lets discuss preps for disasters

[/pine]

I have my license but no longer get on the radio.

In the event of CME/EMP you won't be talking on anything but a can and a string.

Devices like radios can be shielded...As 'soundguy' stated... radios can be protected...!

Batteries and generator fuel will only last so long...a GMRS/FRS radio with an integrated (or linked up) dyno. will keep you in-com...!
In any type of "situation"...information is power...and being able to communicate outside of the immediate area or with authoritative officials is paramount to having a heads up...

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Devices like radios can be shielded...As 'soundguy' stated... radios can be protected...!

..

I know - BUT ....

You'll likely be talking to someone overseas on your 10meter rig, because all the 2meter repeaters are going to be fried.

 

[groundcover]

Looks like Moss has a master plan, I think he is fattening up most of America !

 

[riptides]

Never bring attention to yourself or your position in an extended outage.

Generators- while supplying power, they are noisy. And tell others you are surviving.

Friend of mine had his stolen from the house during an extended outage a few years back. New one is now secured in place with chains and rebar. And this is in a subdivision!

 

[Soundguy]

I like this thread as I probably spend too much time speculating on what to do when things go pear-shaped. ... I just watched an excellent movie from the 80's called Threads, about a strike in England, it paints a pretty bleak picture a good ten years afterward.

looks neat, thanks for posting.

 

[Soundguy]

"Nobody can stay awake 24/7": that's a good reason to keep your noisy dog around.

Just out of curiosity, how many are ham operators?

DE ke4rrd

73's

 

[Soundguy]

I have my license but no longer get on the radio.

In the event of CME/EMP you won't be talking on anything but a can and a string.

Just make sure you keep some equipment in a hardened container or storage place. remember, hardening vs a nuke emp is quite possible... air force 1 can fly during an emp...

 

[Soundguy]

Good question. That would be one of those $100 per ounce items.
Probably a good item to stockpile if you're into stockpiling. Infinite shelf life I suppose.
Vinegar too. It's incredibly useful.

Speaking of infinite shelf life. Bleach has already been mentioned. Countless uses.
Alcohol. (Rubbing alcohol, specifically) But other kinds too if that's suits you.
Peroxide. Propane. Oils (all kinds). Paper goods. Good hand tools. Glass and metal containers with good lids.

I don't intend to shift the focus to long term. Soundguy originally was referring to short term scenarios.
My mind just tends to think sustainability. If I'm prepared for long term, I'm prepared for short term too. Basically.

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

cheap salt for long term use could be the big 40-60# blocks sold at the farm store, can get white, brown with minerals, and yellow with sulfur.

 

[Soundguy]

We got hit with this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2012_North_American_derecho

We ran a generator for 9 days. People were trying to steal generators (especially from the elderly) and there were several stories of shot being fired when folks went out to gas up generator and got attacked by people trying to steal generator. Gave me a small glimpse of how bad things could get. If you have ever noticed ... most gas stations/convenience stores have satellite dishes on their roof. Well guess what ... in a bad storm they get blown off their azimuth and don't work. Almost every one had signs that said "cash only, can't take credit/debit cards". And gas stations ran out of gas and had people fighting over it.

We even had someone try to get into our house.

I was a real great time!

Ouch.

Yup.. equipment is a prime target of theft.

had someone try to steal ( did suceeded on one ) 2 tractors used for clean up, and try to grab the wall unit AC that I temp hung on my parents house*.

* Back in the 90's when the power and utilities went down for weeks in florida, we rationed everything. about the first thing to come back up was power to service stations. after 3 weeks, fuel was scarce. once fuel started flowing, generator use started back up.. power was still 2 more weeks out in rural or low population density ( low priority ) areas ( like my parents ). It was so hot and humid that i hung a small ac in my parents bedroom window to help them get some rest. someone tried to snatch it out of the window one night!

 

[Soundguy]

I know - BUT ....

You'll likely be talking to someone overseas on your 10meter rig, because all the 2meter repeaters are going to be fried.

I was thinking more like simplex and 2m and the next city over using handhelds, etc..

 

[Soundguy]

Funny you mention that.... we were at the zoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana that day. We had to hunker down in the underground aquarium exhibit with a hundred other people. When we went outside, the trees were down and they told us to leave the zoo. We left, but it was hard to get out of the area. Any way we went, the roads were blocked with downed trees. Power was out for about a 10 mile radius. We ended up driving an hour north just to find a restaurant with power (McDonalds) so we could eat before going home. That was a brutal storm and I watched it on the radar all night just chugging east. Anyone east of Ft. Wayne all the way to the ocean got pounded! :thumbdown:

remember florida 04 or 05 that huge storm that parked over the entire state for a couple days.. a sat image showed a big swirling cloud south of georgia, north of cuba.

 

[RDrancher]

Well, it looks like we'll be closing on our new place further out in the sticks on the 15th. As soon as we get settled, I'll dig and pour a few concrete piers and have a 40' container delivered. Welded to straps in the piers, it should do pretty well in the event of a tornado. It will be set next to the barn and the exterior finished to match. All of the emergency stuff will be stored in there. Weather is my first concern, but WROL...especially with the state of our nation right now ranks second. Our new place is at the top of a hill with a 360* view. One of the many reasons I chose it.

Lots of good info so far guys. Keep 'em coming.

 

[3930dave]

Good thread.

Myself, probably organizing/expanding food storage is my next project.

Local threats (Mother Nature usually being the top one) will vary by location.... extreme cold the big factor here.

Was looking for input on First Aid supplies, received great feedback here:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/safety/305416-first-aid-kits-supplies.html

Rgds, D.

 

[Soundguy]

Well, it looks like we'll be closing on our new place further out in the sticks on the 15th. As soon as we get settled, I'll dig and pour a few concrete piers and have a 40' container delivered. Welded to straps in the piers, it should do pretty well in the event of a tornado. It will be set next to the barn and the exterior finished to match. All of the emergency stuff will be stored in there. Weather is my first concern, but WROL...especially with the state of our nation right now ranks second. Our new place is at the top of a hill with a 360* view. One of the many reasons I chose it.

Lots of good info so far guys. Keep 'em coming.

good luck with your move.

my dream is to get one of those shipping / roll off containers. even one of the short ones. great storage..

 

[EddieWalker]

Lots of good information on here, especially some of the things I had never thought about like bleach and vinegar.

I heard somewhere that the Mormons are really big on keeping food and supplies stored to last at least three months. They sell to the public and you can buy in bulk from them. I have never compared their prices, but think they have a lot of research into this for what works.

https://www.lds.org/topics/food-storage?lang=eng

One of the worse things that I think happened to the idea of being prepared was that show on TV about preppers. Every one of them was an end of the world nut job wanting to be rambo during a zombie movie fighting off hordes of invaders. The stupid factor made it impossible to watch for very long, and very disappointing. I was looking for real world ideas to get through natural disasters or at least something reasonable that might happen. Now when you talk about prepping, it's almost like admitting you are afraid of being kidnapped by aliens instead of being responsible in planning ahead to take care of your family and livestock in case something happens.

 

[dmccarty]

Don't forget, the water in your water heaters is available. You likely have 40 - 80 gallons of emergency water on hand.

This is one of the major reasons we did not install a instant hot water heater when building our house. Primary reason was cost and the fact that the units, at least at the time, would not have a high enough energy rise using electric power for our well water. I was still on the fence about the water heater but the fact we could get a VERY efficient 80 gallon water heater that costs us very little to use AND would provide a source of water in an emergency decided the question.

We have tapped the water heater during an outage or two.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

You may want to talk to your doctor (or your PA might be more amenable) about getting some prescriptions for things like Bactroban cream, which can not only prevent infection of even serious wounds, it can also treat infections in cuts; ...

Thomas

The Greeks and Romans used honey to prevent/treat infections in wounds and using sugar for wound treatment was done in more "modern" times before antibiotics.

As a complete aside, some honey can kill you. :shocked: There used to be at least one island in Greece that grew a flower that the bees used to make honey. The pollen was poisonous and so was the honey made from same. I never would have thought of that happening but it makes sense once you know it happened. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[SirReal63]

We don't consider ourselves "preppers" but instead survivalists. I grew up as a kid around mostly retired people, who survived the great depression. Almost all of them had gardens, canned fruits, vegetables and meats, they raised chickens, goats, pigs, etc. This was considered normal and it wasn't until I was much older that I understood. You should never rely on someone else to feed or protect you. Everyone should at least possess the knowledge of how to survive on their own, and have the tools and supplies needed to ensure that. We do have a fairly decent long and short term food storage (based on calorie counts, per person, per day), as well as a full compliment of things we will not be able to get easily, like salt, sugar, spices and flavor varieties, tools, nuts and bolts, crank operated radio's, etc. We made sure our well would be able to stand on it's own as water is always a critical need. You can only survive a few days without water. We do have a solar generator and have tested it's effectiveness. We have a wood burning stove with a cooking plate and plenty of wood as well as hand saws to use if the chainsaw isn't going to work for an extended period of time.

One bad storm can leave you without all of the things most people take for granted. Storms can be natural or social, you should be prepared for both. Our neighbors are also like minded and we have discussed and coordinated our needs. For those of us in rural areas, this can be a life saver. Never take anything for granted, those who survived the great depression understood this, yet somehow most people have forgotten the things that used to be basic, common sense stuff.

 

[s219]

I was looking for real world ideas to get through natural disasters or at least something reasonable that might happen. Now when you talk about prepping, it's almost like admitting you are afraid of being kidnapped by aliens instead of being responsible in planning ahead to take care of your family and livestock in case something happens.

I have seen that with family and friends; a few are practical/realistic and have good information (one buddy learned how to make a solar cooker that was amazing and would be very handy). But I know a few that have gone off the deep end and are just not thinking realistically. I suspect that if things turn really bad, they will be no more useful than a completely unprepared person.

 

[dmccarty]

Ahh... without power for filtration, your pool water is turning bad within 48 hours.

After a hurricane, well, not useable for anything else other than toilets unless you have some purification methods handy.

Don't overlook charcoal for long term value. Both storage and cooking value.

Surprised nobody has mention good plain old cheap bleach for water treatment. It takes very little bleach to purify a bunch of water. Just get the unscented bleach.

Charcoal is easy to make if one can make a fire. I saw a documentary about a USMC winter survival class where they made charcoal to EAT. :shocked: Charcoal will help settle a stomach if one gets sick and the charcoal can absorb some poisons that have been eaten. Basically, when in survival mode, you might have to east a plant you are unsure about so have some charcoal handy, eat a small amount of the plant, and see what happens. If you start to feel ill, eat charcoal. :licking::licking::licking::laughing::laughing::laughing: <Yuck>

Charcoal can also be used to filter water.

If one has to make a camp and then move on make sure to take charcoal with you. Not only for the previously mentioned reasons, but a few bits of charcoal make it easier to start a fire.

Later,
Dan