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There’s still some over the horizon radar every now and then since the Ukrainian war. I haven’t heard the Cuban numbers stations in years. Lots of Brazilian pirate stations running through our satellites on VHF.

In the past half hour, I have worked stations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, and .... Texas. You'll need a General Class license for that, but it is not a big step in difficulty above Technician. FT-8 is relatively new digital mode that lets a modestly equipped station connect with the world, and it's a blast.

Im ignorant to all of this, but how do you know who you are listening to? What does it cost to get a starter setup for fun and a prep situation?

How you know who you're connecting with: Every station has a call sign. Usually, you'll exchange signal reports, locations, and names as part of the first exchange. If you are just listening, you can check QRZ.com. Try looking me up, W7DB.

How much does it cost: You can pick up a decent used HF transceiver for around $600. For FT-8, you'll need a computer and an interface card, about $100. Then you need an antenna, which can be the tricky part. A 40' telescoping fiberglass mast is around $100, and that's a good way to hang up a dipole antenna, which is just wire and some coax. You'll also need a 12V power supply, and those are about $125. So for a decent set-up, about a kilobuck. That's the fun station.

For emergency comms, a VHF/UHF transceiver used is maybe $125, plus an antenna for about $75 and up.

Would the antenna go up against your house? Does it need a good view of the sky? I live in an area locked in with trees and mountain sides. Would I be able to make something work? Sorry for the dumb questions. Curious and have no clue lol

ARRL has books for various types of antennas. That's a place to start. You can have something as simple as a single wire and as complex from there as you want. Many will hide or disguise their antenna in plain sight. If you have an attic, many will use that space too.

Antenna design is a rabbit hole many travel down and explore for years.....

I have mountains to the east of my house. At the highest and nearest, they are about 15 degrees above the horizon. I am also well blessed with trees.

On the HF frequencies, where you work beyond the horizon, it's no problem for me. On VHF/UHF, I am totally blocked to the east, but can easily connect with repeaters 75 miles to the south. Utah has a big intertie system, so I can get on that and talk from Idaho to St George, a few hundred miles.

And Dess is right about antennas!

Very cool and thank you for the info!

Another option is the Yaesu FT-991A... it has HF, VHF, and UHF capabilities. Physically, it is about 2.5 times larger than the FT-891 (which i just installed in my truck with a Yaesu ATAS-120A antenna).

Good tip on checking out a local amateur radio club. Both from an advice standpoint as well as members looking to upgrade their gear...they may offer you a killer deal on their used equipment.

I look people up all the time. Can’t send them a QSL card if I don’t.

Do you plan to organize other people who will be in position to receive your comms? For the most part the idea of using radio comms in the event of SHTF is a waste unless they are aimed at connecting with people you know will be listening and are friendly.

I honestly dont know. Really do not know much about this stuff, but would love to learn a bit. Seems really fun

When I first posted this I did not know what to expect, I am glad to see so much useful info has came from it. Plus it is a refreshing
departure from the usual mindless drivel that clutters this forum and is a total waste of band width.

There probably is amateur radio “nets” run by local clubs already set up to do that. I don’t think there is anything stopping him from running his own emergency management net.

Remembering the CB radio craze of eons ago, I have a serious question that if taken wrong could sound kinda smartass but is not meant to be. When these Hams talk, do they talk about anything besides their radios? How do folks from different countries and different languages "talk"?

I got into radio after I had to retire early after a back injury. I'd always meant to travel "someday" but took my overall good health for granted and never got so far as to apply for a passport. Some Hams really only want to win contests or get awards for making huge numbers of "contacts" in the most Countries on the most different bands possible.

There is a real art to knowing when conditions are best on which bands in what direction based on solar cycle and time of day. Contacts used to be confirmed with QSL cards sent in the mail. Now most use electronic log books that are confirmed using software probably more secure than online banking. Some contesters are extremely competitive.

I'm a "rag chewer" meaning I like to get to know people and have real conversations often over the span of years. One of my buddies says he just gladly turns his radio off during major contest because contesters are hogging up bandwidth just exchanging call signs and signal strength reports. Contesters sometimes spend huge amounts of money on equipment which drives the industry to develop new products.

When I first started being a Ham I was self-conscious because I only speak English. Lots of stations in far away lands operate using English. Because I was looking to travel the World from an armchair I'd ask questions as though I'd just stepped into a pub somewhere I'd never been before.

Sometimes I'd hear "I only speak radio English" meaning just enough to repeat call signs and give signal reports. For the most likely locations to find interesting conversation with mostly really smart people in locations I'll never get to I point my antennas toward any place in the UK (they really enjoy conversations) Canada Australia or New Zealand.

You put their call sign into a search here https://www.qrz.com/lookup where Hams post either basic or detailed info about themselves. There is a map where you can zoom in and literally see their house. My Call is KK4FZI. You can see my wife's green house, our house on a ridgetop and the antenna tower in the backyard.

I often do a search on an area like you would for tourist destination info. People often like it when you ask specifics about where they are. There is a canal system in the UK that was the way the industrial revolution got it's start. It was a marvel of engineering and is still in use today. People travel hundreds of miles and sometime live full time on narrow boats. For more about that check out

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cruising+the+cut+

I had a 70 VW bug that was brought to Metro WASH DC, back in 1970 by some German diplomat at the German Embassy in DC, that had a Blaupunkt radio in it. AM/FM/SW1. after 6 months he went back to Germany, and sold it to the local VW dealership in Fairfax.

We use to go up on Skyline Drive at night and could pick up Radio Havana and then Russian "Fishing Trawlers" doing commie propaganda broadcasts in English from out in the Atlantic.

As high school kids, we sure had a lot of fun with that stuff....Commie propaganda was fun to listen to and make fun of.

You gotta learn to hate truckers.
Get on the CB, raise heck and try to intimidate them.
Threaten to report them for having a radio boosted above the legal wattage,
threaten to report them for the "French" they speak, telling you what to do to youself.

Then the ubiquitous "I know where you are, I can pinpoint your signal",
as the guy from 500 miles away rockets down the interstate to a destination 400 miles in the other direction.



There aren't that many who put on such a show, but it's never not funny.


To the rest, my apologies if I ever caused you any real grief.

Like air traffic control, English is the language used to communicate internationally.