01. You may lose all contact
Imagine that one day, you wake up in the morning, want to send a Messenger to your friend, and find that Facebook tells you that you cannot log in to the server.
You dialled your friend’s phone. As a result, the line is busy and cannot be connected. The real situation is: the mobile network is closed and you cannot use the mobile Internet.
Do you think, maybe broadband and WiFi can still be used? You turn on the computer, 404.
You remember that there is a smart TV at home, and quickly turn it on and find that the TV signal is gone.
So you fall into deep fear. When night falls, you turn on the lights and find that there is also a power outage.
After using up the last bit of electricity in the power bank, your phone is completely turned off.
In such darkness, you will be at a loss, anxiety and panic.
At this time, you are looking for a companion, but you can’t find it. You don’t know where they live. You usually use WhatsApp to communicate and meet at Starbucks, but you don’t know the other party’s home.
The only number you remember is your cell phone. The only house number you remember is your own house number.
You and your friends have completely lost contact.
These kinds of troubled times, perhaps you and I will never encounter it in my life. This is a peaceful and prosperous age, there is no war, no turmoil, and people who want to find it can always be found.
But there are always some people in this world who will encounter this situation once or several times in their lives. If it comes to you, how should you respond?
The real chaotic world is a society that is out of order. You can’t count on the government. Think about Syria and Libya, and recently Afghan, think about Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda back then. At that time, there was only one empty government left. The building, and the mess in the office.
Sometimes, relatives and friends who have lost contact may never be seen again.
In the outdoor world, there is a rising group called prepper, who is always ready for the worst. A prepper is someone who is always ready. Store food, fuel, tools, and necessities at home. In addition, he always has a bag and the essentials that can support his survival for a few days. In addition to the home, there are other nests, and so on. Because human beings have only entered the peaceful age for only a few decades, and the ancestors with strong viability can resist the troubled times and multiply for generations to this day. Even today, there are many unforeseen accidents in life, so these kinds of survivalist skills are valued.
Prepper’s life may be without water, electricity, transportation, food, and medical care. The infrastructure of contemporary society may no longer exist. You have to adapt to the ancient way of life.
02. Backup power
Remember one thing: any device that needs electricity, once it leaves the power source, becomes a waste product.
Important information should not only be stored in mobile phones and computers but should be copied out on paper. Copy the friend’s phone number, home address, and other contact addresses. In this way, even if you lose your phone, or your phone is damaged, the data is still there.
A paper map is also needed. On the road, you may not be able to find a place to charge your phone. When you don’t use the Internet, you can’t download AutoNavi maps unless you download offline maps in advance.
If the power is only cut for ten days and a half months, maybe a dozen power banks can bring you a sense of security.
Putting a lead-acid battery weighing hundreds of catties at home, with an inverter, allows you to use more communication equipment, and can also charge mobile power supplies and other devices.
If you have a small courtyard or a large balcony at home, you can prepare a small generator.
You can even buy a hand-cranked generator and use it in extreme situations. The most common is the kind of military hand-cranked generator, with a stand, you can even sit on a bench like a bench to generate electricity.
Another good thing is solar panels. Although small-sized solar panels cannot provide as much power as a generator, they can always charge the battery. It is very important that solar cells use no sound, no fuel, and generate electricity silently at critical moments.
As long as there is little electricity, as long as there is little hope for mobile communication, you can use your mobile phone to contact your friends and find the information stored in the mobile phone.
03. Short-distance networking: Walkie-Talkie
The most convenient is the walkie-talkie.
The walkie-talkie is very cheap. Two or three hundred yuan each can be used. You only need to spend half a month’s salary to buy a dozen walkie-talkies, each of your family and friends bring one with you.
The common ones for walkie-talkies are UHF and VHF frequency bands or both. The frequency band doesn’t matter, the key is to use it skillfully. Young people and children can use multi-function, the frequency can be set digitally, and the frequency can be stored. The easiest thing for the elderly to give him is only three frequency points and a power switch, or even only one frequency point.
The walkie-talkie must be charged at all times. If possible, a walkie-talkie should be equipped with at least two batteries, one is in standby and the other is charging.
Some walkie-talkies can be replaced with AA batteries. This type of walkie-talkie is more convenient to use. You can use AA dry batteries or Ni-MH batteries when there is no electricity.
If you take it outside, you need to bring a few more batteries.
If it is used at low temperatures, buy a walkie-talkie with nickel-cadmium batteries. Ordinary lithium batteries cannot be used normally at minus five degrees, and nickel-cadmium batteries can be used at minus 30 degrees, or even minus 40 degrees. Although nickel-cadmium batteries are heavy and bulky, they are more reliable than lithium batteries.
If any communication equipment is to be effective, everyone must learn to use it. Be sure not to hug the Buddha’s feet, always prepare.
You have to become the core figure of the network, determine the communication frequency and have a fixed call time every day. Everyone, test whether it is easy to use.
Daily drills can be a network centred on you. As the main console, you can call like this:
Call xxx classmate group, call xxx classmate group, here is Jack calling at 146.250, over.
When others hear it, they answer: Jack, Jack, here is David answering you, over.
Then you answer: David, David, I heard you, please wait aside. Please answer the next one you hear, over.
Make sure everyone’s equipment is in normal use. Then the main console asked everyone what was wrong, taking turns one by one to avoid confusion.
In order for everyone to be familiar with the communication procedure, they can take turns as the main console.
Remember one thing: the talk distance of the walkie-talkie is mainly determined by the obstruction. On the city ground with tall buildings, the distance is only a few hundred meters to one or two kilometres. It can pass dozens of kilometres without obstruction on the roof of a thirty-story building. If you are on the top of a high mountain with an eight-meter antenna, you can pass 200 kilometres. So don’t pay too much attention to the power of the walkie-talkie, the power of two watts and five watts, there is not much difference in the distance of the call. High power consumption is also high, and it is easier to run out of power.
04. Long-distance communication-shortwave radio
The walkie-talkie is only suitable for very short distances. Long-distance communication requires shortwave radio. Shortwave radio is still useful in many places, such as the military, ships, and shortwave radio is still indispensable. The embassies and consulates of some countries are also equipped with shortwave radio stations as a backup. In case the Internet and satellite communications are lost, shortwave radio stations can be used as emergency communications.
The trouble with shortwave radio is that the antenna is large and it is troublesome to set up. The user needs sufficient technology and knowledge. In modern high-rise buildings, the most common method is to use a fishing rod to hang a wire from the window as an antenna. If you are in the countryside, this can be used to set up more types of good antennas.
If you are familiar with antenna technology, you can also disguise the antenna as other things, such as flagpoles, clotheslines, lantern strings, drawstrings, grape racks, loofah racks, lightning rods, and home power cords. In short, there are various ways to do it. Disguise it.
If you live in an old-fashioned house with brick and wood structures, you can even put the antenna in the top ceiling of the room. I tried it and it definitely works.
The advantage of shortwave radio is that you can communicate with other radio stations all over the world. Especially in the form of amateur radio, to obtain outside information and seek outside assistance. Even if there is no information at all at home, you can still contact foreign countries.
A typical example is that more than 30 years ago, in a Cambodian refugee camp, an amateur radio amateur was rescued from a concentration rescue and lived abroad with the assistance of radio enthusiasts from other countries.
05. The most reliable simple device-satellite phone
Satellite communication is the most reliable method. It can make long-distance global calls, and it can also connect to the Internet.
Satellite communication is simple to use, similar to making a phone call. Compared with shortwave radio, it is reliable and stable. It does not need to set up a large antenna and does not need to understand radio technology, which can be learned by the most ordinary people.
There are currently three types of satellite phones commonly used: Ouxing Telephone, Maritime phone, and Iridium phones.
Both Eurostar and maritime satellites are synchronous satellites. The advantage is that the antenna direction is fixed and the price is cheap to use. The disadvantage is that the signal is not as strong as the Iridium phone.
The Iridium phone was developed by Motorola 30 years ago. Many low-orbit satellites are networked in the sky. Due to long-term losses and being useful to the U.S. military, all U.S. forces provide funds to compensate for its losses, so that the Iridium phone can be maintained.
The advantage of the Iridium satellite phone is that the signal is strong, it does not need a large antenna to have a good signal, and the Internet speed is also cheaper than the maritime satellite and Eurostar. The disadvantage is that it is expensive. But in troubled times, when you lose contact with your loved ones, the phone bill of seven or eight yuan a minute is really not expensive.
Musk’s space x satellite Internet plan is the Iridium plan to the enlarged version, or the Iridium plan is enlarged by more than a hundred times… The huge losses of the Iridium plan are paid by the US military, and I hope that Musk’s Starlink plan will also have it. People can spend hundreds of billions of support every year so that we can use Musk’s satellites for communications in troubled times.
If you have money, the Iridium plan is your first choice. The price of a mobile phone is very cheap, similar to an ordinary iPhone or Samsung mobile phone. Secondly, it is something the US military is using, and no one dares to interfere or destroy it casually. Because in accordance with American practice, infringement of American satellites is regarded as an invasion of the United States. Therefore, even if all kinds of the Internet are shut down and radio stations are jammed, the US Iridium phone should still be usable.
In addition to satellite phones, there is another thing called a satellite Internet terminal, which is very large, and maybe as large as A4 or A3 paper, or larger. It weighs several kilograms. It can provide satellite high-speed Internet access, which is much faster than the Internet through ordinary handheld satellite phones.
The only consideration is the price. But in troubled times, the traffic fee per gigabyte is not expensive, after all, information is life.
