Browse by need · 8 entries
Communications
Radios, satellite, and staying in contact
Phones jam or go dark early in almost any disruption. Stack independent ways to send and receive word, so losing one layer never leaves you silent. Buy from the top of this list down as your budget grows.
Start with the full guide
Field guideStockpile Essentials Field GuideThe master checklist: 239 items across 16 categories, the shelf life class of each, and the 20 multi-use items that cover the most jobs. 39 pages.Open the field guide Master guideOff-Grid Communication OptionsWays to communicate when cell towers go dark, ranked: satellite texting, Starlink Mini, Meshtastic, GMRS, ham, FRS, and CB.Open the full page Shield the electronics that matter
A Faraday pouch blocks the surge from an EMP or a solar storm. Keep a phone, a handheld radio, a satellite messenger, a backup drive, and your vehicle key fob each in a shielded sleeve, nested inside a metal case. Solar panels do not need it.
Skills 1
Guides 7
Nothing matches those filters. Clear one and try again.
The checklist
Tick what you already have. Checks are saved on this device.
Off-Grid Communication and Signal When the cell network is the first thing to fail
Short-range, no license
Licensed radio, for real range
Satellite & cell
Audit questions
From the walk-around audit. Tap a question for what a good answer looks like.
Can everyone reach each other if separated?
Not if the only way is a cell phone. Good is a PACE plan: primary (phone), alternate (text, which gets through a jammed network), contingency (GMRS radio on an agreed channel), emergency (the meeting point). How to communicate with no cell service lays it out.
Is there a check-in time and method?
Good means a fixed time and channel everyone knows: radio check on the hour, text the out-of-area contact by noon, and the meeting points near home and out of the area. It is written in the logbook, not remembered.
Are key numbers written on paper in case the phones die?
Nobody knows a number by heart anymore. Good means every person carries an ICE card with the household numbers, the out-of-area contact, doctors and the insurance, and a copy lives in the kit and the truck. The drive by the door holds the rest of the records.
What happens if cellular service fails?
The towers run on backup batteries for hours, not days, and a wide outage jams what is left. Good means the plan still works with no tower at all: radios for local voice, a NOAA receiver for information, and a satellite messenger or Starlink if the budget allows. Off-grid communication options compares them.
Do you have radio capability?
Good is a pair of GMRS handhelds for the family (real range is one to two miles with terrain, not the 30 on the box), the license that makes them legal, and a base or mobile unit with a better antenna if you need more. GMRS vs FRS picks the radio and the license takes ten minutes.
Do you have power for communication devices?
A radio with a dead battery is a paperweight. Good means power banks kept topped off, spare batteries for every handheld, a hand-crank NOAA radio, and a small solar panel that charges all of it with the grid down. The power outage gear page has the kit.
When it matters
