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WHATZITALLABOUT?

Over the last few years I have read literally millions of words about TEOTWAWKI/SHTF/Dystopian events published in novels and non-fiction books and papers. It seems like the general public is woefully unprepared for any minor or major disruption in their egocentric lives. Not only unprepared but uninformed and/or misinformed on many topics that have to do with their survival! Not surprising, since most "normal" folks regard anyone who professes to be a "prepper" or "survivalist" as a kook, weirdo, lunatic, and/or conspiracy theory junkie that WANTS something catastrophic to happen in order to justify his/her preparatory actions. Such is the cross we preppers have to bear.

While I have been actively involved in prepping for many years, I don't really think of myself as a "prepper". More like a concerned member of society who doesn't believe in the government's ability to do much of anything but muddy the waters when it comes to action (inaction?) before, during and after a natural or man made disaster. The greatest president of the 20th century, Ronald Reagan, stated it very succinctly: "The  nine  most feared words in the English language: We're from the government and we're hear to help". That pretty much sums up my assessment of the situation, also. 

Having spent almost 40 years in federal and state government agencies I have seen the inefficiency first hand when bureaucratic bullshit supersedes common sense. Unfortunately, bureaucratic BS tends to be the norm and when and individual or group challenges the status quo they are either ignored or shunted off into an endless labyrinth of bureaucratic red tape that eventually frustrates the dissenter.  In short, the  government wins:99.99% of the time. And, make no mistake about it, the only reason our government exists is to further the inefficiencies of the government and insure its continuation. 


OK, enough philosophical meanderings....now to the reason for this blog. While I have an in-depth knowledge or prepping, weapons, woodcraft, SERE, food storage, etc., my main area of expertise is communications. For well over 50 years I have been involved with electronic communications to include: military tactical/long haul, V/UHF, microwave, satellite, long-lines, data and tropo-scatter systems, amateur (Ham) radio, CB radio, commercial radio (both AM and FM) and television engineering, and data communications systems. 

While in the military I taught microwave quality control to microwave technicians in addition to my primary job of telecommunications systems technical control. For 17 years I taught VoEd electronics (basic and advanced) and have taught and mentored many individuals, helping them to obtain their first amateur (ham) radio license. Over the years my by line has appeared in countless feature articles in various communications publications, in addition to authoring a total of 7 books on ham radio.  

Now that I have asserted my background and my ability to be somewhat authoritative on the subject of electronic communications, I hope you can understand where I am coming from when we discuss/dissect various communications equipment and modes, what to buy and what to avoid when looking to upgrade or improve your comm abilities.


While I am well versed in communications equipment, modes of operation and antenna theory, I am NOT an expert. I learned a long time ago not to believe my own press releases! My opinions are just that; my opinions, nothing more. You may choose to agree or disagree, which is fine by me. I don't argue with people. Those individuals who like to nit-pick an article or blog entry I classify as "time bandits" whose sole purpose in life is to drag the author into a meaningless intercourse from which there is no escape.

What I want to do in this on-going blog is to start educating you, the interested party, in the finer art and science of radio communications. This blog will not be used as a bully pulpit to put forth a specific political or religious agenda. Nor will there be any political/religious discussions/rants. This is a place to talk radio. Period. Well, there may be a gun issue or two that creeps in...after all, who doesn't like guns? 

If you have CONSTRUCTIVE comments please feel free to leave feedback on the blog. If you take issue with my reasoning or my recommendations we can have a CONSTRUCTIVE exchange, no problem. 

I value your input(s) and your ideas. I am only human (with an IQ somewhere north of 150.;..yeah, right!) so please tell me what you'd like to cover in upcoming blog postings. Radio Communications is a very large topic so it is a "target rich" environment.