Winter is a time of the year that makes many people want to stay indoors away from the cold and snow. But what can you do as an Amateur Radio Prepper during these dark and dreary months? In this blog post I will give you some ideas for prepping and Radio comms.

Now that winter is in full effect, at least here in the US, amateur radio ops, and preppers need to figure out what to do their time, because going outside to “play radio”, or try out your camping gear, unless you are absolutely hard core, is not really an option.

If you’ve decided that you are going to get your Tech License, now would be a great time to study for it, this is also true if you’ve decided to upgrade your current license grant in order to have more frequencies open to you.

You could develop your group/family P.A.C.E. plan if not done already. What a P.A.C.E. plan is, it is a set of redundancies for communications. We get the concept from the military who have used this for years. PACE stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency. What this does is set up the order in which you would try to communicate with you desired receiver. Primary would be your cell phone, alternate would be text message (much less bandwidth that a phone call) contingency could be a land line, or satellite phone, and the Emergency would be your Ham Radio. I use this as an example, please set up your own/your groups PACE Plan according to the consensus of the group.

You could use the winter months to Learn CW, or Morse Code. It is true that it is no longer a requirement to be proficient with CW (Continuous Wave) to become licensed, it is still a viable option for comms. As it turns out, amateur radio is the largest group of people that still use Morse code. The reason that some people in the amateur radio community still use CW is because that it takes up less bandwidth than voice. CW has been around for 170 years for a reason, it is simple to use, once you become well versed in it, but it does take practice to become proficient in it. I am working on this myself, it’s interesting to say the least.

You could always learn how to build an antenna. This is not hard at all, especially if you start out with the simplest type of antenna, the dipole. A dipole antenna is made of wire that is half of the maximum wavelength that the antenna is to generate. It consists of a wire that is split in the middle, and each leg is attached to a coax cable, one side is attached to the center conductor of the cable, the other end connected to the shield braiding of the coax. There is a formula to follow when building this type of antenna, and that t is 468/ frequency in megahertz. Let’s say that you want a dipole for 10-meter band, the equation would be 468/28.350 (this would be around the middle of the Tech privileges on 10 meters) the entire antenna length would be 16.5 feet. Now divide this in half and you get 8.25 feet per side. This antenna can be put up as a flat top and an inverted v as well as a slopper, so it is a versatile antenna, and it is super easy to build. You will need to put this antenna up at least ½ a wavelength above the ground as a flat top. If this is not an option, then an inverted v configuration is much better suited. This configuration is almost omni directional in nature and it takes up less real estate.

If you have your Tech license, and at least a 2-meter, or a dual band radio you can participate in local nets, thereby getting practice with your radio gear. For those that are not in the “know” a net is a scheduled meeting on the air, usually done with the local amateur radio group, or ARES group. ARES stands for Amateur Emergency Radio Service. This is a group of amateur radio ops who use their communication equipment and skills during times of crisis by acting as back up communications for served agencies i.e., Fire, search and rescue, or comms in shelters and the like. Depending on the local ARES group there may be training involved in order to register and join, this training is usually free of charge and done in conjunction with FEMA. This is a fantastic way to become proficient with your gear, I speak from experience as I am a member of my local ARES group.

To go along with the above, you could put together a radio go kit, either VHF/UHF or HF, or both. These are the grab and go kits that contain everything that you would need if you were called upon to operate outside of your home for a period of time. As a prepper you would have a B.O.B. (Bug Out Bag) any way, but if you add the dual band transceiver either hand held or mobile unit, extra antenna as well as extra batteries, you have a VHF/UHF Go kit that would serve you for a 3- to 7-day activation depending how long you’ve set up your B.O.B. for.

On the prepping side, now would be a great time to take stock of your preps, checking on your food stores, you water situation, and a great time to check on your defensive capabilities. If there are items that need to be repaired, or maintained this is the best time to do so.

If you have not had at least 1^st aid training, the winter months are fantastic for doing so through your local Red Cross. There are online 1^st aid classes offered through the Red Cross, and there is a cost associated with it, and currently that is $37 here in the Des Moines area, your area maybe different. The on-line classes do not give workplace certification, if that is something that you would desire, I would contact your local Red Cross for more information, you can always check out https://www.redcross.org/ for more information.

These are just some options for new Radio Preppers, as well as those of us who are a bit more seasoned when it comes to radio communications. I hope that this got your interest and you choose to implement these ideas.

That’s all for today, this is K0MRD, your Radio Prepper signing off, 73!