WEBVTT - Disaster Relief, Survival & Hurricane Helene 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:07.320 A zone Media. Hey, this is it could happen here. 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:09.680 I am Robert Evans. This is a podcast about things 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:12.400 falling apart. Most of this episode is going to be 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:17.680 me and James Stout discussing the disaster in North Carolina 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:21.440 and elsewhere as a result of Hurricane Helene. But before 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.119 we get into that, and we'll be talking largely about 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.000 what this means for your own preparations for future disasters, 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:31.160 what we can kind of learn initially from everything that's 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:34.880 been happening. I wanted to start with a few minutes 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.120 of us talking to Margaret Kiljoy, who was on the 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:41.240 ground in the Asheville area doing disaster relief work right now. 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:44.320 And obviously the audio here is not up to our 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.040 usual quality, but it's only about five minutes, and then 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:50.160 you will get James and I talking crystal clear into 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.160 your ears. So here is Margaret. 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:57.319 Hi. Everyone, I just got on the ground about two 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.400 hours ago and immediately have been basically running or with 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:05.080 my van delivering food to different places just because van 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:10.679 did van thing. And it's I mean, it's intense. Everyone 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:12.800 is having an intense time. But also at the same time, 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:16.360 there's like, you know, more people are out walking around 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:19.480 and riding bikes, and you know, there's hundreds of people 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.320 gathering at every place that's passing out food and water, 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.959 and there's a very kind of community spirit happening right now. 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:30.120 I'm actually recording this from up in Marshall, which is 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.880 a small town immediately north of Asheville that also has 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:35.160 a mutual Aid distribution hub. We just came up here 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.800 to drop stuff off, and even in the twenty minutes 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:40.319 that I've been here, other people have come with pickup 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:43.400 trucks full of harm reduction supplies and diapers. 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:45.120 And just all the things that people need. 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:49.920 And everyone is trapped on basically little islands. Right There's 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.120 a very different style of flood than when you have 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:54.520 like a coastal flood. And what's happened is that the 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:56.680 houses that are near the river have been destroyed and 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.120 the roads a lot of them have been destroyed, and 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:00.840 a lot of them went under for a long time. 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.240 It's all the infrastructure is down, but many of the houses, 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:06.639 at least as I record this, seem to be intact 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:08.520 and then doing well. And what it is that everyone 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:13.280 is just trapped and isolated. Most people don't have food, water, sewage, 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.080 or even cell signal, although cell signal is kind of 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.240 the first thing to come back and power is starting 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:22.320 to filter back in, and we're hoping that some places 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.520 are maybe getting water. But one of the things that's 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:28.280 kind of come up is that, again, because it's in 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:30.400 the mountains, it's a very different setup, it's a very 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.880 different culture and community. And one of the things that's 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:35.960 happened is that, I mean a lot of people have wells, 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.800 and so immediately the problem has been more about distribution 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:41.480 of water and also getting generators to people who have 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:43.600 well so that they can pump. You know, a friend 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.360 of mine got a generator pretty quickly and you know, 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:50.040 pulled a thousand gallons out of their well right away 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:54.160 to get and distribute around. And there's a you know, 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.560 just while I was waiting outside my friend's house, someone 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.880 drove by and asked us if we needed water, and 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:03.120 then asked us if we knew about each of the 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:05.080 neighbors and who did and it didn't have water. 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:08.760 Yeah, And I mean, one of the things that makes 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:12.160 me think of is like having the generator, having the well, 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:16.040 that's great, the kind of thing that maybe people wouldn't 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.000 think about as much as having the ability to put 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:18.960 a thousand gallons of. 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:19.760 Water in something. 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.440 Yes, totally. It seems like it was also crucial and 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:24.760 is probably would have been lowered down the list for 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:27.440 a lot of people. But there's really no replacing it 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:29.240 when you need it, totally. 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:31.040 And but one of the things that again I mean, 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:32.960 I'm not suying to say that everything's fine here, it's 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.240 very much fine. For example, the only federal response that 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:38.520 anyone is talking about is that ice is already in 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.680 the area, So before anyone had been given food by 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.800 the federal government, they have sent ice to detain people 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:45.720 and question people. 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:47.400 At least that. 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.280 Is the word on the ground. Obviously, you know, details 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:52.840 and truths come later when you're in a crisis situation, 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:54.320 but we do know that ice is on the ground, 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:56.520 and no one I've talked to is so much in 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:00.560 the way a federal response besides law enforcement. But one 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:02.960 of the things that's happened here is that a lot 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:05.920 of people have pickup trucks in Appalachia, and so a 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:08.400 lot of people have you know, you call them water buffalos, 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:11.880 the big water tanks that you can put in a 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:14.760 pickup truck or a trailer. I definitely left this feeling, 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.560 you know, my first you know, I drove with my 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:19.680 van full of stuff and on the highway and being 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:23.400 passed by pickup trucks pulling flatbeds full of palettes of water. 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:23.960 And things like that. 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:26.839 But then even yeah, in the city, people are driving 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:28.800 around in trucks and filling them up with water and 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.719 delivering them. But don't get me wrong, Yeah, if you're preparing, 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:35.039 think about how to deliver water. Even some of the 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.880 things for me, for example, the city government has been 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:39.880 doing some things, and there are places where people can 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:41.720 go and fill up water containers, but they don't have 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:42.920 the water containers. 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:44.599 So the people who. 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.320 Were prepared by having a couple of five gallon toats 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:49.440 in their basement are in a much better position. And 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:51.359 that's like some of the things that I brought for 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:53.960 some of my friends. It's litergally just a couple of 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.040 five gallon water containers so that people. 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:56.800 Can go get them filled up. 0:04:57.200 --> 0:04:57.360 Man. 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:00.440 Obviously, you're talking about when we're thinking about the places 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.160 that people are able to drive around where the places 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.039 that you've been reaching are hit pretty hard. But we 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.520 also then have these more isolated mountain communities that both 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.040 seem to have suffered a lot more physical damage, although 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:15.480 that's not entirely clear at this moment, but are certainly 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.680 not accessible in the same way. And I think that's 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:20.360 one of those things we're still going to be waiting 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.400 to hear, like how extreme it is. But like we 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:25.760 talk a little bit on the episode before this about 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.800 people using burrows to deliver food and water in places 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:32.360 where vehicles can't even reach. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.680 And one of the things also, you know, one of 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:36.720 the things that went out on the mutual Aid list 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:38.520 that I'm on is people are saying, hey, if you 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:42.280 have your ATV, bring down your ATV, you know, and 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.400 that makes complete sense if you the listener are listening 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:49.280 to this, don't just drive down with supplies and if 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:51.200 you are plugged into a mutual ad to. 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.400 Just roll to Ashville in your polaris. 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:59.039 Yeah yeah, but but yeah, no, one of the hardest 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:01.640 things has been getting the supplies, you know. I mean, 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:04.600 disaster relief is just it's just logistics. And the same 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.599 way war is just logistics. You know, It's like how 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.240 do you get things from one place to another? And 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.400 what people have set up is all of these you know, 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.680 you centralize the acquisation of supplies and then you decentralize 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:19.600 getting them out. But yeah, people have been working. I'm 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:21.720 going to know more about what people have been doing 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:23.760 to get things out, but I've already talked with people 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.960 or heard from people who you know, we're getting rescued 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:29.600 by people a handsaws, right, and then one of the 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.680 main things that people are doing is that there's chainsaw crews, 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:34.800 mutual aid chainsaw crews going around. 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:36.200 One of the big asks. 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:38.160 That I came with a lot of was a bar 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.600 and chain oil, you know. And it's a little bit 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:45.200 hard because gas is also until just recently, gas is 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.479 starting to come back online now, but getting gas for 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.679 a chainsaw or an ATV or your vehicle has been tricky. 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:54.480 But people have been working on that too. 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:57.440 Yeah. Well, Margaret, I'm going to take up more of 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.479 your time while you try to help in the wake 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.919 of a disaster. But thank you for being on the ground. 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:05.720 Good luck to you and everyone else who's out there. 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:08.119 We will be hearing more from you and more about 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:12.160 the specifics of what's happened in North Carolina and elsewhere 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:16.040 in the wake of the hurricane next week. So thank 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:18.320 you and thank everybody there. Good luck. 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:19.800 Yeah, thank you. 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.600 That is done. I am now going to move on 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:29.720 with our previously recorded episode. Here is James and Me. Oh, 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:33.440 welcome back to it could happen here a podcast where 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:37.560 it's happened for some chunk of our listeners who are 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.920 probably not listening right now, because as we record this 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:47.080 on Monday, the first technically a Tuesday, we're just now 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:49.880 getting word that internet has come back on, like mobile 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.120 internet has come back on to parts of Ashville and 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:56.960 North Carolina that we're in communicado for several days after 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:02.720 Hurricane Eleen tore through. So you've heard something about this. 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.480 I'm hoping. I'm different things from friends about how much 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.960 news attention there seems to be on this. I'm seeing 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.360 it a lot, but I'm seeing it largely through social 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.240 But the gist of it is, I mean, there's a 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.640 photo I came across right before getting on here, where 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:21.040 there was a memorial marker for the nineteen sixteen flood 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.120 in Ashville that was knocked out by what used to 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.720 be a road and was now nothing but rushing water 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:27.800 and mud. 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:28.560 Beautiful. 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:33.640 Three out of four highways into Ashville are down. I 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.440 heard yesterday from people who were coming in and doing 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.439 an aid drop that what had been previously a thirty 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.800 minute drive took twelve and a half hours. From the 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.040 state of the roads, and the number of checkpoints and stuff. 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:51.640 All of this is pretty common stuff for a natural disaster, 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:55.640 obviously amped up in severity because this disaster was correspondingly 0:08:55.679 --> 0:09:00.200 worse than even most natural disasters tend to be known 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:01.040 in this country. 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:02.439 Yeah. 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:05.280 I was just looking through, just doing a little bit 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.640 of googling before we got on, and I found a 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.880 Reddit post from the Asheville subreddit from two years ago 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.000 saying Ashville is apparently the number one city in the 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:17.240 United States to be a climate haven, according to the CNBC, 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.160 although that article it just made the list of best 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:24.200 climate cities, but the original post has been deleted. I 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:26.400 don't know if that was earlier or as a result 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:29.880 of this, but that is one of the side stories here, 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:33.199 is that Ashville is not We're not talking about one 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:36.880 of these coastal cities in Florida that everyone is known 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:40.000 as doomed for forever, right. We're not talking about New Orleans, 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:43.280 which lovely city, great history, doomed as fuck and everyone 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:45.920 has known it for quite a while. We're talking about 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.200 places that are many miles inland, and that something like 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:50.520 two thousand feet elevation. 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.199 Yeah, it's certainly not below sea level or even at 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:54.760 sea level. 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.280 Yeah, it's an inland, mountainous community. It's just not the 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:02.480 kind of threat that people are used to having here. 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:08.360 And the devastation has been pretty total, like whole communities 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:11.240 wiped out. I think the death toll from the county 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.800 Asheville is in. Let me let me pull this up 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:15.680 to make sure I'm not getting it wrong. I've just 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.560 now pulled up a story from thirty minutes ago on 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:22.520 the Independent that says, yeah, at least one hundred and 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:26.360 forty three people have been killed. Yeah, that's a total 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:30.360 death toll from Helene forty people in Buncombe County, where 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:34.560 Asheville is six hundred people unaccounted for. Governor Roy Cooper 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:36.880 has told CNN that there are communities that were wiped 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:40.520 off the map. Kind of the first thing that I noticed, 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.960 you know, outside of the footage coming in was friends 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:46.080 of mine. Because I've spent a decent amount of time 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.120 in Asheville. I have friends on the East Coast, including 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:52.360 our own Margaret Kiljoy, who has a lot more friends 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.160 in Asheville, and I was in a couple of different 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.040 signal loops where people were trying to contact their people, 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.160 and there was a line from one of the folks 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:03.840 I was chatting with, who had reached out to multiple 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:06.760 people in the area, and said, I have not heard 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:10.280 anything from anyone in Nashville in hours. Nothing is getting 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:13.240 in and nothing is getting out, And that seems to 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:18.439 be consistent with everyone's experience. Starlink was largely not functional. 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:21.920 Starlink doesn't work very well when the weather's really bad. 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:26.000 Sat phones seem to have had some efficacy. I know 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:28.120 some people were getting messages in and out, but they 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:32.040 weren't super reliable because sat phones also are reliant upon 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:36.360 climactic conditions. Right, It's certainly better than just trusting your 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:38.880 normal cell phone, but it's not going to do great 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:43.000 when you've got a fucking hurricane dumping half an ocean 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:45.679 on your head. So that was the first thing I 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:49.120 was thinking about, because we talk a lot about disaster preparedness, 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.040 and we talk a lot about having stuff that would 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.480 have been useful in this, and that people who were 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.880 prepared and had water set aside and food set aside 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:00.520 were certainly in a better situation, because those both very 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.760 quickly became problems. I mean, I heard a devastating story 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.400 of an old folks home that was completely cut off 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:10.840 from the outside and didn't have enough water or food. 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.240 Hoping that story ends as well as possible, but there's 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:17.920 a lot of stories like that. But even outside of that, 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.840 there were people who were prepared, who had food and water, 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:23.920 but who wound up stuck on the roofs of their 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:27.240 house because the water just came in so quickly there 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:30.320 was no chance to really get much other than maybe 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.520 a bag. And when you're stuck up on there, like 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.400 what are you going to do if your SAT phone 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:38.360 or you don't have a SAT phone and that doesn't 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:41.240 work and there's no internet and there's no cell service. 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.440 Well that's why we're going to start today talking about 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:49.439 Ham radios, because those motherfuckers there's actually a I'll see 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.319 if I can pull it up through this like that 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:54.560 has been the most reliable way for people in the 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:57.960 area to communicate with the outside world, because if it 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:01.960 is possible to communicate using technology, you can do it 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.400 with ham. Yeah, right, Like that's just that's just how 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:05.640 Ham radios be. 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:10.160 Yeah, they don't need to see the sky like, yeah, yeah. 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.559 They don't give a fuck it. If there is any 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:16.360 way to communicate via technology with people in a disaster, 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:19.160 you will be able to do it with a Ham radio. Ye, sots, 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:21.280 let's chat about that, James. You have more experience with 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:22.839 this than I do. This is something I have been 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.000 working on getting into, but I certainly am not very 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:29.040 knowledgeable on the matter. So we'll start like, what what 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.520 do people need to think about when it comes to 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:35.800 like actually getting set up to communicate with a Ham radio, 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:39.679 Because there's definitely you could just go buy a Boofang 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:41.840 or something like that, Like you can get ahead. They're 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.600 not expensive. This is actually a very affordable thing to 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.400 have right now. Kind of the most recommended model is 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.800 the UV nine R Pro, which is eight watt instead 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:52.199 of five and waterproof. 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:54.000 Yep, that's what I was going to say. And you 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.480 can charge it off USBC, which is really nice. 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.080 Yeah, they're what like thirty something bucks. 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:03.720 Yeah, you can get them cheaper in bulk. I think 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.280 you steel to get them cheaper on Alley Express, but 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:08.640 seems like they're kind of hanging them up in charging customs, 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.200 so you end up not getting them cheaper. Yeah, so yeah, 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:13.439 for real basic stuff. I think you do need to 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.000 be licensed to operate these radios on certain bands, right, yes, 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.880 And that's something that you you can, I believe in 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.600 a case of emergency you can. You can operate on 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:24.160 any band. 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.840 No one's going to arrest you for a legal youth 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:29.080 unlicensed used to a ham radio if you're trying to 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:33.040 get people rescued from a flood, right, Like that said, 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.000 you should not be learning how to use a ham 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:37.920 radio when you're hiding on your roof. 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:41.440 Yeah, yeah, yeah, Like this is like you know the 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:43.160 people who buy guns and put them under their bed 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.080 and never shoot them and expect to be right because 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.480 the fucking marksman in a crisis or by medical gear 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.200 and never train with it again. Right, These things that 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:52.960 you want to practice before. So we use these a 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.800 lot of the boarder. We use radios to communicate. When 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.360 they were higher numbers in Cucumber, my friends and I 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:01.480 put a map sive antenna on the roof of the 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.320 youth center where we were. You know a lot of 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:06.160 listeners have been out there and they've probably seen antenna 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:08.200 that we put up. And then I was using a 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.040 radio on my truck and then we also all had 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.000 personal radios, right because cell phone signal is crap out there, 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:14.880 and it was the only way for us to communicate 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:17.680 and it worked really well. So the things that you 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:19.240 need if you want to get started in this are, 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.760 first of all, some kind of education or a license. 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:25.720 There are tons of local groups. Hand people fucking love 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:28.000 to be ham radio people. They love to talk about 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.160 hand radio. They love to teach you to do ham 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:33.800 radio so like, and it's not like a hobby, you know, 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:35.960 firearms people love to talk about firearms, but lots of 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.600 them are really toxic people. I haven't found that ham 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.040 radio is premised on talking to people all over the place, 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:42.160 and often very. 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:43.640 Few people killed with ham radio. 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:47.680 Yeah, I'm sure it's possible. But if you can find 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:49.640 a local club, but that's a great way to start. 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:51.840 They can clean you in on stuff. But I think 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.080 to begin with you also need someone to talk to, right, Like, 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:57.360 if you want to practice with your hand radio, you 0:15:57.360 --> 0:15:58.960 need to be talking to other people on it. So 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:01.320 you can just go on to different bands, different repeaters 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:03.880 and do that, or you can get your friends and 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.600 study together. Yeah, get your license together. 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.840 I too, bow things, you know, Yeah, give one to 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.160 somebody who you live close to but not right next to, 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:14.160 and work on it with them. 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:16.960 Yeah, work on like, oh how far this work? You know? 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.320 Like I am one of the former guests for the 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:23.520 podcast James Corderra from Border Kindness. He and I were 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:25.520 doing that not so long go talk to each other 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.680 from our houses. But yeah, you can. You can certainly 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.160 get into this pretty cheap. I have a business license, 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.000 which is another option for people. I would suggest first 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:37.640 getting your ham operator's lescense and then going from there. 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:40.920 Yeah, that's it's called a radio technicians license, right, Like 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:42.800 that's the most basic because there's three levels. 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:45.920 If I'm not mistaken, Yeah, I believe. So it's been 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:46.920 a while since I did that. 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.520 Yeah, I think it's Radio Technicians General and then amateur 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.200 extra if the note yeah are accurate. 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.800 Still, and then in terms of cost, like the size 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.320 of your antenna is what's going to determine, you know, 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:01.800 how far you can transmit and how you can receive 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:02.960 along with like line of. 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:04.080 Sight, right, it's about side. 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:07.159 Ye, it's the biggest one possible. So you want to 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:09.479 be a size queen, like you can get yourself a 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.440 really big antenna. I would say if you're using those 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.879 handheld radios. So the company called Nagoya that make pretty 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.080 decent radios antennas that work with that UV nine R 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:22.560 that I use. I have like a telescoping one and 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:25.159 we've had pretty good luck with that, and then I 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.399 also use one in my VI So I've hard mounted 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.920 a radio inside my truck and I have an antenna 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.600 that uses the frame of the truck as part of 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:34.840 the antenna, and I can get really good signal with that. 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:36.320 Yeah, that makes sense if. 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:38.320 You're just doing it at home. Yeah, put something on 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:40.560 your roof, Like you can get a pretty good antenna 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:42.400 on your roof, you know, and it's not that hard 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:43.200 and you can get signal. 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:43.760 Yeah. 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:44.520 Much further. 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.000 I've been recommended a little book that you can get 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.760 for twenty bucks in kindle form or it's like thirty 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:53.040 bucks for the spiral bound, which looks pretty durable. I 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:57.600 haven't received mine yet. Yeah, the ar rl HAM Radio 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:00.359 License Manual, which is kind of what I was advice 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.560 to buy and read through and the advice that I 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.000 got and you can correct me here. But this seemed 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:09.040 pretty hard to argue with. Is that, like the primary 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.760 benefit to doing the training and getting the license formally 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:14.520 rather than just buying it is it also teaches you 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:18.000 how to fix problems if you're trying to like get 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:21.359 this thing to work in a stressful, dangerous situation. 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:23.919 Yeah, you want to be familiar with it if you're 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:25.800 going to rely on it, right, just like anything else 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:28.840 this ham study dot org as well, which helps you. 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.760 You can also do something called a software defined radio SDR. 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:33.560 I've used those before as well. 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.640 I'm sure we'll Yeah, we'll do a more dedicated episode 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:38.359 to this kind of thing once. I feel a degree 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.479 of competence too. But I think what's really important with 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:43.800 this is because I can tell you right now, as 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.000 much time as I spend, like thinking about water and 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:49.080 having a bunch of different water treatment options and spare 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:51.199 water stored, and I have like I literally have at 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:54.000 this point years of dried food on the property. I 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:57.719 can food all the time. I have animals, obviously, I 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:00.280 have guns, you know, I do stuff like know, go 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.840