GLP When The Grid Goes Down - HELLSCHREIBER

The question that has been kicked around on various threads is what if the GLP effect fails? How do we get the juicy info if it all goes sideways?

One way to do this is with HF radio on the 20 meter band using 50 watts, using a text mode called Hellschreiber - also called Feld-Hell.

Here's an introduction to this mode:

[link to www.nonstopsystems.com (secure)]

The idea would be to have a master station receiving at 20 meters throughout the day. 8 am CST to 7 pm seems to be the best for radio propagation at this frequency.

PRIMARY: 14.064 Mhz

SECONDARY: 14.075 Mhz

TERTIARY: 14.077 Mhz

[link to www.voacap.com]

Every day, say at 5 pm CST, a digest of all the field reports received with Feld-Hell would be retransmitted several times via CW. Then the master station goes into receive mode.

You wouldn't need a transmitter to get these reports. A HF receiver like a Grundig could receive the transmission, and a laptop with free Hellscheiber decoding software would display the daily digest.

You can download the software here:

[link to www.qsl.net]

And radio-computer hookup information is here:

[link to www.qsl.net]

Alternatively, a computer with an external microphone could conceivably receive the transmission by simply putting the microphone near the radio's speaker - no splicing wires would be needed.

Your thoughts?

The question that has been kicked around on various threads is what if the GLP effect fails? How do we get the juicy info if it all goes sideways?

One way to do this is with HF radio on the 20 meter band using 50 watts, using a text mode called Hellschreiber - also called Feld-Hell.

Here's an introduction to this mode:

[link to www.nonstopsystems.com (secure)]

The idea would be to have a master station receiving at 20 meters throughout the day. 8 am CST to 7 pm seems to be the best for radio propagation at this frequency.

PRIMARY: 14.064 Mhz

SECONDARY: 14.075 Mhz

TERTIARY: 14.077 Mhz

[link to www.voacap.com]

Every day, say at 5 pm CST, a digest of all the field reports received with Feld-Hell would be retransmitted several times via CW. Then the master station goes into receive mode.

You wouldn't need a transmitter to get these reports. A HF receiver like a Grundig could receive the transmission, and a laptop with free Hellscheiber decoding software would display the daily digest.

You can download the software here:

[link to www.qsl.net]

And radio-computer hookup information is here:

[link to www.qsl.net]

Alternatively, a computer with an external microphone could conceivably receive the transmission by simply putting the microphone near the radio's speaker - no splicing wires would be needed.

Your thoughts?

Amateur radio is the only method of communication guaranteed to survive any SHTF scenario. It's one of the reasons I'm putting up a 60' mast this spring with an antenna array for various bands, among other things. A HF receiver should absolutely be a part of anyone's preps as that is the only way you will be able to gather news from outside your community.

I just put up an octo mast in my attic. 10, 20, 40 and 80 meter ham sticks so that it would fit. It consists of 4 dipole antennas utilizing 8 ham sticks.

I am almost done stringing the cable to my basement where I plan to hook up a Raspberry Pi as a station that I can control from anywhere through my WiFi over Gnu-Radio.

I will be testing it soon.