Survival Communications FAQ Version 1.

DISCLAIMER: The authors and editors of this FAQ panel assume no

legal responsibility for any errors in or misuse of this information,
and are not to be held legally liable or responsible for any death,
injury, loss of property, or other negative consequences resulting
from use, misuse, or abuse of this information.

This document was based upon an earlier FAQ written by another m.s lurker,
and has received many contributions from m.s members who wished not to be
named here.

Any comments should be sent to me at medintz@idir.net, and will be

acted on or forwarded to the other authors as appropriate.

This document is being archived at:

http://www.grapevine.net/~medintz/surv_faq/comfaq112.txt

Archiving or re-distribution is permitted only according to the

terms of the document http://www.grapevine.net/~medintz/disclaim.txt. In
general, redistribution, use, or storage is approved, but there are
certain stipulations and exceptions in that document that must be
obeyed.

This document is a work in progress. Suggestions, comments, and

recommendations are always welcomed, and will be acted on or
forwarded as appropriate.

Further information on radio may be gathered from 'The ARRL Handbook'

and the 'ARRL Operating Manual', published by the American Radio
Relay League(http://www.arrl.org)

A topic as broad as communications can never been completely covered,

especially in what should be a terse and matter-of-fact FAQ. We'll
start out with the most general description we can provide, and get
more specific deeper in the document.

WHAT IS COMMUNICATION ?
The first step in understanding communications in the context
of survival is understanding of the fundamentals of communication
itself. Communication is a very complex topic, as difficult
to completely define as truth, beauty, or time; however, in an
attempt to cut to the chase and make our life simple, we'll start
with two definitions:

COMMUNICATION is the successful transfer of information from one

person to another person or entity.

COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS are comprised of equipment, methods and

techniques of supporting information transfer, enabling communication
to take place between two people. (Please note that these definitions
are cheap outs, since we haven't defined what we mean by information,
but you get it, right? Note that we re also limiting things by
requiring at least one person in to loop, to reduce the scope of
this document.)
What Happens When We Communicate?
In order for any communication to take place, there are three major
requirements that must satisfied.

REQUIREMENT ONE: There must be a sender and a receiver. For most

survival purposes, this means a person trying to send a message and
a person looking for a message sent to them.

REQUIREMENT TWO: The sender and receiver must understand how the
message is to be conveyed, and must understand the message itself.
In the survival context, this means that both people trying to
communicate understand how their communication system works (how to
operate the communications equipment, that one or two lamps have
different meanings, how to look up a word in a dictionary) and that
they understand the message (the message in clear and in a common
language, that one lamp means that the British are coming by land
and two lamps means by sea.)

REQUIREMENT THREE: the communication system must be capable of

delivering the message. (There's not so much fog the lamps can't be
seen, or that the radios are within range and working properly.

THE ONE RULE OF COMMUNICATIONS: To communicate, the sender creates a

message that both he and the receiver should understand. Then, using
a common system that is capable of delivering the message, the sender
transmits the message to the receiver, who understands the message
sent.

SURVIVAL IMPLICATIONS
Failure to communicate is always the result of a failure to meet the
requirements. A few specific examples:

The first requirement being that there is someone trying to send a

message and someone expecting to receive it may at first seem obvious,
however in practice it is probably the most violated requirement of
communications in a survival context, providing the violator with a
false sense of security until they need to communicate. For some
reason, somebody buys a CB and thinks they can be in the middle of
nowhere, call for help on channel 9, and Air Rescue magically appears
to come in and save them. Yup, it's a long day in hell when this happens.

It's not just CB owners, either: this requirement gets violated by

amateur radio operators (I'll just call for help on the repeater
except they left the directory home and their rig doesn't provide
the right sub-audible tones, or the guy that just answered your CQ
or SOS on 40 meters thinks you're a crank) and Cell Phone users
(whadda ya mean they don't have service in the middle of a wilderness
area or during a massive power outage?).

Nor is this limited to radio: flare guns (It's 2AM, a bear just ate
your camp partner, and you're fifty miles from civilization in a
valley. Shoot a flare off, and you've made your camp brighter for a
few seconds and pissed off the bear. Feel better?) Air horns (same
scenario, maybe the bear leaves if it's loud enough.)

Resolving problems surrounding the first requirement simply means

making sure there is a person listening. Perhaps someone you know,
perhaps not. The 911 system, for example, consists of people
continually monitoring a phone for incoming messages from senders.
World-wide, satellites and many pilots listen to 121.5 Mhz on their
radios, looking for distress signals. If a CB operator knew someone in
the area who agreed to listen on channel 9 for 15 minutes at 6PM
everyday, his chances of being heard then are vastly improved. The
ham, who had punched in the frequency to his club's repeater, which
has a long-tone-zero (LTZ) emergency alert system that gets friends
from the club on would be in better shape too; and if the ham's friend
was listening at 6PM everyday on 40 meters, it's doubtful his friend
would think he was nuts if he said he needed help urgently. Having a
friend look for a flare on a ridge line a hour before sunrise--and
climbing to the ridge line to fire the flare--would work wonders,
too.

Note that in each of these cases, not only was someone listening,
but there was coordination, also, in that the recipient of the messages
knew when and where to look or listen.

What have we learned?

1) Someone has to Send and someone needs to Listen.

2) Both have to use the same system. Both need to understand the message.

3) Coordination between the sender and listener vastly increases the

likelihood of successful communications.

A. Types of communications

1. Wired Communications
a)Basic Telephone Service
Current telephone communications, at least in industrialized
nations, is the standard of excellence that most communications
systems are compared. Disparaging comments and annoying customer
service issues aside, standard phone service is nearly universal,
approaches 100 percent reliability, and offers nearly instant
connectivity to virtually any person in the industrialized world.
Phone service is probably the single most utilized form of survival
communications, used whenever 911 is dialed, or a person phones a
friend for help.

While basic phone has never been completely secure, it's become
very apparent that phone services are approaching a nearly total
security compromise, at least with respect to national agencies.
Note that with modern signaling and billing records systems,
every phone call is logged, and the phone number, which is
effectively an address to a physical location for wired phones,
is present with each call; this is true even of pay phones.

The exposure risk associated with basic phone systems is extreme.

Any communications which is intended to remain private probably
shouldn't rely on phones. This is of no bearing for most
conventional survival scenarios.

Phone service can fail at any time, but due to very good survival
engineering, basic phone service often stays operational days after
AC power fails. Destruction of inside plant (central office
switching equipment, batteries, and power generation) or outside
plant (poles, wiring, and transmission equipment) will result in
failure of service, of course. Note that in floods, hurricanes,
and earthquakes phone service often fails in a widespread way,
whereas failure in common storms and civil disorder is usually
localized.

Note that while phone service may continue to be reliable during a

disaster, communications may be difficult due to overloading. During
the summer of 1996, a power outage in the Western United States
resulted in a flood of calls to 911 systems in several states from
people simply reporting that their power was out; in some areas, 911
failed completely, or had hold times in excess of 30 minutes.

a) Private Point-to-Point (Intercoms and Field Phones)

Outside of PBXs located in buildings, private wired communications
aren't very common. Two notable exceptions are intercom systems that
are used to communicate within a building, and field phones, which
are essentially military versions of intercoms. Intercoms are
generally limited in range.

So-called wireless intercoms use the AC power line to convey their

signal, and are generally dependent on AC power themselves. Wired
intercoms usually don t cover more than a few hundred feet in a
building, due to the wiring difficulties. Such intercoms usually
run on batteries. Field phones are generally used in environments
where complete control of the lines of communication exist. The
typical military field phone runs on two D cell batteries, and
can operate over up to twenty miles of two-conductor wire.

In general, private wired communications is the most secure, . The

wires themselves can be followed if not concealed, revealing both
points of communications.

1. Radio Signals
There are a huge number of possible options for radio-based survival
communications, ranging from getting broadcasts from authorities via
a $4 AM radio to portable satellite phones.

a) Broadcast Radio
AM Radio
Let s be blunt. If you can have only one radio, if you have less
than ten bucks to buy equipment, forget CB, Ham, and everything
else. Get a portable AM radio. The first radio band for survival,
news, and government information is the old AM radio band, from
550 Khz to 1700 Khz.

Equipment can be very small, with typical radios 1x3x4 in size,

light, low-power (two AA batteries can run a radio for weeks at
low volume or with earphones), cheap (Radio Shack's FlavorRadio is
$7), very reliable (single IC), long range (100s of miles for
clear-channel radio stations at night)

In addition to the radios themselves being reliable, AM broadcast

radio stations themselves are also fairly reliable with back-up
transmitters, emergency generators, and bomb shelters: a few radio
stations in every area are part of a extremely reliable network that
is a carryover from the civil-defense radio network's heydays of the
1950's. The two civil defense frequencies are 640 Khz and 1240 Khz.
As a result of the defense network carry-over, and the fact that
many AM stations offer talk-radio call-in formats, AM radio is
ideal for getting news and information during emergencies, probably
more so than any other source.

The military and other government agencies also maintain emergency

portable radio stations for disaster-stuck areas, that are AM
stations. Inexpensive AM radios with ferrite bar antennas have a
secondary survival use as navigation instruments. Such radios have
sharp, well-defined nulls where the signal goes dead. If one knows
the direction of the nulls of the radio and the locations of the AM
radio stations in the area, it's possible to triangulate your own
location based on the directions your radio indicates each station
is in. Accuracy isn't incredible, but it can generally give a position
of +/- 5 miles if the radio stations are 50 miles away.

Within the US, there was originally a set of stations set up with
what is known as clear channels that made sure a single, high power
station had no others within hundreds of miles on the same frequency.
Currently these are known as Class A stations (which run 50,000 watts).
These stations can be heard for hundreds of miles at night, allowing
listeners in disaster-striken ares to hear stations that are in
surviving areas. (for example: At night, one can hear WMAQ, Chicago
on the eastern edge of the Colorado Rockies without much difficulty.)
Refer to Appendix A for a list of Class A Clear Channel stations.

a)Two-Way Radio
1)Unlicensed Services
All radio services are regulated in some form, even if it's a law
that states that the service is unregulated. However, there are
several license-free services in the U.S. Note that other locations
aren't quite as progressive in terms of unregulated services. The
U.K., for example, requires CB radios to be licensed, and doesn't
offer a free 1750 meter band. YMMV!

CB Radio (AM and SSB)

CB, also known as Citizen's Band (or Children's Band to its

detractors) uses an amplitude-modulated signal on forty channels
centered around 27 Mhz. These radios are limited by FCC regulation
to four watts of output power going up the antenna. Typically,
from a vehicle with an average antenna on flat terrain this results
in a reliable range of ten to twenty miles.

With a better antenna, considerably longer ranges are possible.

However, another FCC regulation requires CB operators to take steps
to prevent their signal from being detectable beyond 150 miles. CB
frequencies are plagued with a number of problems, such as
overcrowding on certain frequencies and considerable rudeness.

Typically, Channel eleven is considered a general calling channel,

and Channel nineteen is used by truckers. In addition, Channel nine
is reserved by law for emergency use only.

Refer to Appendix B for a list of Citizens Band Channel Frequency

assignments.
Part 15 Radio Bands
So-called part 15 bands owe their name to the United State's Federal
Communications Commission, which has a set of rules (Part 15) which
allow certain types of unlicensed radio transmitters. There are
three main part 15 bands that are commonly used for two-way voice
communications (other bands exist under part 15 for a plethora of
other devices.) The only band that's really significant is the 49
Mhz band; the other two are interesting, but probably impractical.

49 Mhz Radios

The 49 Mhz band is a widely-used consumer radio band, primarily for

cordless phones. There are 10 narrow-band FM channels between 49.67
and 50.00 Mhz assigned to the band (Refer to Appendix C). The band
is relatively noise-free in non-industrial areas, though the millions
of cordless phones means plenty of interference in highly urban
settings. Power output is specified by field strength, 10,000
uVolts/meter at 3 meters, and translates to a few milliwatts. The
band is most useful for short-range communications.

The receivers of good radios are such that this low power gives a
1/4 mile range, though field tests show ranges of 1/8 to 1/2 mile,
depending on terrain. The radios perform amazingly well in difficult,
hilly terrain at short range. In very controlled tests using a
lab-grade receiver/antenna, a detection range of three miles was
obtained. Equipment is small and light, often only 1x3x7 or
smaller; it's offered by many manufacturers that also make CB radio
equipment. Power requirements are miniscule, with RX requirements of
less then 20 milliwatts and TX requirements of 100 milliwatts. (In
one test with a radio using three AA lithium batteries, run time in
RX mode was two WEEKS continuous.)

Though very reliable electrically, durability is a concern, as most

equipment is built with light plastic cases and no waterproofing.
Cost is generally $25-$40 per unit with features of single vs.
multiple channel and voice-operated switching accounting for the
cost difference. Note that kiddie walkie-talkies also operate on
this band but the receivers of such radios are worthless.

Due to the proliferation of small, inexpensive 2-way radios for this

band, there is no realistic hope of private communications-indeed,
it's entirely possible that this band will become so crowded as to
be useless in the event of an emergency.

In addition, there are no standard frequency uses or nets on this

band. Considering the limited range, the primary use will likely
be for tactical communications among a small group, such as
coordinating camp activities. One group sends a scout ahead in
difficult terrain while the rest of the backpacking party waits,
with the scout calling back if the path taken is viable; this saves
hours of useless backtracking.

A secondary use is to place a radio with volume set on maximum on a

pack that is cached in a well-camoflauged environment. The squelch
keeps the radio quiet, but another radio can transmit sounds
allowing the user to home-in on the hidden pack.

The 49 Mhz band is smack-dab in the middle of the VHF-low band

(30-88 Mhz, 25 Khz channel spacing) that the military use world-wide
for primary tactical communications. It should be no surprise then
that there's quite a variety of ground-based, airborne, and
satellite-based radio equipment dedicated to intercepting,
direction-finding, and jamming these frequencies, which include
the 49 Mhz band.

Theoretically, consumer 49 Mhz radios and military VHF-low radios

should inter-operate. However, the reality is that only some military
radios operate with narrow band FM, and the tuning steps of the
radios are 25 Khz at best, frequently placing them off-channel.
Newer tactical radios, such as the US Army SINCGARS (Single Channel
Ground and Airborne Radio System, are usually operated in
frequency-hopping mode, in which there is no hope of inter-operability
(such radios can however be tuned to single channels)

Although highly susceptible to interception and direction-finding,

in practice the range of consumer radios on this band is so limited
that this highly unlikely to occur unless a party is expressly
searching for the signal in the immediate area; the short range also
makes these one of the few radios immune to satellite-based DF. In
urban environments there are literally hundreds of competing signals
on the same frequency, making interception and DF difficult. Note
that in scenarios involving military conflict, operational jammers
could make these radios unusable at tens of miles away, and these
radios are likely to be unintended victims, jammed simply because
they're in the middle of a military band, and not due to overt
intent.

One group known to us has primary communications based on 49 Mhz

radios. The limited range and extremely low power consumption were
keys, along with the fact that the group stays close together 100%
of the time were factors that lead to the decision.

460 Mhz Family Radio Service (FRS)

The FRS radio service is a recent addition in the US and a good

selection of low cost equipment is available. The radios are
relatively low power 500-600 milliwatts (0.5-0.6 watts), and
operate on 14 channels in the 460 Mhz frequency range using
reliable FM modulation. The radios have a user settable
squelch level control to minimize interference. In addition,
the radios utilize a system known as Continuous Tone Coded
Squelch System (CTCSS) which allows an additional degree
of interference control. These radios have a useable range
up to 2 miles depending on terrain conditions. Refer to
Appendix D for a list of FRS frequencies and Appendix E
for a discussion of CTCSS.

1750 Meter Lowfer Band

In the US, the 1750-meter band allows radios to operate with 1 Watt
of power into a 50 foot long transmission line/antenna system at
frequencies in the 170 Khz (that s 0.170 Mhz) range with no license.
This is a *really* low frequency.

Equipment for 1750 meters is generally as small as one wants to

build it. There are only a few commercially built radios for this
band, generally the same size and weight as a larger mobile CB radio.
Power consumption is quite low, with about 3 watts peak for TX and
hundreds of milliwatts at most for RX. Cost is generally no more
than $200 for a top-end commercial built radio.

Antennas are inefficient and large, since the 50 foot limit really
needs to be exploited for the radio to work well. Communication is
therefore not very reliable at long ranges; however, at short ranges
(a few miles) at night, when the noise level is low, 1750 meters is
reliable. At night during the winter, it provides the greatest range,
with reasonably reliable contacts at 100's of miles. During the
summer this band is plagued with static making it rather unreliable.
The 1750 Meter band is a (barely) plausible survival radio band only
if it's used for a network among users that are located near each other.

There are a few experimenters on this band that perform low-rate

data communications using exotic modulation methods, but most prefer
Morse code or SSB. There are no regularly monitored channels or
survival networks in operation, though some radio enthusiasts in
California do have a regular net.

It is, however, worth noting, that some caving and spelunking

enthusiasts also sometimes use this band, as low frequencies have
some limited ability to penetrate obstacles such as the ground. (The
same principle is used by the US Navy, which uses VLF and ELF
signals to contact submarines)

There's one survivalist of note that does use this band: the U.S.
Government. A special high-survivability data network known as the
ground-wave emergency network, or GWEN, can be heard between 150
and 170 Khz with a repetitive noise that sounds like a cross between
a hiss and a crunching sound. This network is intended to survive a
massive nuclear strike and provide low-data-rate post apocalyptic
communications.

Low frequencies are so easy to direction find that they are the
basis of the first radio-navigation system used for aircraft and
ships. Starting at about 200 Khz, there are thousands of low-power
non-directional beacons (NDBs). Automatic-direction-finding (ADF)
radios tuned to an NDB indicate their direction with high accuracy,
and many ADF receivers are capable of tuning the 1750 meter band.

On the plus side, although direction-finders work really well here,

the low power and low frequency of the 1750 Meter band make it
effective for covert communications; few receivers tune this low,
and even fewer people even bother to listen. Due to the inefficiencies
of the antenna system jamming is difficult, and there is no known
deployed jamming equipment capable of disrupting this band.

Micro-power AM and FM
Also permitted under part 15 is low-power (100 milliwatts) AM
transmitters with a 10 foot antenna restriction on the same band as
broadcast AM radio.

The AM band shares many characteristics and difficulties of the

1750-meter band. Equipment is generally always hand-made, usually
from AM broadcast kits. Receivers can be cheap AM receivers, but a
viable communication system will likely use a sensitive medium wave
or short wave radio receiver. Cost of the transmitter can be as low
as $20, the receiver $5 to $5000.

Transmitter size is generally the size of a small mobile CB, about

2x6x6. Power consumption is minimal, under 1/2 watt. Reliable
reception ranges of a 1/4 mile or so are common, though with good
receivers and quiet band conditions (at night, during the
winter time) on an unoccupied AM channel (rare in its own right)
ranges of 100's of miles have been obtained.

Signals are easy to direction find (indeed, many aircraft ADF

systems also tune the AM radio band) and it s trivial to jam
weak-signal reception in the AM band when Mother Nature isn't doing
it herself with thunderstorms.

No nets are known to use micro-power AM, though some pirate-radio

broadcasts violate the FCC's power specification and some of these
transmit vaguely survival-related gloom-and-doom conspiracy radio
programming. This (with legal power, and probably better, community-
related programming, of course) is probably the only viable use for
this band in a survival context (weak as though that may be.)

Micro-power FM stations are also permitted, but the large bandwidth

and low power allowed makes micropower FM even more useless than AM.

(1) Licensed/Regulated Services

(a) Amateur ( Ham ) Radio

The bands listed below all require a license for use in the United
States and most other countries with one important exception: Under
US law (Part 97 of the FCC regulations), a station may lawfully use
any and all means at its disposal to locate help in the case of a
legitimate emergency.

6-Meter Band
The six-meter band (50-54 Mhz ham band) is considered sort of a
"schizophrenic" band, that can't make up its mind whether to be a
worldwide/distant contact band or a local VHF band. It generally has
been known to be used as both of these. The use of this band is
primarily a local phenomenon-extremely popular in some areas and
completely silent in others.

2-Meter Band
2 Meters (144-148 Mhz.) is one of the most commonly used bands in
the United States. Frequently these days, when a ham buys his first
radio, it's a mobile or handheld 2-meter FM transceiver. SSB and
CW are rarely, but occasionally used on this band. However, 2M is
a favorite for amateur radio satellite and amateur Earth-Moon-Earth
communications, and for technical reasons these methods require the
use of SSB or CW rather than FM. This band, along with the
70-centimeter (432-450 Mhz) band, are among the most popular bands
for local packet (data) radio communications, and are also
hands-down favorites for Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)
and Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) communications. Licensure
for the use of the above three bands in the United States is granted
on the basis of two multiple-choice written examinations covering
radio theory, amateur practice, and FCC regulations. The ARRL
(website address above) maintains a list of examination sessions,
and study guides for these exams are on the shelf in most libraries
and bookstores.

MF/HF Bam Bands:

In the United States, ham radio bands exist at 1.8 Mhz, 3.5 Mhz,
7 Mhz, 10.1 Mhz, 14 Mhz, 21 Mhz, 24 Mhz, and 28 Mhz. These bands
are all capable of long-distance communications, depending on
atmospheric and sunspot conditions, and have all been used for
worldwide communication. The most common emissions modes are
CW (Morse Code) and Single Sideband, but certain data communications
are also used. Equipment for these bands is all over the range
in terms of price and complexity-low-power CW-only single frequency
transmitters can be built for $20, and high end all-band all-mode
transceivers can be bought for several thousand dollars. Literature
on use of these bands is common, with "Low-Profile Amateur Radio"
by Jim Kearman being an excellent (if basic) primer for people who
want an introduction into low-power HF operation without much in
the way of an antenna. A license from Federal Communications
Commission is required to transmit on these bands (with limited
exceptions explained above), and the license is based upon
examination of the licensee's understanding of radio theory and
law, and ability to receive and understand signals in the Morse code.

(1)Commercial Carrier and Emergency Services

Cellular Phones
A Cellular phone is essentially a low-power UHF transceiver. When a
call is made, the phone signals a fixed station called a 'cell.' The
cell transfers the signals between the radio waves and the phone
exchange. (A gross oversimplification, but detail is not required
here). Cell phone conversations are not private, any more than any
other radio conversation. Technically, the law says that they may
not be monitored, but this law is unbelievably easy to violate.
Scanners able to pick up cell frequencies are not sold to civilians
any more, but they can be built.

Cell phones also depend upon a working cell. A power outage for an
extended period could result in shutdown. Also, cells can be
overloaded. In the event of a disaster, a cell can handle a given
number of calls. Calls that exceed the cell capacity will be
rejected, rendering communications ineffective.

Paging
Paging is essentially a method of one-way radio communication. An
individual makes a telephone call to a given phone number, and is
prompted to enter a message. This message is then sent out over VHF
or UHF radio to a specific pager. Some paging service allows the
display of phone numbers.

Others actually permit one to email a message to a pager. This

service has an advantage, in that it can discreetly summon one to
check in or go somewhere as needed, but is dependent upon a network
of transmitter towers and phone lines, and therefore might not be
fully functional in a disaster. In June of 1998 the complete
failure of the Galaxy IV satellite caused a shutdown of 90% of
the pagers in the continental US. This single point failure shows
the fallacy of relying on a single comms system.
a)Radio Operation and Procedures
A radio-based communication system depend on two main elements to
work: operational radio hardware, and procedures that allow the
sender and receiver to communicate.

1)Radio Equipment, Antennas, and Propagation

The dB or decibel (1/100th of a Bel) is a comparative
measurement based on a log scale. That is, there's something
measured against a reference. The decibel allows a very wide
range of signal power to be represented with small, manageable
numbers:

Power Change Decibels

2X 3 dB
100X 20 dB
1,000,000X 60 dB
0.5 X -3 dB
0.000001X -60 dB

Things that increase a signal are usually called gains and things
that decrease a signal s strength are called losses, and both
are usually measured in dB, with gains being positive and losses
negative. Note that if we compare power to a fixed reference,
such as a 1 Watt or one milliwatt, the dB can also be a measurement
of actual power; a transmitter with a 20 dBW output, for example,
has 100 Watts of power.

There two major factors that determine total radio performance,

known as station gain (what the equipment does) and path loss (what
the environment does to the signal between the stations.)

It may seem confusing, but it's as simple as this: If station

gain is greater than path loss, you can communicate, otherwise,
you can't. If you can't communicate, you need to fix one or more
parts of the radio system until you have enough station gain.
Use more power, a more sensitive/selective receiver, better
or higher antennas. Typical station characteristics follow:

Station Gain Factors Good Base SSB CB

Transmit power +10 dBW (12 Watts)
Transmitting antenna height gain +3 dB
Transmitting antenna gain 0 dB
Receiving antenna height gain +3 dB
Receiving antenna gain 0 dB
Receiver sensitivity +149 dB (-149 dBW)
Total Station gain 165 dB

The ultimate goal of the radio system is to get a signal to

the receiver that's stronger than the background noise, so
the signal can be heard. This is known as signal-to-noise ratio,
and receiver sensitivity is usually stated as the lowest power
level that will result in a given signal-to-noise ratio, typically
10 dB. Note that the receiver sensitivity is actually how much
a signal can be reduced before it can t be heard (-149 dB) but
it counts as a positive, as we have 149 dB in our station gain
account that we can lose before we can't hear a signal anymore.
The path loss is how of the signal is reduced by the environment.
Distance, air, mountains, water vapor are some of these factors.
Distance alone reduces the signal at a rate of the square of the
distance, e.g., a signal two miles away is one-quarter the strength
of a signal one mile away, just because of the distance. Path
loss varies (just a little bit) with the frequency used until
one gets to microwaves, where path loss jumps significantly.

Under ordinary conditions between two stations on average terrain,

path loss goes this way:

Frequency 10 Miles 25 Miles 50 Miles

27 Mhz (CB) -135 dB -152 dB -174 dB
144 Mhz (2M ) -134 dB -157 dB -175 dB

For a good SSB CB radio, we have 165 dB of station gain, and we can
communicate as long as path losses are less than this; on average
terrain, this is somewhere between 25 and 50 miles. Note that if the
antennas used are poor and low to the ground, this will change
things considerably, as we'll see in a few paragraphs.

In situations where the signal is bouncing around, such as short wave

radio signals, loss includes both distance and the efficiency that
the signal is reflected; when conditions are good, this reflection
efficiency can be 100%, and only the distance matters. Likewise,
if a satellite is used, the path loss is pretty much a result of
just the distances between the ground stations and the satellite
involved. Distance-only path losses run about -110 dB for 100
miles, or a typical low-earth orbit, and -151 dB for 22,500
miles, or geo-syncronous orbits. No place on earth is more than
12,500 from any other location, so the path loss for a perfectly
reflected short wave signal is somewhere in-between.

Not that it's done, but our 165 dB of station gain is quite a bit
more than the 151 dB path loss of a geo-synchronous satellite, so it's
trivial for the satellite to hear a SSB CB or a 2-Meter Amateur
radio. Indeed, several emergency systems depend on this: simple 1/2
watt emergency-radio beacons are detected with low-earth orbit
satellites, and the newer 5-watt beacons are detected by
geosyncronous weather satellites.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's the space shuttle carried the
SAREX (Satellite Amateur Radio Experiment) program. Astronaut
hams utilizing the 2 meter (144-148 Mhz) band communicated to
thousands of earth bound hams, many utilizing only low power
(0.5-5 watt) hand held radios.

(1)Basic Radio Antennas

Antenna Effectiveness
Antennas can be measured by listening to a standard transmitter on
the frequency of interest, and changing the antenna and noting the
changes in the signal. Higher-end radios have meters that show
relative signal strength, using numbers of 1 to 9 (S1...S5...S9)
and then dB over S9; each S-unit is typically 6 dB. Using a calibrated
receiver, we did measurements of a local weather station (near the
amateur 2-meter band) to illustrate several antennas. We used the
best antenna (which isn't very good at all, actually) as a reference,
and then compared several portable antennas:
Antenna Sig. Strength dB % Signal
Discone at 20 feet S9 0 dB 100%
1/2 Wave Rod 6 S5 -24 dB 40%
Rubber duck, 6 S3 -36 dB 2.5%

Doing the same thing at CB frequencies:

Antenna Sig. Strength dB % Signal
Dipole at 20 feet S9 0 dB 100%
Rubber duck, 6 S0 -54 dB .0004%

Poor antennas will reduce station gain; indeed is we use the SSB CB
example where we had 165 dB of station gain, and change the antennas
used to rubber duck antennas, the station gain plunges to just
51 dB, not even enough to cover five miles! What these measurements
show is that antennas can compromise perfectly good equipment, and
that it takes a good antenna for a radio to work well.

There are several types of antennas that are easily built with
wire or stiff metal rods that are suitable for survival use and
are also good antennas. As a general rule, if you want maximum
range and station gain, use a good antenna and place it as high
as possible, including climbing up mountains or hills.

(a) 1/4 WaveLength Vertical

This is perhaps the simplest antenna. Basically, it's a vertical rod
or stiff wire fed by a feed line at the bottom and cut to about one
quarter of the desired wavelength. It radiates uniformly in all
directions, and is the most common type for handheld and
vehicle-mounted radios.

(b)Dipole
Another simple antenna. Basically, it consists of two wire "legs"
of 1/4 wavelength each pointed in opposite directions, and either
horizontal or sloped. This antenna is most commonly used for Medium
and High-Frequency ham radio and short wave listening (1.8-30 Mhz).
It radiates most strongly in a direction perpendicular to the long
axis of the wires. The overall length in feet is calculated by the simple
equation: 468/Freq (in Mhz). For example a dipole cut to operate
on 3950 Khz (3.95 Mhz) would be 468/3.95 or 118.5 feet total length
of 59.25 (60 feet) on each leg. This length if generally only
critical for transmitting.

Quads and Yagis

Quads and Yagis are two types of directional antennas. A Yagi has a
center element, called a driven element, which is connected to the
feed line from the transmitter. This element is cut to roughly one-
quarter of the desired wavelength, and mounted on a horizontal boom.
Then, slightly shorter elements, called "director elements" are cut
and mounted on the boom on one side of the driven element. Slightly
longer elements, called "reflector elements" are cut and mounted on
the other side, and the whole antenna is generally mounted on a
rotatable mount. The director and reflector elements are typically
each 5% shorter of longer than the previous one of the same type.
These types of antennae tend to be highly directional, favoring
the direction towards the director elements, and are frequently
used for HF, VHF, and UHF ham radio stations.
 (1)Signal Operating Instructions and Radio Nets
Signal Operating Instructions (SOI) is the military name given to a
whole host of methods and procedures to communicate; essentially,
SOI is a protocol of behavior for people and equipment to
communicate successfully.

The single most important thing to remember is that that it takes

someone listening for communications to work, and the best radios
in the world are useless if no one hears you call for help.
Establishing or connecting to a radio net of listeners, making
sure that someone is out there listening for you, is the single
most important step to take in radio communications. Period.

Schedules
It's impractical for most people to listen to radios continuously,
so having a schedule for stations on your net to listen makes radio
communication practical. Either use a published schedule, or a
regular interval (every day at 7pm, for example) for the net to
come on-line.

Guard Channels
All radio users need to be on the same frequency to communicate.
A special listening frequency makes monitoring easy; for example,
on CB radios, channel 9 is used only for emergency traffic, so
you can listen to this channel and know if you hear something,
it is (at least in theory) important. In many areas, there are
amateur radio repeaters with a feature known as LTZ (Long-tone-zero)
which is used to turn on receivers of regular listeners, for when
help is needed. Your radio net should have a guard channel to
listen to when the net isn't active, and a one or more net
channels for when it is. (Depending on other factors, these
channels may be changed regularly or not.)

Codes
In general, the use of codes, ciphers, and other encryption on most
radios is illegal in the United States if the intent of the code is
to obscure the meaning of a message. There are legal uses for codes
in CB and ham radios-see below under "Brevity and Message Coding"

Authentication
Authentication is the art of verifying that all people in a given
net are people who have legitimate access, for example through the
use of unannounced questions. For example, during World War Two,
it was a popular perception that no German soldier would know anything
about baseball. As a result, American GI's would frequently quiz
each other about baseball trivia to be sure that everyone present
was in fact an American. (There have been horror stories about
American generals who knew nothing about Shoeless Joe Jackson
and spent more time under guard than they would have liked, which
goes to prove that an authentication system should not be so
haphazardly managed on a large scale)

Brevity and Message Coding

Radio communication takes time and bandwidth. Certain codes have
become agreed-upon conventions to compress a relatively large amount
of information into a relatively small amount of space. For example,
almost everyone who listens to a CB or to police radio has heard the
"Ten codes" in which a sender may say "Ten-four" and be understood
by everyone listening as having said "Your message is acknowledged"
Refer to Appendix H: Amateur Radio Q-Signals for an additional
standard list of specialized abbreviations.

SOI Spares
Having extra copies of your Signal Operating Instructions can be a
double-edged sword. On one hand, if your SOI is at all complex or
elaborate, losing your only copy could be crippling. However, if
your net's integrity depends upon not having your procedures widely
known, an extra SOI is a copy of the SOI waiting to fall into the
wrong hands. Alternately, multiple copies of SOI's with attached
authentication codes may also be utilized.

1. Visual Signals

Morse code by light

Ships carry a set of blinker lights for communication by morse code.
These lights are essentially searchlights fitted with shrouds or
shutters that can be quickly opened or closed.

Semaphore
In the days before wired telegraphy, a code was used to send
messages over long distances called semaphore. Basically, the sender
stood atop a hill holding a brightly colored flag in each hand. He
would face the receiving station and raise his arms up out to his
sides, and the angle at which he held his arms would signify a given
numeral or letter.

Three-in-a-row rule (whistles, gunshots...)

In general, three of any signal repeated at a regular interval
signifies distress. For example, a hunter who is lost can fire three
shots in the air a few seconds apart. Theoretically, anybody in the
vicinity will hear the three shots and realize that the hunter is in
some sort of distress, and will be able to figure out the direction
to search from the sound of the shots. As a practical matter, it's
unlikely that such a signal will be taken seriously unless the sender
waits until after dark. After dark during hunting season at least the
local game officer will be hunting you.

American sign language

Sign language consists of an alphabet and a set of symbols each

represented by a set of hand signals. This information is quiet,
covert, and generally unknown within the non-hearing impaired
community. Like Morse and Semaphore is could provide a clandestine
and useful communications alternative with practice.

GLOSSARY

AM: Amplitude Modulation

CTCSS Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System (CTCSS)
Refer to Appendix E
CW: Continuous Wave
DTMF: Dual Tone Multi-Frequency Refer to Appendix G
FM: Frequency Modulation
LTZ: Long Tone Zero - Transmission of a DTMF '0'
for a long relative time (usually > 2-3 seconds)
 used for specific control of repeaters and related
equipment.
LSB: Lower Side Band
Modulation: The mechanism for impressing information (voice or data)
onto a carrier frequency.
NET: Network
SSB: Single Side Band
USB: Upper Side Band
Sub-Audible: Refer to CTCSS

Appendix A: AM Class A Clear Channel Stations

FREQ CALL CITY STATE

640 KYUK BETHEL AK
650 KYAK ANCHORAGE AK
660 KFAR FAIRBANKS AK
670 KDLG DILLINGHAM AK
680 KBRW BARROW AK
700 KBYR ANCHORAGE AK
720 KOTZ KOTZEBUE AK
750 KFQD ANCHORAGE AK
770 KCHU VALDEZ AK
780 KNOM NOME AK
820 KCBF FAIRBANKS AK
840 KABN LONG ISLAND AK
850 KICY NOME AK
890 KBBI HOMER AK
1020 KFFR EAGLE RIVER AK
1080 KASH ANCHORAGE AK
1170 KJNP NORTH POLE AK
1090 KAAY LITTLE ROCK AR
580 CMJP CIEGO DE AVILA, CAM. CA
640 KFI LOS ANGELES CA
680 KNBR SAN FRANCISCO CA
810 KGO SAN FRANCISCO CA
900 CMJV CIEGO DE AVILA CA
1070 KNX LOS ANGELES CA
850 KOA DENVER CO
1080 WTIC HARTFORD CT
750 WSB ATLANTA GA
1040 WHO DES MOINES IA
670 WMAQ CHICAGO IL
720 WGN CHICAGO IL
780 WBBM CHICAGO IL
890 WLS CHICAGO IL
1000 WMVP CHICAGO IL
1190 WOWO FORT WAYNE IN
840 WHAS LOUISVILLE KY
870 WWL NEW ORLEANS LA
1130 KWKH SHREVEPORT LA
1030 WBZ BOSTON MA
1090 WBAL BALTIMORE MD
760 WJR DETROIT MI
830 WCCO MINNEAPOLIS MN
1120 KMOX ST. LOUIS MO
1110 WBT CHARLOTTE NC
1110 KFAB OMAHA NE
660 WFAN NEW YORK NY
710 WOR NEW YORK NY
770 WABC NEW YORK NY
810 WGY SCHENECTADY NY
880 WCBS NEW YORK NY
1130 WBBR NEW YORK NY
1180 WHAM ROCHESTER NY
700 WLW CINCINNATI OH
1100 WTAM CLEVELAND OH
1170 KVOO TULSA OK
1190 KEX PORTLAND OR
1020 KDKA PITTSBURGH PA
1060 KYW PHILADELPHIA PA
1210 WPHT PHILADELPHIA PA
550 CMAA PINAR DEL RIO PR
740 CMAC PINAR DEL RIO PR
740 CMAB PINAR DEL RIO PR
650 WSM NASHVILLE TN
820 WBAP FORT WORTH TX
1080 KRLD DALLAS TX
1200 WOAI SAN ANTONIO TX
1160 KSL SALT LAKE CITY UT
1140 WRVA RICHMOND VA
710 KIRO SEATTLE WA
1000 KOMO SEATTLE WA
1170 WWVA WHEELING WV

(As a personal note from the editor, WBBM-780 Chicago deserves

special credit for being a solid general news outlet in normal
times)

Appendix B: Citizens Band Channel Frequencies

Channel Freq Channel Freq Channel Freq Channel Freq

Number Mhz Number Mhz Number Mhz Number Mhz

1 26.965 11 27.000 21 27.215 31 27.315

2 26.975 12 27.105 22 27.225 32 27.325
3 26.985 13 27.115 23 27.255 33 27.335
4 27.005 14 27.125 24 27.235 34 27.345
5 27.015 15 27.135 25 27.245 35 27.355
6 27.025 16 27.155 26 27.265 36 27.365
7 27.035 17 27.165 27 27.275 37 27.375
8 27.055 18 27.175 28 27.285 38 27.385
9 27.065 19 27.185 29 27.295 39 27.395
10 27.075 20 27.205 30 27.215 40 27.405

Appendix C: 49 Mhz Channel Frequencies

Base Handset
46.61 49.67 Cordless phone Ch 1
46.63 49.845 Cordless phone Ch 2
46.67 49.86 Cordless phone Ch 3
46.71 49.77 Cordless phone Ch 4
46.73 49.875 Cordless phone Ch 5
46.77 49.83 Cordless phone Ch 6
46.83 49.89 Cordless phone Ch 7
46.87 49.93 Cordless phone Ch 8
 46.93 49.99 Cordless phone Ch 9
46.97 49.97 Cordless phone Ch 10

Appendix D: 460 Mhz Family Radio Service (FRS) Channel Frequencies

01: 462.5625 08: 467.5625 Modulation is FM

02: 462.5875 09: 467.5875
03: 462.6125 10: 467.6125
04: 462.6375 11: 467.6375
05: 462.6625 12: 467.6625
06: 462.6875 13: 467.6875
07: 462.7125 14: 467.7125

CTCSS (Coded Tone Carrier Squelch System)

The CTCSS System prevents unwanted noise and/or conversation
from being heard through your FRS radio's speaker. Only signals
with the correct code will be heard. To use the system each
radio must:
A) be on the same channel
B) have the same CTCSS Code selected.

When enabled, the Privacy Code is transmitted with each voice

message. All receivers programmed with the same code will open
their speaker circuits and the message will be heard.

It is VERY important to note that conversations on your FRS

radio are NOT private. Any other FRS radio or scanner can eaves
drop on your conversation. Also, it is always best to monitor,
with the monitor button, prior to transmitting to prevent disrupting
any nearby conversations that you may not hear on the channel.

Appendix E: Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System (CTCSS)

Sub-audble audio frequencies in Hertz

01: 67.0 09: 91.5 17: 118.8 25: 156.7 33: 210.7
02: 71.9 10: 94.8 18: 123.0 26: 162.2 34: 218.1
03: 74.4 11: 97.4 19: 127.3 27: 167.9 35: 225.7
04: 77.0 12: 100.0 20: 131.8 28: 173.8 36: 233.6
05: 79.7 13: 103.5 21: 136.5 29: 179.9 37: 241.8
06: 82.5 14: 107.2 22: 141.3 30: 186.2 38: 250.3
07: 85.4 15: 110.9 23: 146.2 31: 192.8
08: 88.5 16: 114.8 24: 151.4 32: 203.5

Appendix F: Emergency Frequencies

HF Marine emergency frequencys.

2182, 4125, 6215, 8291, 12290, 16420 voice communications (SSB)

Aviation 121.5 Mhz Voice or beacon

Military 223.0 Mhz Voice or beacon
EPIRB 121.5, 223.0, 406mhz
406 beacon is digital only with beacon on 121.5 and 223.0

CB channel 9, 27.065
VHF marine freq Channel 16, 156.800mhz
GMRS 462.675 unoffical emergency/traffic/travel aid request freq.
FCC estimates that %30 of the US is monitored by an official
 group REACT on this freq.

Non-emergency but usefull frequencies:

NOAA weather 162.40, 162.475, 162.55, 162.525, 162.5

Ham calling freq

6 meters 52.525
2 meters 146.52
1 3/4 meter 223.5
70cm 446.0
1296 1294.5

Appendix G: Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) Audio Frequencies

These are the tones transmitted when you press a key on your
telephone touch pad. The tone of the button is the sum of the
column and row tones. The ABCD keys do not exist on standard
telephones.

1209 1336 1477 1633

697 1 2 3 A

770 4 5 6 B

852 7 8 9 C

941 * 0 # D

Appendix H: IARU Phonetic Alphabet

In a noisy environment, phonetic spelling of certain words

made be required for understanding. This is the standard
phonetic alphabet utilized by military and aviation as
specified by the International Administrative Radio Union,
which is a international governing body on communications
standards.

Example:
IARU - Say: "IARU I Spell, India, Alpha, Romeo, Uniform"

A: Alpha N: November
B: Bravo O: Oscar
C: Charlie P: Papa
D: Delta Q: Quebec
E: Echo R: Romeo
F: Foxtrot S: Sierra
G: Golf T: Tango
H: Hotel U: Uniform
I: India V: Victor
J: Juliet W: Wiskey
K: Kilo X: X-Ray
L: Lima Y: Yankee
M: Mike Z: Zulu

Appendix I: Amateur Radio Q-Signals

These signals are a form of legal code, used to shorten Morse Code
messages
by compressing a complete idea into three letters. Following the Q signal
with an question mark makes it interrogative

QRG: Will you tell me my exact frequency?/Your exact frequency is _____

QRL: Are you busy?/I am busy. Please do not interfere.
QRM: Is my transmission being interfered with?/Your transmission is being
interfered with ___ (1= nil; 2=slighly; 3= moderately; 4= severely; 5=
extremely)
QRN: Are you troubled by static?/I am troubled by static ___(1-5 as under
QRM)
QRO: Shall I increase power?Please increase power.
QRP: Shall I decrease power?/Please decrease power.
QRQ: Shall I send faster?/Please send faster.
QRS: Shall I send slower?/Please send slower.
QRT: Shall I stop sending?/Please stop sending.
QRU: Have you anything for me?/I have nothing for you.
QRV: Are you ready?/I am ready.
QRX: When will you call me again?/I will call you again at ____ hours.
QRZ: Who is calling me?/You are being called by ____
QSB: Are my signals fading?/Your signals are fading.
QSK: Can you hear me betwen your signals and if so can I break in on your
transmission?/I can hear you between my signals; break in on my
transmission.
QSL: Can you acknowledge receipt of a signal?/ I acknowledge receipt.
QSN: Did you hear me on (____) kHz?/I heard you on (____) kHz.
QSO: Can you communicate with ____directly or through relay?/I can
commicate with ____directly or through relay.
QSP: WIll you relay to ____?/I will relay to ____.
QST: General call preceding a message to all stations.
QSX: Will you listen to ____ on ____ kHz?/I will listen to ____ on ____
kHz.
QSY: Shall I change to transmission on another frequency?/Change to
transmission on ____ kHz.
QTB: Do you agree with my counting of words?/I do not agree with your
counting of words. I will repeat the first letter of each word or group.
QTC: How many messages have you to send?/I have ____ messages for you.
QTH:What is your location?/My location is____
QTR: What is the correct time?/The correct time is ____ (Timezone stamp)

Appendix J: Equipment

Of the various m.s personalities who are knowledgeable about

communications, these are some examples of what we have for our stations:

Station One: The person has a Technician-Plus (USA) ham license, but not
much other training in radios. He has a K-40 CB with mag-mount antenna in
his car, a Yaesu FT-51 handheld 144MHz/440MHz transceiver with spare
batteries, cigarette plug adapter, and both rubber-duck and mag-mount
antennae, and a Kenwood TS-140 HF Transceiver, PS-430 power supply, and
MFJ Versa-Tuner 941E antenna tuner feeding into a home-made dipole
antenna that are semi-permanently installed at home. At present, he has
plans and parts for a mobile power station for the HF rig, but hasn't
built it.<p>