Grid down, cell phones out, what u gunna do ?

Just came across this gem of an observation in the news this morning.

Speaking over Zoom from Kyiv on a sub-zero morning, Yuriy Matsyk describes Ukraine's battle to stay online.
"In this war, you can survive without water, heat and comfort, but you cannot survive without electricity and communication."
Without internet or mobile network connectivity, people have no way of finding out if loved ones have survived.

That puts communications into perspective, and made me think about our strategy for it. I was really only thinking about gathering intel during an 'event' but for checking on loved ones, I was considering a secondary use as most of my immediate family who want to be safe are here already.

However, for those who's loved ones are not in a safe place, how are u going to find out if they are OK with no internet or cell phone coverage ?

I recommend you read the full article in the link below, it brings up some interesting questions as to connectivity.

And yes, we have Starnet out here, much more reliable and 100's times faster than anything Telstra could offer.

www.abc.net.au/news/science/2023-02-27/ukraine-internet-russia-rocket-strikes-connected-kyiv/102009234

One more quote.....

"Where do the rockets hit this time, who died? With all these horrors, a person is saved by communication."






Rules that guys wish girls knew.

7) Crying is blackmail.

Looks like us Optus users had a SHTF practice run yesterday! Was fun watching people lose their mind in the city!

Were is your portable AM/FM radio right now ? Do the battery's work or have they leaked and its useless ? Consider what happens if u lose all electric, no TV, and the net/phones go down. Where would you go for information ?

Some phones have an FM radio in them, but you need to connect some wired earphones as an aerial for it to work, unless u are in a very strong reception area, and you probably shouldn't be in such an area anyway due to the RF fields that u would be exposed to.

We are on the Aldi (Telstra) network, so not affected, but its a good reminder to all of us to check our comms plan.
But Ive got a digital clock/radio in the bedroom.kitchen......DAh no power.....





Don’t worry about being lonely at the top. It can be lonely at the bottom too.

I'm thinking of a network wide outage, like the Opus debarkle. No Public WiFi, those with Apple gear are in deep doggi do do. Apple stuff, especially the newer bells and whistle gear, usually needs the support of the network to operate, even to work off line is difficult.

I usually listen to the ABC News Radio on my Android phone via the net whilst working around the farm, but it does have a FM radio inbuilt, and it does work, so in a grid/comms down situation, I can still tune in to intel from the standard radio services, with some inconvenience, but still its information. Even though our mobile service is s..t, its still just good enough for a streaming radio service most times, not fast enough for video though.

Now consider if the networks go down, the radio stations are also out, whats going on ? Thats exactly where Ham radio comms will shine. Information will be available from the local Ham repeater (2 meters usually), and you don't need a license to listen, just a suitable receiver and there are quite a few on the market.






Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence, and face your future without fear.

I had a lot of friends that were affected. Several of them had internet again quite early on in the piece but not phones. That took a long time. What I noticed was that it was mostly younger folks feeling a bit lost. They've never experienced a time where you weren't in full contact with the world at all times, so to not have the internet or phone calls available in your pocket was a very weird experience for a lot of them.

It definitely made me reassess my thoughts on things though. The amount of things that went down that I wouldn't have thought of like transport and comms to emergency services etc. For every major thing that went down, there's another that Telstra have control of as the other major provider in the country. Only one went out. Imagine BOTH going out at the same time.

But ultimately, having radios and comms plans won't fix those failures. I'll just revert to childhood and remember that people have spent the whole of history not having instant comms with others riding around in their pockets. And being in a rural area helps a lot to be honest. As always that bush telegraph is still a thing. But those in city or larger centres who rely on networks of any sort clearly are going to be in abject chaos if the networks go down for any more than a day or two.

I need to get a good winder/solar radio though. It's been on my list of things to get for a while now and I keep forgetting. Online shopping, here I come!

Reports that Optus went down again this morning and still isn't up, some mobiles work, but internet is out for a vast swathe of people.





My backup plan is to run, FAST !!

“Grid down, cell phones out, what u gunna do ?”

enjoy the peace.

Weve had a few satellite glitches, so the docking feature on the mobile as a hotspot is handy, and its Telsra as well.

As we are at our BOL anyway, it only remains to get those home who are at Uni or in town, relatively easy.







If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!

Yes was a bit of fun.  My carrier runs off Optus and I was no cell for the day. Gave my Son a handheld UHF, on repeater 3 on the gold coast for his school bag.  It works from the school grounds.  I get VLT03 repeater from anywhere on the gold coast via the Jeep UHF or my handheld UHF.  My Son works the UHF fine, usually we use them camping on a more private channel, but on 'Optus day' we were still in touch, if needed.

Didn't use it but was great knowing he could contact me any time, and I could be anywhere on the coast working.

From my house, using the above, we can communicate over UHF anywhere we can get the repeater.  A long long way from base camp