Internet status post EMP

[610Alpha]

Well Ham is already in the equation, storing an extra dedicated laptop is not out of the question.

Not at all. If I were to do this I would go cheap on the laptop (netbook (2 if you can afford it) or something similar in price) have 4 or 5 thumbdrives buried in various places with all the documentation that you have. Rotate them like we do in the IT world as off site disaster recovery for Data, we take a backup put it on "Tape" and put it in a vault off site. Get yourself a solar charger for a laptop. Put the HAM software on this laptop as well. Extra cables...etc.

Remember the motto "2 is 1 and 1 is None". Don't know if would get a Cell phone adapter card or not.

[goatlady]

Seems to me you can protect your "receivers" to the hilt, but if the "senders" have not been protected there will be nothing to receive! Those satellite signals have to originate somewhere on the ground and I doubt very seriously that those "ground" providers are building Faraday cages to protect all their servers. Hard copies is THE best backup plan as far as I am concerned.

[Lowdown3]

As a general rule and IME of interacting with thousands of survivalists- people either relay TOO MUCH on technology or simply not at all.

It's either "I want my Iphone in the PAW" or the "anything that has electronics in it is bad" mentality.

We have no iphones, no "tablets", we got our first flat screen TV two months ago at a Black Friday sale when we found one for $189.

But we do have survival related "technology"- seismic intrusion detectors, "other" similar perimeter alarm items that won't be mentioned, thermal, night vision sets, etc. All of these are always in ammo cans when not in use, where possible ($$ wise) spares are kept. Alternate energy? That's how we live regularly. Some backups are kept but we will not in any wise try to maintain enough backups to maintain our current lifestyle post EMP. Internet post EMP? Not even on the radar screen.

The problem with 'technology' is that a lot of people look at it as a crutch. Can't hit a target worth a crap? Buy a scope! Don't bother paying attention when someone is teaching you the fundamentals of shooting! Get down in the mud, get choked out a couple times, spend the time and $$ to learn new skills? Heck no man! Just put a bunch of information most of which comes from other people that aren't actually doing anything on "zip drives" and call it a day! Why inconvenience yourself?

Sarcasm off.

But that is the reality of the situation with a LOT of survivalists. They are looking for answers in technology and science FIRST instead of focusing on skills first.

Can you see at night without night vision? Sure you can- and YOU SHOULD learn how to move, navigate and fight at night without night vision first. Then later if/when you get night vision it's all the better. AND if your technology fails, your not SOL.

Just like some of the cool daddy gear out there, technology should be looked at as a way to COMPLIMENT your skills and experience, not to try to push you past your real level. It should NOT be used as a crutch, or a reason to not train and learn the necessary skills.

Back in the long long ago, in the before before time (1980's and early 90s) when we would take a new person out we would purposely make it a primitive skills weekend. That meant no tent, no sleeping bags, etc. Learn to make it WITHOUT that stuff first for a weekend and then later if you have to break and run and ditch half your crap, you won't be lost like an abandoned kitten. Training from the ground up essentially.

Very very few people are willing to go that route now. This is the same reason you can host a rifle training class and have 10 people show, but hear crickets when you mention hand to hand training.

[WiseOwl]

Good post LD3! Great points sir

[Grinnan Barrett]

If the grid goes down completely then the internet will go down as well. Any power generation will be focused on priority locations like Hospitals, Military, police, emergency services first. Most providers of internet services have UPS systems in place but these will work only for a matter of hours. The main problem you have is the lines (Copper, fiber optics, cable etc.) are only good as long as their Central offices have power. Cell phone towers are just as vulnerable. The internet will be the last thing you will worry about. Your skill set had better include how to build a water powered generator, or wiring up solar cells and batteries. I am not trying to make fun because this question has come up numerous times even from my kids.

It is another good reason to have hard copies of any information you have to have. GB

[Bill Foster]

Before the internet was so popular, HAM operators used packet transmissions to send data. I suppose the eventual survivors of the zombie apocalypse could set a network to reestablish an internet short-term. Or am I missing the bus here?

[Preppergirl]

Even so, how good would that method be for an application like telemedicine? Telemedicine, for those who don"t know, is the concept of using high quality video , basically Skype-type communication in order to diagnose and treat patients at a distance. We used to do this 10-15 years ago in the prison system in order to decrease the number of visits that medical personnel would need to make onto prison grounds to treat dangerous criminals. I could really see the value in PAW to at least have a doc via computer to ask questions and for the doc to visualize some of the physical signs. The cameras we used back then were of much better quality than the typical computer camera, but in a pinch an ordinary camera would help. if there were even a slight chance of this working, to me it would be worth the investment because it would be the very best way that I could help people in the PAW, short of them making it to me

[610Alpha]

while reading my "Ham Radio License Manual" it talks about how HAM can send high quality video...so yes telemedicine would be possible. Study up on HAM.

I believe it requires either the General or Extra license...I could be wrong.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Even so, how good would that method be for an application like telemedicine? Telemedicine, for those who don"t know, is the concept of using high quality video , basically Skype-type communication in order to diagnose and treat patients at a distance. We used to do this 10-15 years ago in the prison system in order to decrease the number of visits that medical personnel would need to make onto prison grounds to treat dangerous criminals. I could really see the value in PAW to at least have a doc via computer to ask questions and for the doc to visualize some of the physical signs. The cameras we used back then were of much better quality than the typical computer camera, but in a pinch an ordinary camera would help. if there were even a slight chance of this working, to me it would be worth the investment because it would be the very best way that I could help people in the PAW, short of them making it to me

I have been around telemedicine alot. It is very sensitive and every component of it requires something that will be destroyed by the EMP waves. Just using it on normal days in remote areas is sketchy with flares and wave skips and everything else that causes loss of signal. HAM itself seems to be sensitive and again how many are going to have access to any working components much less a steady stream of electricity. EMP will set you back, way back, thats why it's so scary. Even if you got it up and going after an EMP how many DRs are even going to be willing to work for free to help someone across the country during a 6hr surgery? He will be working local for food etc. What are ya gonna do put it on your visa? All the high tech wishful thinking is for not. EMP will cause us to come down to our basic skills and alot of people will be lost because the truth is even with ninja quality medical skills most things require advanced treatments that take electricity. We dot have to go far around the world or very far back in time to see this. Present day Africa, Battlefields and Cowboy days come to mind. Look at Haiti and how many were lost because of lack of supplies, electricity and clean water. Stock up on stuff and be ready because there will be plenty of work if it happens. Just the car wrecks, plane crashes, equipment failures, burns from fires alone will swamp you in the first 24-48 and deplete most everything if you actually stay and hold the line where you are.

[Preppergirl]

Of course I will be doing all I can to prepare for the arms length stuff. But even in situations like Katrina, or the battlefield or Haiti either the Calvary eventually came to help out or a number of injured were evacuated out for help elsewhere. I'd like to remain open minded to ALL possibilities. The length of time we would be set back by such a situation would be way longer than a Katrina or Haiti situation, no Calvary. As to how many physicians would work for free in such a situation, I think you'd be surprised. In fact, you might be surprised by how many indigent situations Docs treat now. Contrary to popular belief docs do like helping people. In current day times a medical office can cost $200-$400 dollars per HOUR to run before the doc sees a dime. In the PAW, there will be no office for many docs as they will be lost to lack of payment of rent, or mortgage and be likely be raided by zombies. An office is one of the luxuries that will go with the fall- completely undefendable. On the other hand, docs will not have to pay rent, employees, utilities and other office expense- as in back in the cowboy days when the did get paid in chickens, pigs, a plate of food and such. I know at least three medical professionals who are awake and would not be expecting much in the PAW. In fact one, was talking about setting up a mini mash in the PAW- obviously self funded and charitable. Training 15 to 20 years ago, doc in training got paid close to $2 per hour which was somehow legal despite the fact that minimum wage was half that.It was done by giving a base salary and for that we worked 110 hours a week or more- crazy. So you can take my house in the burbs, take my office and my staff, but not take my desire to want to help.

[WiseOwl]

If an EMP hit, we would be back in 1723 in the snap of a fanger.

[Grantmeliberty]

Not quite sure how you determined 1723, but we would surely be in a world of hurt.
I actually experienced one of the first "intentional?" EMP events sponsored by our own govt.
In July 1962, the Starfish Prime test of a 2+ megaton thermonuclear device was done over 200 miles in space, and 900 miles from Hawaii where I lived as a teenager at the time. It had some unforeseen results, street lights out, a microwave telephone link from the island of Kauai knocked out, the Telstar satellite knocked out along with a lot of other satellites. It didn't affect the car radio in our 1960 Studebaker which was a hybrid, containing tubes in the RF sections, and transistors in the audio output. It seemed a non-event, just a bright flash in the sky at the time, no stereotypical mushroom cloud of course.
I don't remember any friends having their transistor radios fail, though that should have occurred I would think. Our home was in Kailua, on the side over the mountains from the direction of the test, so if their were a shadow effect it would have protected us. I had friends on the other side of the island, though I don't recall them having had any problems.
The problems seemed to be linked to long power lines which would collect the energy as an antenna, and that was what occurred with the Carrington Event in 1859, the telegraph system was hit.
I don't see a loss of all the knowledge which is the foundation of our tech world, although many systems would be very difficult to reconstruct.
I fully agree that we should be preparing ourselves to be able to survive in a totally primitive environment, because EMP or not, we could find ourselves without all the gear which makes our lives so much easier today. NAKED INTO THE WILDERNESS by the Mcphersons addresses this prospect very well.

[BillM]

If my "Face book" farm is destroyed, I will have no place to bug out to !

[610Alpha]

If my "Face book" farm is destroyed, I will have no place to bug out to !

ROFL!!! There goes your alternate meat source.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Not quite sure how you determined 1723, but we would surely be in a world of hurt.
I actually experienced one of the first "intentional?" EMP events sponsored by our own govt.
In July 1962, the Starfish Prime test of a 2+ megaton thermonuclear device was done over 200 miles in space, and 900 miles from Hawaii where I lived as a teenager at the time. It had some unforeseen results, street lights out, a microwave telephone link from the island of Kauai knocked out, the Telstar satellite knocked out along with a lot of other satellites. It didn't affect the car radio in our 1960 Studebaker which was a hybrid, containing tubes in the RF sections, and transistors in the audio output. It seemed a non-event, just a bright flash in the sky at the time, no stereotypical mushroom cloud of course.
I don't remember any friends having their transistor radios fail, though that should have occurred I would think. Our home was in Kailua, on the side over the mountains from the direction of the test, so if their were a shadow effect it would have protected us. I had friends on the other side of the island, though I don't recall them having had any problems.
The problems seemed to be linked to long power lines which would collect the energy as an antenna, and that was what occurred with the Carrington Event in 1859, the telegraph system was hit.
I don't see a loss of all the knowledge which is the foundation of our tech world, although many systems would be very difficult to reconstruct.
I fully agree that we should be preparing ourselves to be able to survive in a totally primitive environment, because EMP or not, we could find ourselves without all the gear which makes our lives so much easier today. NAKED INTO THE WILDERNESS by the Mcphersons addresses this prospect very well.

Thanks for the personal insight. Interesting.