SPEAR Lesson 7 Commo 1.2 Cell Phone, Land Line and Radio

Spear Survival

Core Training
Lesson 7 of 25
Commo 1.2

Cell phone, Land line and Radio

On a day to day basis the cell phone is going to be the number one communication tool that you have.  With smart phones that are no less than a computer in your pocket you are rarely more than a couple taps away from any information that you want.  As we discussed in the previous lesson there are ways to enhance the use of these devices but today I want to give you a simple explanation on how these things work and what the weaknesses are.
     Not to get into great detail at this level of training but you need to understand some simple lessons of radio waves.  Yes your cell phone transmits on radio waves too.  Radio waves come in an array of frequencies from HF (high frequency) which in reality is the lowest frequencies that you need to be concerned with to VHF (very high frequency) which is where you will find most transmissions today from your car radio and personal walkie talkies.  UHF (ultra high frequencies) are where your cell phones live.
     There is a lot more to this then just that but for now that will do.  The next thing to know is that is that the higher the frequency the shorter the wave and the smaller the antenna.  So the bigger the antenna the farther it will transmit.  (you can't hook an old tv antenna up to your phone to increase your range-it just doesn't work like that)  As an example: a ham radio operator transmitting on HF is using an antenna the size of his house can talk to anyone around the world if the conditions are right.  Your cell phone needs towers that are almost line of site to be able to transmit and receive.  That is why there are so many cell phone towers.  The kink is that those towers are usually located as high as they can be to create the most direct line to the devices they serve putting them right in the danger zone of bad storms.
     If you travel into the woods you won't have any service at all unless you happen to stay close to a tower that supplies a more rural area.  In order for cell phone companies to have coverage everywhere they quite literally have to put a tower and antenna everywhere.  When the population isn't large enough it becomes cost prohibitive and there are just zones with no coverage.

Land Lines.  A land line is a hard wired phone in your house or place of business that doesn't rely on radio waves. (use of satellites by the companies excluded)  When you can pick up your phone, dial a number and talk to someone across town you are using a land line.  Typically the term doesn't separate the use of cordless phones within the house but here we must make that clear.  The reason is that if the power goes out then so does your cordless phone.  You will need a good old fashion corded phone to get through in a severe power outage.  Remember that even if you don't have a phone hooked up and paying for service that the provider still have to allow the use of 911 services from that phone line.  If you don't have a house phone because you rely on your cell phone you should still invest in an inexpensive corded phone to plug in just in case of an emergency.  (when you plug the phone in there should be a dial tone, if not call your local phone carrier and get that fixed)

Radio.  We discussed above about how radio frequency effects antenna size and that determines transmission distance.  I want to discuss some basic ideas of ways to get better connected with your family in an emergency.  UHF hand held radios that use GMRS & FRS (General Mobile Radio Service & the Family Radio Service) are a great addition to your commo equipment.  These are the small walkie talkies that you see in the stores that say they have a 36 mile range or something like that. This might be in the deserts of Arizona that they are good for that distance.  Remember UHF small antenna-short transmission distance.  It is actually good that the distance is small because you would here lots of other people talking on these channels in an emergency.
     You may have company on these frequencies in an emergency but when the power is out for a couple of days the people who have to capability to charge them will be greatly declined.  There may actually come a point in an emergency where it is helpful to have multiple members of your community on a single frequency.  The down side of these radios is that they have a short distance and they will be used by lots of people but if you have members of your family going off is search of food or supplies then having a way of staying connected will be worth it.
     There are other options for group communication that we will cover in upcoming lessons.  For basic radio communications you can't beat a low cost set of radios to keep your family connected.


If you haven't read the previous lessons yet I suggest that you do now to get up to date with the training thus far.  Moving forward there is a lot more hands on practice required.  Practice the skills that you learn and expand upon the things that you learn.  Your goal is to improve your chances of survival in an emergency.  This course is designed to be a road map for you to start from or to fill in the blank spots.

This is lesson 7 of 25 of the Core training course of the Sage Institute.  Up next Lesson 8 Navigation 1.1