the united States, to preserve peace and good order.
This can't be just a few good people. It has to involve a cross section of many people within each community, who are communicating with each other on a regular basis, and keeping each other up to speed on what is going on in those communities.

Ask yourself these questions.  "Am I communicating with my neighbors, and other community members?"  What am I doing to make them aware of possible security risks that might come up? What kinds of solutions am I proposing that can help the members of my community to preserve peace and good order?

For example:
What will my community do if there is a long term power outage?   How about an outage of the local cellular or landline telephone systems?  How about a banking crisis where one can not get their funds out of the local bank?  How about the Internet disappearing into the ether.

The big one in my mind is local communications.  What would you do, if all of a sudden the phones were gone, the power was out, and your cell didn't work any more perhaps because some of these violent people deliberately destroyed the cellular infrastructure?  How would you coordinate any response by your community?  How would you stay in touch with family, and other like minded friends?  How would you coordinate a defensive response to the violent offenders?  How would you keep in touch with local law enforcement?

The obvious answer is radio communications!

Let's look at the landscape for radio communications in a bit more detail.

In a previous article and accompanying webinar we gave you a bird's eye view of how national and regional communications are being tied together by Ham radio operators with big stations and power. That part of the equation is being handled and has been for years, so don't worry about doing it yourself unless you have the bucks, and the inclination to go on a steep learning curve for a few weeks.

But how do we tie local communities into this network, and more importantly, how do we get locals to start paying attention to each other and communicating with their neighbors and maybe their local preparedness teams?  What can be done immediately to jump start a local communications NETWORK of people who monitor certain frequencies for emergency purposes and use certain frequencies for day to day local commo on a regular basis?

Let's start with what many people already have in the way of radios.

There are three bands of frequencies that have been set aside by the FCC where you are licensed by rule.
In other words, everyone is licensed as long as they obey those rules.

Those three bands are as follows:

1  CB Radio   26.965  to  27.405 MHz.  This used to be the old 11 meter ham band. I remember getting my first CB in 1965 or so. It was one of the first radios Johnson came out with. It was the Messenger III and only had 23 channels. It was big compared to today's radios, and it didn't have SSB (Single Side Band) but it had the same power output as today's AM CB radios, and if you have one and it still works, get it out and dust it off and get a good antenna. I will tell you why shortly.
See the CB frequencies here:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=7731

2. FRS band.  Between 462.5625 and  467.7125 MHz This is a relatively new band as FCC regs goes. It's the Family Radio Service. You can see these channels here:  
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/FRS/GMRS_combined_channel_chart

3. MURS  Multi Use Radio Service   These are five frequencies set aside at the bottom of the VHF business band that can be used without applying for an individual license. They are low power frequencies limited to 2 watts. See the MURS Frequencies here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Use_Radio_Service

Since all three bands are very limited as to power and some other restrictions apply the range can be somewhat limited also. In each of these bands the FCC rules also require that the equipment used be type accepted for Part 95 and have a type acceptance number on the unit.

What do we recommend?

CB can be useful from vehicle to vehicle, so if you have one get it tuned up, and get a good antenna and put it in service.  A good stock unmodified CB can get you up to 15 miles range if the skip isn't rolling. Right now we are almost at the bottom of the 11 year skip cycle, so this can work well for local communications if it's all you have. Use it.
Monitor Channel 3.  

I don't recommend buying a handheld CB. They just flat don't do well enough because of power and antenna constraints.

FRS.  This band has severe power limitations (1/2 watt) unless you have a GMRS license, in which case you can run more power on the shared frequencies between GMRS and FRS.  These are FM or frequency modulated radios so they are less susceptible to noise and interference from vehicles etc. You can expect up to 3/4 mile range in ideal conditions. There are radios that do both GMRS and FRS, but be aware of licensing requirements if you run the higher power GMRS frequencies.

MURS  This band has only 5 frequencies limited to 2 watts unless you have a previous license and were grandfathered in when they created that band back in 2000.  This is from the FCC  "a private, two-way, short-distance voice or data communications service for personal or business activities of the general public"

None of these license by rule bands allow repeaters for extended range.  GMRS does however.

So why use them?  Because of the low cost and large availability of equipment.

If you already have equipment that will use these bands get them out, charge them up, and put them in service.
If you don't already have some of this equipment, and you want to increase the range of CB radio, you should look at a SSB (Single Side Band) CB like the Uniden 980SSB for just over $100 or if you want the best look at the Galaxy DX959 SSB for about $300.  Honestly there won't be much traffic locally unless you have other people who want to get a Sideband radio and monitor with you, but SSB allows up to 12 watts and greatly increases the range of the CB radios.

On FRS we recommend you buy a radio that already does the GMRS, and then just buy a GMRS license at http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/  The license is good for 5 years, for the whole family, and can be used for business as well as other uses. No scrambling, and no telephone interconnect, but each licensed user can create their own repeater system, which will greatly enhance the range and clarity if done right. You can use the radios on FRS without a license at low power of a half watt, but with the license you can run full power on the part of the band that shares with GMRS frequencies. You can use GMRS for personal business also, but not in a commercial setting, like for employees, unless you were grandfathered in as a business and still hold that license.

We Highly Recommend you get your GMRS license. There is no test to take, and everyone in your family can use it. You can also share repeaters with other people who have a license making a great way to tie a community together.

On the MURS band the radios are limited to 2 watts and must be narrow band FM so this cuts down the range some, but they are VHF where the signal has a tendency to bounce around more than on UHF like the GMRS and FRS bands. They might be useful in certain field operations for short range.

Overall, we are encouraging our well equipped ham operators to monitor Channel 3 on each of these license by rule bands so your local team can be tied to the rest of humanity when needed.  Most of the monitoring can be done with an inexpensive scanner like the Bearcat BC345CRS, or the handheld Bearcat BC125AT, See them here:  http://www.fm2way.com/scan.htm

Monitoring Channel 3 on CB, FRS, and MURS.

AmRRon, The American Redoubt Radio Operators Network founded by John Jacob Schmidt, came up with the idea of using Ch 3 on each of the "licensed by rule" bands to immediately facilitate getting the largest number of people on the air without huge expense.
Here is the video on this from AmRRon.



Now lets expand this local communications idea in terms of range and capabilities by just adding in the tech class ham license to these same frequencies.

As a tech class ham you have some additional privileges that can greatly enhance your ability to communicate, and tie your local friends who are not hams, into local ham repeaters and other systems that will increase the range and effectiveness of your local groups, by passing messages through those systems to emergency service personnel, or others .  I highly recommend that you have at least one or two licensed ham radio operators on each of your security teams who can communicate with other hams, and in emergencies can jump over on emergency frequencies and talk directly with local emergency services like ambulance, dispatch, Highway patrol, fire departments, and search and rescue etc .

Part 97 of the Ham regs allows a licensed ham to go out of the ham bands, and to run whatever amount of power is necessary to get the  job done, when there is no way to get the job done on the regular ham bands.
This is for real emergencies. like natural disasters, accidents, fire, or any other emergency that threatens life or property.
§97.403, relating to safety of life and protection of property, go the extreme of a de facto rescission of the other provisions of Part 97, should issues of safety and protection be presented. This section gives broad authority to the Amateur Radio Operator to use “any means of radiocommunications” at the operator’s disposal:
§97.403 Safety of life and protection of property. No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any means of radiocommunication at its disposal to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available.
§97.405, Station in Distress, similarly rescinds, de facto, all of the provisions of Part 97 in the situation that an Amateur Radio Operator is herself, or another Amateur Radio Operator, in distress:
§97.405 Station in distress. (a) No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station in distress of any means at its disposal to attract attention, make known its condition and location, and obtain assistance. (b) No provision of these rules prevents the use by a station, in the exceptional circumstances described in paragraph (a), of any means of radiocommunications at its disposal to assist a station in distress.

You can read these regulations here: http://harriscountyares.org/training/EME/EME-107.pdf 

So what equipment should I buy?

Well that depends on how far you want to go down the licensing road, which also affects how far away you can communicate.

Since the regs quoted above from the FCC website authorize a licensed ham to communicate on any frequency in an emergency, you can have the frequencies in your radios that you intend to use in those emergencies.
For example:  You could use the dual band ham handheld that you normally talk through repeaters with, to have the FRS, GMRS, and MURS frequencies programmed into memory, as a way to facilitate a quick response in any emergency, and nobody is going to question whether you are authorized to have those frequencies in your radio even though your radio has a detachable antenna.  Now if you were a business user with a part 90 type business band handheld, and not a licensed ham, your dealer would NOT be allowed to program those frequencies into your radio. I know that because I AM one of those dealers as well as a General class Amateur. I have been a business dealer and contractor since 1992 and a ham since 1995.

We are recommending that everyone get a GMRS license and also at least a technician class ham license. On GMRS the FCC wants you to use a type accepted radio like the new BTECH V1. We have our first one on the way and will give an update and report soon. The GMRS license will allow families (all your relatives and in-laws regardless of age, to communicate on 8 channels in the UHF band around 462 Mhz. The normal range can be up to 25 miles with the right equipment, and much farther with the addition of a repeater.

You can begin to see how you cover lots of bases by getting both the GMRS and the Ham licenses. In fact we sell all these radios, and I won't sell one to someone that does not at least intend to get both licenses.
See those radios here: http://www.fm2way.com/specialpricing.html

But you might ask "How do I get started finding people that agree?"
How do I find people in my community that know about communications and emergency protocols?

This might be a way to meet people in your community that already have a plan, or at least get some good advice and guidance.  Just go to the place most everyone goes to find local listings of ham radio licensees.
http://www.qrz.com/db/KC7MEZ   This is my page on  the QRZ.com website.  Register for the site. You don't need a ham callsign to register. Just make up a username and a password. Then check your email to confirm your email and click the link, and then go to the site and log in.
Now you can go to the search box in the upper left corner and change the drop down to Name/Address, then do a search for your zip code.
What you are looking for is someone you might know in your area that is listed as a ham, or at least if you don't know anyone on the list, check with the Extra class hams if there is a local ham club or meetings you can attend.  You find their class of license in the details tab.

Once you find someone that is willing to give you information, the Cardinal rule of ham radio is "Ask lots of questions."    That also applies to me as well.  I don't have all the answers, but if I don't know the answer to your questions I can usually show you where to find them.


Paul Stramer  KC7MEZ  WQVW245
SLC Distributing
PO Box 116
Eureka MT 59917
800 889 2839
pstramer@eurekadsl.net


ps:  
In our local community we started back in 2008 with a little idea called "community watch".  We called a meeting of people who might be interested in holding a discussion on local government accountability and current issues of concern. We had about 40 people show up, and we kept meetings going for about 53 meetings over an 18 month period, which has given us a base and a mailing list, and now after about 8 years about 300 ham radio operators in Lincoln County.
Go to QRZ.com and check the following zip codes.   59917, 59930, 59918, 59934, 59923.
Our organization is now called Lincoln County Watch.  We have had lots of help from local hams that are not members of LCW.

www.lincolncountywatch.org

Here are some useful links on radio communications.


www.fm2way.com  Paul Stramer's radio store on line
www.irlp.net       Internet Radio Linking Project, Eureka node is 3363
www.qrz.com    Ham Callsign Directory. Type your zip code to get a list of hams in your area
www.hamtestonline.com    Study for your ham exam.  Free practice tests are also on www.qrz.com
www.artscipub.com/repeaters   Find any Ham repeater in the USA
http://www.lincolncountywatch.org/emp.htm  Find information on EMP protection
www.fm2way.com/goalzero     Portable Solar power products like folding solar panels and storage devices
www.radioreference.com   Nation Wide Frequency guide for all police and emergency services
http://www.lincolncountywatch.org/hamguidelines.pdf    Shows ham regs allowing emergency comm and emergency operational guidelines.
http://www.lincolncountywatch.org/emergencycommplan.pdf   The permanent link to the latest version of the Oath Keepers national comm plan.
http://www.qrz.com/db/KC7MEZ   An example of an Oath Keeper ham radio base station for communications coordination.
https://youtu.be/dnE1OfkGUsM    AmRRon video explaining how to connect average non licensed people to emergency information and to hams and others.

https://www.oathkeepers.org/paul-stramer-emergency-comms/    My article on emergency communications on the Oath Keepers website.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you great idea but probably costly. Still this is on my dato list.

    ReplyDelete

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