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Had to activate the Family Emergency Response Plan

I was thankfully already home when the power went out. But what you saw makes it even more imperative that we prepair for at least the basics for a few days. I had enough for myself. But I live in a complex with 175 other families. Your probably in a very similar situation. Other than hiding (the thought revolts me) so others don't know what you have, I just don't have any other idea what one should do in that type of a situation other than be proactive and try to organize as quickly as possible.

I'm sure there are historical references galor but haven't had time to do the research as to how events unfold. And then how best to prepare. We hear about the event. And we hear about the suffering, we hear about people ringing their hands waiting for the government to come and help them. But we never hear about the ones who were prepared. The ones who didn't need any help right away and freed up valuable resources for those that did. I think that would be an interesting story. Thanks for the input cbshooter.

Paul
 
oli700 said:
wow, guess I never thought it was a big deal to lose power since I grew up in a spot where we lose power regularly in the winter and sometimes in the summer, an inconvenience yes but a panicky emergency, not so much.....it is serious for some like people who need life support of some sort or elderly people, but I think it’s funny fit people started to panic….and your neighbor ate MRE for dinner after a few hours with no power…LOL. I am sorry not trying to belittle your situation. I am soooo glad I don’t live there, I don’t know if I have enough ammo do defend my MRE’s in case of a 3 day power outage. Glad you made it out ok.
its gotten better around here, but when I first moved here (20 years ago), every time it rained, you lost power till the next day. We just kept a chest freezer with a dozen gallon jugs of water frozen. Power goes out, move four to the fridge.
That has gone away since the power here is much more reliable. we have a coal burner plant about 20 miles from here. They have about a week's worth of coal on hand at any time. The old water tower is about 5 miles from here, the new towers are maybe 10 miles. Running Natural gas on my grill. I probably should have gone with a gas stove, but I wanted the glass top electric instead.
I also keep a couple years worth of firewood on hand for my typical burning. I would probably get me thru the better part of a winter as fulltime heat.
Im gonna go read this thread in detail now.
 
I saw some pictures of last winter in OK. I was surprised by the amount of snow. Sounds like you have your things in order for a power outage +1....are the water towers an alternative water source? Forgive my ignorance my grandpa grew up in OK so I should know
 
the water supply for the city is fed from a series of water towers. im in an older part of town that is fed off the the old tower. there is a new set of towers (probably 300,000 gallons) more centeralized to the city. The new towers are on a higher hill, the majority of the city is gravity fed so even without power, there is enough water for a couple days of normal consumption.
And yeah, the snow kinda caught us all off guard. I was here in the ice storm of 2000, so I was a bit concerned.
 
I live in the country so the biggest problem I have with no electriciy is the well won't work, therefore no water. My 1st solution was to stock 10 gallons of drinking water in the utility room. My next solution will be to investigate if I can put a manual pump on the well.
Warmth and cooking are no problem as I have a wood-burning cook stove with oven (100 yrs old) and a good stock of wood (I also have a propane tank that powers a regular stove and a wall heater).
I realize that I might be good for a week, maybe two, but probably that's about it. I'm not sure one can plan for staying in place longer than that (MREs require water and how many cans of food can be stored?). And packing out to me means only carrying essentials and moving from one water hole to the next - but then again, I've not had the experience.
The one thing I think I will add after reading the posts is an emergency crank radio.
 
I have two of these. Got them off ebay fairly cheap. Certainly less than this page is showing. Nice to have the Solar Charging Feature. Don't bother with the FM ones only.
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ ... /0160.html
But there are many different types depending on your pocketbook and needs. ebay is always the first place I start my research because you can usually find a lot of different types and price ranges to start your comparison.

Paul
 
raven01750 said:
I have two of these. Got them off ebay fairly cheap. Certainly less than this page is showing. Nice to have the Solar Charging Feature. Don't bother with the FM ones only.
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ ... /0160.html
But there are many different types depending on your pocketbook and needs. ebay is always the first place I start my research because you can usually find a lot of different types and price ranges to start your comparison.

Paul
Thanks for the info and link - I'll take a look.
 
Fat screwdriver and hammer works better.

Most newer vehicles have a half mile of tubing that goes up and over and around half of the bottom of the vehicle between the tank and the cap.

Hard to get an old stiff garden hose into the tank.

Easier to just poke a hole through the wall of the tank and catch it when it drains out.
 
John A. said:
Fat screwdriver and hammer works better.

Most newer vehicles have a half mile of tubing that goes up and over and around half of the bottom of the vehicle between the tank and the cap.

Hard to get an old stiff garden hose into the tank.

Easier to just poke a hole through the wall of the tank and catch it when it drains out.

Another very good idea! Most folks already have that stuff!!!
 
Does anyone have a Police Band Scanner? It's another one of those items that could be useful in a city environment just to keep tabs of what is going on around you. Although I think this type of equipment falls more into the SHTF situations. But I'm still trying to decide essentials for my area.

A power converter is still on the list. Using my car battery as a source to power Internet Modem, Router and Computer. That is if the central data hub isn't down. But the internet items are secondary for me. I think the Emergency radio should be my main source for emergency information though.

I bought the Coleman Pinnical propane lantern with five sets of mantels. Need to pick up the propane now. I think about four of 16.4oz bottles will be sufficient. I have decided to plan for a week without power ect for my kit. In the city, I hope that will be sufficient. Anything more than that and I think it is going to get ugly.

I have the first aid kit. Nothing major though. Once again I hope I never have to set broken bones or something more serious.

I'm also interested in two way radios. Communications within 1 mile would be nice. In SoCal we have a lot of hills etc which kills just about anything including military. But if you know of some equipment that is good around normal buildings etc I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Paul
 
Most small hand held FRS radio's are line of sight, and under a mile, even if they say they'll do more. I have a set of motorola's and they're OK, but not as good as I would think they should be.

These cost more, but are considerably more powerful and not as many people (inland) would have access to those frequencies eavesdropping on you.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001J5 ... R3HY0NBYRN
 
John A. said:
Most small hand held FRS radio's are line of sight, and under a mile, even if they say they'll do more. I have a set of motorola's and they're OK, but not as good as I would think they should be.

These cost more, but are considerably more powerful and not as many people (inland) would have access to those frequencies eavesdropping on you.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001J5 ... R3HY0NBYRN

Those are pretty nice. If you're looking for a slightly lower price you can order the RadioShack brand of these. Uniden makes all RadioShack branded scanners, 2-ways, and land line cordless phones.
 
I recommended those over many other choices because of the variable power output settings from 1-5 watts (commercial ratings) like police and fire use, and for the oddball frequencies (in my area they are for privacy reasons), and having all the NOAAH weather stations built in and AC/DC capability.

They seem like an all around good choice, but if the radio shack is the same thing, but cheaper, by all means, look into the radio shack versions.

I didn't know that uniden made their stuff. I'll keep that in mind.
 
I was a manager for them for a few years and got the chance to tear into a few of them to troubleshoot issues for customers in store and you'll sometimes have cheaper case material or lcd screens, but the guts are stamped and equipped the same for the most part. A lot of aftermarket parts are swappable between the two as well.
 
Well, after a little research, apparently it's not legal to use a Marine Band VHF Radio on land.
Oh well. The search continues.

Paul
 
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index. ... d=maritime

Maritime Mobile Service

The Maritime Mobile Service is an internationally-allocated radio service providing for safety of life and property at sea and on inland waterways. It includes the Maritime Mobile Service, the Maritime Mobile-Satellite Service, the Port Operations Service, the Ship Movement Service, the Maritime Fixed Service, and the Maritime Radiodetermination Service. These services classify the different types of marine radio communications, but they are less important for regulatory purposes than the two classifications of marine radio stations:

stations on land
stations aboard ships

Together, shipboard and land stations in the marine services are meant to serve the needs of the entire maritime community. The FCC regulates these services both for ships of U.S. registry that sail in international and foreign waters and for all marine activities in U.S. territory. For this and other reasons, the rules make a distinction between compulsory users of marine radio for safety at sea, and noncompulsory uses for purposes other than safety. In addition, rules concerning domestic marine communications are matched to requirements of the U.S. Coast Guard, which monitors marine distress frequencies continuously to protect life and property in U.S. waters.
The Maritime Services have evolved from the earliest practical uses of radio. In 1900, just six years after Marconi demonstrated his "wireless" radio, devices were being installed aboard ships to enable them to receive storm warnings transmitted from stations on shore. Today, the same principle applies in using both shipboard and land stations in the marine services to safeguard life and property at sea. Both types of stations are also used to aid marine navigation, commerce, and personal business, but such uses are secondary to safety, which has international priority.

§ 80.89 Unauthorized transmissions.
Stations must not:
(a) Engage in superfluous radiocommunication.
(b) Use telephony on 243 MHz.
(c) Use selective calling on 2182 kHz or 156.800 MHz.
(d) When using telephony, transmit signals or communications not addressed to a particular station or stations.
This provision does not apply to the transmission of distress, alarm, urgency, or safety signals or messages, or to test transmissions.
(e) Transmit while on board vessels located on land unless authorized under a public coast station license.
Vessels in the following situations are not considered to be on land for the
purposes of this paragraph:
(1) Vessels which are aground due to a distress situation;
(2) Vessels in drydock undergoing repairs;
and
(3) State or local government vessels which are involved in search and rescue operations including related training exercises.
(f) Transmit on frequencies or frequency bands not authorized on the
current station license.
==============

Furthermore, I know our local DNR monitors VHF bands as poachers like to use it because they think no one is listening. It's a pretty hefty fine and a fun interview with the FCC if you get caught.
 
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