It really depends on how far is the other one and the real need for communications.
It really depends on how far is the other one and the real need for communications.
Once you take the obvious stuff away I'd think we'd be back to either field phones (excellent idea by the way) or "mechanical means" like smoke, flags or runners.
Field phones would be awesome for secure comms assuming both positions were fairly static.
And another issue to consider is whether the message is a back-and-forth or broadcast to a large crowd with little reply. If it's back-and-forth we'd need a system that was relatively quick and flexible. If it's a broadcast message something like "one if by land, two if by sea" is all you really need.
Damn....this is a great thread and excellent mental exercise.
If you think that come SHTF you are gonna jock up in all your kit and be a death-dealing one man army, you're an idiot - izzyscout
For long distance I like the runner idea, again with someone trustworthy. Feild phone is a great idea for fixed positions that are not a great distance apart. That would be difficult to manage in a mobile situation either foot or vehicle.
Izzy's point about digital is doable. Maybe not totally secure, but it wouldn't be broadcast to the public. Still gotta have a radio (electronics) to do it.
the only problem i see wiht the runner is that you have to know where the recipient is....
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so anyone been doing any thinking on this lately?
WARNING: This post may contain material offensive to those who lack wit, humor, common sense and/or supporting factual or anecdotal evidence. All statements and assertions contained herein may be subject to but not limited to: irony, metaphor, allusion and dripping sarcasm.
I have been thinking about this a bit. Field phones would be great, say under a couple of miles. Have to hide the line though. Burning tires is a favorite in places. can see it for miles, however if would be best for oh S#@$ situations to gather a group of size. Changing number of tires burned for different reasons; so you are not suckered by oposing groups. Runner for long distance and bell chimes for local.
No offense, but I think the bells and smoke would be a dead giveaway to your location, I would say if an individual is close enough to see the flags then he could use binos or a scope and read hand signals without making a bigger target of yourself. I am guessing this is a security sensitive timeframe. (IMO)
Be ready now, you won't have that chance later.
Yes, Position compromised, or neighborhood being attacked. I think meet and greets at the barter area, watering hole would be it for a while. Good this came up. My plan was for the old mountain bike and a ride to friends house/ prearranged location. There is always cloak and dagger chalk marks, stacked stones etc. That being said there has to be a plan in place first.
I would think as mentioned earlier, field phones are a great alternative, and they can be found pretty cheap thru military surplus stores. Regular speaker wire works as the terminal connector between the two, and that can be had cheap from Radio Shack. There are several pro's & con's to them, one of course being they can only be set up between static positions. But consider the possibilities, you can actually daisy chain these into a network if you needed to. Having done this down in 29 Palms in the desert, I can say from experience, you can get quite a long range set up as long as you have enough wire!
Runners are a great idea, as long as the runner knows where he is going, and as long as he isnt intercepted by bad guys, turns an ankle, car incident, rabid honey badger attack, ect ect. But also consider the timeframe you are talking about with a runner over distance, if the runner has a long distance to go, it may take a while to the point where the information they are transporting becomes null & void by the time it needed to be actionable.
Light sources to consider are those bright lights used by airports to signal location. (the ones that spin around and around) setting up one of those on a morse code system. Works great, of course mostly at night though!
All in all, this is a great mental exercise, Anyone thinking of any other options out there?
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