One thing that came to mind as my power went out on the 18th February 2022 was that thing I depend on for work, the Internet, was down and I couldn’t get anything done.
My landline still worked of course because that is powered from the telephone exchange.
However this shouldnt be take for granted. Back in 2021 news broke that the humble landline as we know it is going to be phased out in 2025 and replaced with a service that runs over the internet. Click here for BBC article.
This will have some benefits, clearer audio for instance and with a bit of luck the price of the calls shouldnt be too extortionate, but this technology comes with a downside.
As mentioned, your current landline recieves it’s power from the exchange. When we move over to the newer system, known is VoIP, you will be supplying the power yourself. If your currently landline is a DECT portable device then you will be partially used to this idea as you have to plug the base unit into the mains.
Come 2025 and you have your new shiny VoIP phone sitting on your hall telephone table (that’s still a thing right?) when the power goes… so will your telephone.
What are your options? Well if it’s a simple power cut then your mobile phone should work just fine, assuming you have a signal and the system isn’t suddenly overloaded, Christmas morning and New Years Eve spring to mind.
But if it’s like yesterday’s weather incident, Storm Eunice, then not only could you use your landline but your local cell tower could be wearing a trampoline that knocks it out.
If, like me, you believe in staying in touch with loved ones then radio is a natural choice. Join the thousands of preparedness minded people around the world who have their Amateur Radio licences and remain in touch when the country throws a wobbly.
Amateur Radio training is provided online by Pete Sipple from Essex Ham. His Foundation Online course is designed for the beginner and is completely free of charge! You can get your emergency preparedness radio from me here at PrepComms UK. It’s worth the peace of mind and you add a new skill to your list.
There are various ways to stay in touch with us and other users of PrepComms.
One great way to practice your radio skills and make new contacts is to join our Zello channel.
Zello is a ‘walkie talkie’ app that you can use on your smart phone (Android and iOS) or PC. It works similar to a radio, albeit it is using the internet for getting the audio signals around the world. It’s a great tool to have, but just remember if the grid goes down you may not have access to the internet. So don’t ever let this become your only form of comms!
To join, simply go to your app store and download Zello. Install and give yourself a username, consider using your Ham Callsign if you have one. Then add our channel either by searching for ‘Prepcomms UK’ or by scanning the QR code below.
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It’s an often asked question and the answers may surprise or annoy you depending on what camp you are in.
Most people who come to this site do so because they are preparing for something bad to happen and want to know how to protect themselves and their loved ones during a SHTF situation.
This site is about encouraging the idea that preparation is a life saving tool. IE, that having a radio properly programmed into useful frequencies and knowing how to use it, could potentially save your life.
This site is not about encouraging you to break the law.
So, what piece of equipment are we talking about. In as far as this site is concerned it is a Chinese made radio known as a Baofeng UV5R.
U – UHF
V – VHF
5 – Output in Watts
R – Radio
This radio is cheap, it has blown open the radio market worldwide. This market was dominated by the Japanese for many years. Brands like Yaesu, Kenwood and Icom are mainstays of the industry and rightly so because they are excellent quality items.
But they are expensive and often the process of being licensed to use them is too. Especially in the Marine space where the Royal Yachting Association has the market cornered on training and examining for the Marine VHF band. A one day course can easily cost £100 plus the cost of the exam & licence, another £60 and then the cost of the radio which can range between £80 and £400 for a handset.
Many people have decided that as they only kayak for a few days per year, they will not bother with the Marine licence. Putting themselves and others at risk in the event of an emergency.
PMR or Private Mobile Radio is a set of channels in the UHF part of the radio spectrum. 446 MHz (Megahertz). Radios in this band a free to use as long as you use equipment that is type approved for the purpose. This generally means a very low power output and a fixed antenna that can’t be changed.
Along comes the Baofeng. A lot of people have cottoned onto the fact that Baofeng radios can be programmed to use those frequencies. The output of a UV5R, even at it’s lowest setting, is well above what a PMR radio is capable of.
However on many evenings and especially at weekends, if you listen to PMR channels after businesses have closed for the day, you will hear people chatting away over long distances. Many of them are using the Baofeng and little, if any, enforcement is going on to deal with it. It isn’t just Baofengs that are being used. If you visit many of the 446 Facebook groups you will find a lot of people who are using re-purposed Amateur Radio equipment to talk to each other.
The reality is that whilst illegal, no harm seems to be caused. It seems to be like the old days of AM CB Radio all over again.
So what’s the problem?
Just one look at eBay and Amazon will show you a whole bunch of Baofeng radios available to you for a very reasonable price. A couple of clicks later and they are on their way to you. Unbox, slap the battery in and antenna on all within 60 seconds and it is difficult to resist the urge to press that transmit button on the side,
But the radios are programmed in a factory in China. They really don’t care what frequencies they put in them and they certainly don’t care about anything more than their profits. So there you are running around the woods playing paintball, or wild camping, or 4×4 driving. You start using the box fresh radios and subsequently find out you are sharing a frequency with a pretty annoyed Army Regiment. Believe me, they are going to be reporting you to Ofcom and there is nothing that Ofcom dislike more than someone interfering with a primary user.
In this day and age, nobody is going to effectively stop the trade in these radios, so if you are going to use them, you might as well use channels that aren’t going to upset anyone else. PMR for instance. Yes it’s naughty, but it’s not upsetting the Army.
As I said earlier in this article, I am not condoning unlicensed use of radios. I am merely being a realist.
There are precedents for this sort of thing in society. For example, we all know that there are plenty of drug addicts out there. When AIDS became a massive problem, needle exchanges started to pop up providing addicts with clean needles.
Example situation.
You are your buddies hire a boat and skipper for the day. You trundle off into the North Sea for a session of Man Vs Fish. The weather picks up and the skipper, who has been doing this for years, isn’t wearing his lifejacket. Over the side he goes. What do you do now? You might have a bit of an idea how to pilot the boat, but how good are you at man overboard drills? Despite never having touched a marine radio in your life, you pick up the microphone and shout for help. With luck you are on the right channel (16).
The RAF send a helicopter, the RNLI send a lifeboat. With luck the skipper is saved and all is well. Do you think anyone is going to be asking you for your radio licence?
Preparedness gives you the upper hand. Allow others to fish the skipper out. Use your radio skills to summon assistance.
That is PrepComms UK in a nutshell.
Prepare, educate, improvise, know how to use comms.
When the brown stuff hits the fan, it’s about what you can do, not the piece of paper in your pocket.
I am happy to assist you in gaining free training, pointing you in the right direction, teaching how to use a radio etc etc. I would love it if you became a Radio Amateur, the more people who gain their Ham Ticket and callsign the better.
If you’ve got this far you have done well. Want training? It’s free, visit Essex Ham.
Buying a pre-programmed Baofeng UV-5R from PrepComms UK will achieve several vital things.
You will know that it has been programmed by someone with three decades of expertise in Radio Communications. Eight of these years with the Royal Air Force.
A thorough pre-sale check before it is shipped to you. Including Transmit & Receive Checks, battery charging test, double checking the frequencies and accuracy.
The radio is sent to you ready to go. Simply take it out of the box, slot in the battery, screw on the antenna and turn on. You will find that your name (and callsign if supplied) comes up on the screen. This will prevent your radio getting mixed up with others.
Friendly after sales service, including advice.
Channels are named, you can only do this through using software.
Whilst I would always recommending learning how to program a radio yourself, this is often a daunting task for the new user. Whilst studying for your Foundation Exam you will have enough on your plate.
Some of the videos on YouTube are confusing and will use terms that you won’t understand yet. Phrases like ‘Splits’, ‘CTCSS’ etc are all things you will need to know in time. But you can rely on me to get these settings right for you now!
Imagine that you develop a blockage in an artery around the heart. You have a certain amount of blood trying to travel through a tube that is designed for the purpose. That blockage causes pressure to go up and then one day it all goes wrong. If you are lucky you will survive.
The same applies to your antenna/radio combination. The radio produces radio waves at set frequencies and those waves require the antenna to be designed correctly and able to cope.
What happens when you stick a cheap fake antenna on your radio?
As the waves travel out from the radio into an antenna, they expect to find a nice comfortable environment for them to successfully pop out into thin air. A properly tuned antenna is really important.
If they don’t find that comfortable, well designed antenna a certain amount of the waves will be reflected backwards into the radio. This is not good news for your radio.
Fake versus genuine. The loading coil in the bottom version is what saves your radio from frying.
Your radio has what’s known as an output stage. It doesn’t expect to see stuff coming back and it is quite possible that it will eventually fail to work properly.
The power reflected back into the radio is measured using a meter known as a Voltage to Standing Wave Ratio meter. The lower the ratio the better it is. The more energy goes out into the air.
If you put a fake antenna from eBay, Amazon, Wish etc onto your radio you might as well stick the pointy end of a screwdriver inside the radio and wiggle it about.
The worst offenders are the copies of the Nagoya 771 antenna. They are everywhere online and are likely to be fatal for your radio the more you use it. Yes there are ways to work out what the copies are, but most people who are new to radio May be completely unaware of how bad these things are.
Alternatively you may get advice from people to purchase a Tactical Antenna. Be careful with these. It seems that the only ones that are any good are made by a company called Abbree. Various YouTubers have kindly made videos showing how hit and miss they can be. Abbree have also changed the sizings of their antennas to make them more efficient. Unfortunately plenty of the older ones are still out there.
Most Amateurs (Hams) will be a aware of the Nagoya antenna. It’s a great choice if you can find a genuine article. But as mentioned, finding one isn’t straight forward. One great workaround is not to buy the Nagoya at all but go for an Antenna that is just as good… or in this case better.
Depending on the size you don’t mind using, I would recommend the Retevis brand of antennas. Retevis have a presence on Amazon and I have bought loads of their kit.
The two I recommend are the Retevis RHD-771 and the RHD-701. The latter is the baby brother of the the 771. The great news is that they are very reasonably priced. If you are paying over £10 then you are paying too much.
You could easily spend £7 for a knock off Nagoya. For the sake of a couple of pounds more you can get a good quality, well made antenna that will do the job well.
The links below will take you to where you need to be. For the sake of transparency, if you buy from these links, I may earn about 1p.
How many radios would you like to burn out at £20 a go? That isn’t even mentioning how bad the reception is on the fake Nagoya compared to the real thing.
I don’t work for Retevis and have no links to them. My interest is making sure that your radio works for a SHTF situation.
So don’t give your radio a heart attack for the sake of a couple of quid.
