What kind of radio would you use in a bunker?

What kind of radio would you use in a bunker?

I'm working on a short script about someone hiding out in a bunker. The setting is a society gaining in chaos. Similar to how post-apocalypse films always have that news segment explaining how there was revolts and whatnot.

Would a CB radio hooked up to a car battery be acceptable? A ham radio? The only thing is I want it to have a deck and not handheld like the baofang ones.

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>ham radio
>Het, kolbasa radio!

How far do you want your character to reach with the radio? If its local, a VHF/UHF ham rig would make it, and there'd be more likely some serious (as in not looney) prepper types listening as part of RACES or ARES.

Decent base station for these bands coming out soon: icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/hf/7300/default.aspx

P.S. You could always learn this stuff yourself and then you'd have a ham license....

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Whats wrong with a baofeng mounted with a speaker mic? (other than horrible crosstalk)
VHF/UHF would be the most common but for doomsday preper shit I would prob use shortwave because of propagation

I just want it to be realistic. Hard sci-fi. I guess somewhere between 5 and 25. The char does a nightly broadcast for anyone listening.

5 and 25 miles

Yeah that's VHF/UHF range but if he wants more people to hear I'd say go with CB.

A ham radio pushing 100 watts on 6 meters with a yagi antenna pointed towards the nearest metro area.
Realistic, and totally doable with spare metal and coax.

CB radios are limited to 5 watts and wouldn't be a good option. Even with an amplifier, it'd be retarded.

and put the yagi on top of a collapsable tower that the char cranks down during the day to lower his profile. Maybe add an older vacuum tube amp and push his power up to 600 watts if he's knowledgeable with radios.

modern ham radio uses internet relay nodes
use skype, it has more features

Unlocked Yaesu FT-857D, with a 2m/70cm collinear antenna, and a triband HF antenna.

I'd also pack a laptop and some CAT cables so I could use digimodes.

>What kind of radio would you use in a bunker?
A HF radio that extends to the 2200 m band. Needs also digital modes.

>Whats wrong with a baofeng mounted with a speaker mic? (other than horrible crosstalk)
At that band you will be detected and localised in a few seconds. Some times you want to be heard without found.

This user gets it.

Also chech the Radio FAQ.

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Internet relay nodes are illegal - internet traffic may not pass on to the air, so you can receive packets and relay them to the internet, but not be able to receive a reply meaning you really don't get meaningful communication.

Rules may be different in your country.

In dire emergencies many rules do not apply.

In war new rules enter. Basically hams are supposed to get off the air.

Can you point me to the radio FAQ? Didn't see a radio general or a link to one in the Jow Forums wiki

why not tell us more about the story your writing? sounds interesting

HF radio would ruin pretty much every show like walking dead.

Like it would be trivial to check what's going on anywhere in the world, are there still any functioning governments, safe areas and so on.

As for your story, Yaesu FT-817, it's portable, works on batteries, reasonably cheap and was manufactured in huge numbers.

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Lots of info in here: ftp://50.31.112.231/pub
Specifically ftp://50.31.112.231/pub/radio_FAQ_Preview8.htm

the ham radio stuff ends up on /diy/ for whatever reason, there's a general there

>use in a bunker
none?

ideally, a bunker these days should also be a faraday cage. What use is a radio if it and the power source is fried by EMP?

Okay, if you have the financial backing to build a bunker, you might be able to add a radio room with cables to ouside antenna that is isolated from the rest of the bunker and have replacement(s) in storage....

Then again, it's relatively easy to locate the origin of a radio signal, meaning you'll basically invite whoever to visit your bunker.

Finally, do you actually have someone to talk to?

You can have the radio inside the bunker but the antenna has to extend outside. Where the feed enters the bunker you insert protection such as lightening arrestors and EMP traps.

>HF radio would ruin pretty much every show like walking dead.
There is still the element that you can communicate information but not meet in person or exchange goods. If the plot is to rebuild civilisation radio communications is more plausible than some minstrel finding a US Post uniform lying around...

>Internet relay nodes are illegal - internet traffic may not pass on to the air
The relaying mentioned earlier is probably the other way round: radios relay what they receive to the internet. This legal.

Examples are in sdr.hu where you can log on to receivers all over the world and listen in to what they receive.

How prepped are your survivors? Are they trying to stay hidden?
In US a CB radio with a half-wave antenna and a currently illegal 100W amp would probably be the easiest to scrounge up and most likely to find listeners (b/c easy to find) if you didn't prep in advance, using AM-based walkie talkies or family radio channel for local. Anyone that did real prep would have handhelds and a base unit that worked on 2m / 70cm bands... b/c that's the modern standard.

How many MOVs and polyfuses does it take to block an EMP?

Seconding shortwave. Make your own transceiver, it's cool shit.

I don't know myself but I met a radio designer who had done it and the solution was rather compact. The design was tested and involved powering up a coil until it disintegrated. The radio was unharmed.

>Are they trying to stay hidden?
This is important. If you have the skills or tradecraft you can transmit without being found.

>The char does a nightly broadcast for anyone listening.
Most people have FM radios. If you want to just reach people and notify them rather than a two way communication, you would want to use a FM transmitter (88 - 108 MHz). You could use that to inform them what two way band to use or where to meet.

A lot of people have to use radios in work, airmen have air bands and sailors have maritime bands. Those include professionals and hobbyists alike.

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