Not sure about the fire hazard in the bathrooms, but I keep them in the kitchen, reloading area, and the garage.:D

TR

Haha.. Dou Soo Funny :D

I put them there becuase that seems IMHM (Mind) the one place that everyone in my house goes everyday. :D Everyones RP.

Here in the Hurricane zone and living in an Apartment. I keep three weeks. Which could be stretched to 30 if needed. Society is only 6 meals from total lawlessness.
Plenty of Ammo and Med Supplies. I make a point of trying to hide it as best possible. Five cases of beer and several bottles of wine are also stocked. Not a lot of people think of that. Nothing like a cold or warm beer with your Raman Noodles.

Only after my brother’s chili, or a Hot Wings Challenge. It’s primarily a fume problem. Although not entirely.

:D

A few years ago I asked about comms in a bugout scenario and Peregrino gave some advice that I took to heart: In an evacuation scenario, staying together is paramount so local comms is not a priority but situational awareness is incredibly important. Knowing if a bridge is out or if there is a security problem in a particular locale could be the difference between life and death. He recommended getting a scanner and I took his advice.

I got a Uniden BCD396XT digital trunk-tracking handheld that runs on two alkaline or rechargeable AA batteries. It will pick up anything that isn't encrypted, including APCO 25, Motorola, EDACS, and LTR trunked systems. It has a "close by" function that automatically discriminates for nearby signals and it picks up shortwave, ham, family band, local TV, AM/FM, basically everything. It's light, compact, easy on batteries, is incredibly sensitive once you replace the included rubber ducky, and incredibly flexible (read complicated).

If you pick up FreeScan software (free) plus a subscription to the Radio Reference database (cheap) it's ridiculously easy to download all the trunked frequencies in your area from your computer via serial cable, all annotated so you can see exactly what agency is saying what on your scanner display. You can group frequencies into sets and activate and deactivate them at will through the scanner front panel. You could have a set for your county and all of the contiguous ones and activate the sets as needed.

You'd be amazed what you can pick up from the local hospital custodians and public works maintenance crews. In a disaster scenario, knowing what the local, county and state cops are saying along with the utility, safety and public works crews would be invaluable. Having access to all the AM/FM and television news isn't bad either.

It ain't cheap -- around $450 -- but given the finances of county and local municipalities I don't think many will be upgrading to encrypted trunking systems so the investment seems pretty secure. Plan to spend some time learning the ins-and-outs but it's all pretty interesting so it's not really a chore.

Sounds like a very nice piece of kit, just wish it was a little cheaper.

C'est la vie!

TR

I wish it was alot cheaper :)

FWIW, in consideration for having sufficient stores on hand for emergencies, note that the Commissary (and I would suspect some supermarkets/discount grocerers) have case-lots available for order. In some situations one can get case-lots online, depending on the brand.

I do not garden (grow my own veggies), neither do I can my own food. (Not smart enough.) Have recently developed sufficient dry stores inventory for 6-mos via case-lot from the local Commissary. Just copy down the UPC code number and submit it with your order. Least, it was that easy at the one I shop.

Just FWIW...

Fayetteville/Ft Bragg tornado 04/16/2011
 

A few thoughts on the Fayetteville / Ft Bragg tornado that came through town yesterday afternoon. It tore up a good chunk of Northern Fayetteville along the southern edge of Ft Bragg from the Lagrange area by the Reilly Road gate, through Summerhill and Cottonade, over to Bonnie Doone, Eurika Springs and out at Ramsey Street by the Andrews Road intersection.

http://fayobserver.com/articles/2011...87211?sac=Home

Click the map for a larger image.

Our Time Warner service went out immediately which took out Phone, Cable TV and internet service. We were well away from the track and didn't need to go anywhere.

Had an old TV with the digital converter and antenna. The wife hooked it up and got channel 11. I was listening to the radio. Both sources were covering the major news - not focused on what someone driving around could really use. I had been out to Ramsey street and it was backed up down past Country Club drive.

I turned on the police scanner and that's where I started to get the full picture. Ramsey St north was closed at Andrews Road, everyone was being forced to turn south. The problem was people thinking they were bypassing the obstruction by cutting up McArthur Rd and cutting over to Ramsey on Stacey Weaver - where they were forced to turn south, so they took McArthur up to Eurika Springs and cut over to Ramsey where again they were forced to turn south. People were becoming real frustrated and some were driving around the police road blocks - going the wrong way, etc.

For the people just driving around in the hours after the tornado they were not getting enough info over the car radio to bypass the choke points and find open routes.

If you know your city a must have for disaster prep is a top of the line scanner.

I was scanning all the police and fire so only got fragments of each story/incident but that gave me a better overall picture and allowed me to mentally plug the hit area onto a map.

I was in grey group and watched the tornado cross reilly rd, we hid out in a closet till it had passed. Myy truck took some debris through the back window along with a few other vehicles in the area, and the shopping center took a slight beating, but nothing like the houses all around. Its pretty bad in places.

IIRC, Fayetteville is the largest city in NC without its own TV station, and it showed yesterday.

TW Channel 14 was stuck on where the storm had moved to in Eastern NC, Raleigh and Durham stations were busy covering Wake and Lee county damage, almost no coverage of Fayetteville till well after dark.

Bragg is closed (along with Reilly and Yadkin Gates), and will decide on tomorrow's opening later today.

Good to have PACE for comms and info, cable, broadcast TV, AM/FM radio, and scanner coverage of government channels, with cell phone backup sounds like a good plan to me. I don't think driving around looking to be a part of the news is one of my alternatives.


Was that after you left my house? :D

TR

Seems like Bragg was a bit unprepared for this. My 1SG and Commander haven't made a decision yet. Bragg homepage didn't have an update, although their facebook page did.

Stated 2 hour delay, but no formations to be held before 1300. Kinda screws with BAR tomorrow, but I think post has more pressing issues to attend. Those with kids have to rely on their individual schools it seems to get an accurate statement on when your youngin's are to attend their classes. Should be an interesting drive through the All American Gate for the first time in a while with an abundance of routed traffic from Yadkin and Riley gates.

Best of luck to you all at getting some work done tomorrow.

Yes sir. That was me, stayin out of trouble. ;-)

antenna
 

mugwump

"is incredibly sensitive once you replace the included rubber ducky, and incredibly flexible"

Which antenna would you recommend?
Great post, thank you.

Anyone see why having a few blue tarps, some wooden laths or studs, and a hammer type stapler tucked away could come in handy?

Just having a chainsaw with fuel, an axe, and a comealong could make the diffence between being able to get out of your drive to buy essentials and having to beg someone else to help when they can get around to it.

Of course, the more essentials you have on hand, the longer before you have to go out.

Looking at upgrading my generator, possibly adding another LP tank (or a larger one), and thinking of having a well drilled on the property.

Anyone here directly affected by recent storms?

TR