No prepper can be prepared for everything that could happen in a disaster situation. However, one of the most important parts of preparation is making sure you can communicate with your group to adapt to the situations that come. A group that can easily communicate has a much higher chance of survival.
Learn more about how you can stay in contact with your team, even in the most dire circumstances.
Do Prep Work
The first part of communication is preparing. Make sure that your shelters and survival kits have chargers, batteries for phones, portable power banks, radios, walkies, and any other essentials for communicating. Also, consider having calling cards or some change just in case you need to use a pay phone. You should also forward calls from a home line to your cell phone number if you have one.
Another important aspect of preparation is keeping updated contact info for your loved ones including phone numbers, addresses, email addresses. You might also want to know their whereabouts if they’re on trips or out of town.
Know These Tips & Tricks
When using your cell phones, here are some different things you can try in order to get in contact with your group:
- Use your phone as little as possible to conserve battery. In emergency situations, you should only use it for vital communication.
- Stick with non-verbal communication because it uses less bandwidth and may work even when signal is disturbed. This type of communication would includes things like text messages, emails, and social media apps.
- If you must make a call, be brief and focus on important information.
- When placing calls, wait 10 seconds between dialing and redialing missed calls to help reduce network congestion.
- If phone service is out, try WiFi messaging apps.
- Consider using a battery-saving mode or turning off WiFi and other battery wasters during a disaster.
Get the Right Equipment
Advances in technology have brought some amazing innovation in survival and disaster communication equipment, which goes beyond your average walkie talkie or HAM radio. Among cool survival tech is the GoTenna by Pensa. This portable antenna allows you to send texts and locations without signal. Right now it is mainly used by hikers and campers, but if the cell towers are down, you can create your own signal with Gotenna.
Solar-powered or hand-cranked power generators would help charge devices. Another piece of tech to check out is the Biolite CampStove. It allows you to charge your phone by generating power from burning sticks, and it also acts as a stove at the same time. Equipment with the latest tech in survival and communications could make all the difference.
Make Plans
Having an up-to-date plan of action is just as important as being able to communicate. Knowing where your group will meet in the event of a disaster is extremely important to making sure you can stay together. Try to have signals, callsigns, and a plan for when a disaster strikes.
If you aren’t sure where to start, try searching survival plans for your area and adapting them for your group. Know who will stock up supplies and who will gather up supplies you already have.
Knowledge is Power
The old adage holds true when it comes to knowing how to communicate when alternate methods are not available. For example, understanding how a HAM radio works and how to use it is knowledge you will not regret having.
Similarly, Morse code can be used to communicate in all sorts of difficult scenarios. Having maps in your shelter can also give you an advantage if GPS services go down, and you could even mark areas with potential resources so you don’t have to hunt them down later. Anything extra that you know will go a long way toward your survival!
To get more ideas on how to prep for any disaster, check out Prepper’s Base.