I have been a ham for more years than I care to admit. It is fun, true enough to chew the rag with folks all over the world.

But --and here's the thing. Like the internet, cell phones and the like it's easy to get addicted to it. Of course, we all know that they are all monitored 24/7 anyway...It's easy for .gov to find you when you are online. If so, why shy away from being a ham?

When shtf, the internet and cells will go away. But a ham will still be operating even in a grid down situation.

The main difference is OPSEC. DONT transmit if you are worried about being located. In shtf, receiving is the gold anyway. With a proper setup you can get news from other individuals anywhere in the world, all without saying a word. Perfect OPSEC.

The goal in shtf is to know with some reasonable assurance what is going on. "Coming out" is your choice, not the trackers choice. There is no way for anyone to know you are listening unless you choose to tell them.

The nice part is that you do not need to get a license to LISTEN, and when shtf, no one will care if you transmit, one way or another.

Do a little research, get a decent HF rig that will receive HF ssb say from 3-30 MHz and practice listening now. A long piece of wire will function well as a receiving antenna for your learning curve.

Set up a power system. A simple car battery charging from a 30 watt solar panel all day will work your receiver all night, which is when you will want to use it anyway.

Another word of advice. When SHTF, most of the most interesting or sensitive information hams will pass around will not be in voice. It will be in morse code. I know, I know the ham license since 2007 does not require you learn it.

Don't worry about having to learn morse, though. There are simple little gadgets now that you can buy online that convert morse to text in realtime. Just sit it in front of your radio speaker and read plain text in realtime.

SO... spend a few hundred bucks now, and be prepared. If you are gunshy about the gov coming... just dont transmit. It's as simple as that.

If you want local news when shtf, get a decent cb scanner which includes the new ssb capability. There will be lots of that good buddy stuff going around. Just remember the OPSEC thing on cb also.

: I remember cruising around some of the blogs I frequent last
: year I believe and ran into one YouTube channel from a guy
: who said he refused to get his HAM license for anything. I
: can’t swear by it, but I think I remember who he was, but
: that isn’t important. In this video he proceeded to show
: how you could look up any Ham radio license holders address
: from several different websites. He did this in response to
: someone who left very incendiary comments on his blog if
: memory serves and used this as a lesson in both OPSEC and
: how it’s bad for the government to have your name on any
: lists.

: In another video this same guy went on to explain and
: demonstrate his own personal Ham Radio setup complete with
: a really nice antenna that was suspended from trees and
: hidden from view with additional comments about how he
: would not get his Ham license because he didn’t need to be
: on any government lists and if TSHTF, the first place they
: would go would be the Ham operators and take them offline.
: MORE:
: http://www.jbbardot.com/should-you-get-a-ham-radio-license-or-hide-from-the-government/