A buddy of mine is big into nerd tinkering and also into privacy. He talked me into getting Meshtastic LoRa radios. I have two and have had limited success communicating with them. But I have been able to connect with other privacy nerds and exchange messages. Still haven't figured out how to reach my friend and vice versa but he's a long way away. I'm kind of rural and there are a lot of trees/hills where I live. Still working on that but I probably need to put something on the roof of the house or a tower.

https://meshtastic.org/

I just found this today and am thinking of picking one up to mess with. WiPhone. It's an open-source phone that you can communicate with VoIP, rather than through a cell radio. You can also install and use LoRa to communicate with them too. They have a bunch of different circuit boards you can install, and there's really no limit. If the stuff ever hits the fan, it would be good to have these things up and running.

https://www.wiphone.io/index.html

Meshtastic seems like a great way to stay connected if the grid goes down. Your people would need to be on the mesh network though. Going way out on a tangent, would be a cool post apocalyptic way to communicate, with distant nodes acting like a Pony Express - you get your message to the closest node then a rider takes it the rest of the way.

Very interesting tech.

I laughed!

Interesting idea. But if you ever find yourself having conversations, Jimmy Hoffa, Amelia Earhart or DB Cooper, it's time to step away from the whole survivalist thing and come back down to planet Earth.

IIIHorn said:

---

Styrofone provides moderate insulation.

---

2 cups and a string is the most secure telecommunications platform ever invented.

GeorgiAg said:

---

A buddy of mine is big into nerd tinkering

---

You have to be careful - some nerds like it when you tinker with them, others don't. Selection is key.

Whenever Tesla-level batteries can be safely purchased and handled outside the vehicle context for regular consumers, those are going to be key for off grid life if you want any semblance of modern amenities. Stocking up on those beginning now, would put you in a great position post SHTF. Just as important as stacking guns and ammo and water etc imo. But I'm not a prepper, just an observer.

For now anyway.

Nissan advertises that their cars can be used as batteries and the leaf has been around a long time

My dream off grid set up is to have a Nissan electric SUV as part of my off grid setup having a car that serves as a key building block seems like killing two birds with one stone

Shawn Ryan had his tech friend, Ryan Montgomery, on a few months ago talking about these. I too thought it would be interesting even during any event where cell towers are overwhelmed, like Hurricane Harvey.

Sq 17 said:

---

Nissan advertises that their cars can be used as batteries and the leaf has been around a long time

My dream off grid set up is to have a Nissan electric SUV as part of my off grid setup having a car that serves as a key building block seems like killing two birds with one stone

---

Ford has the same thing with the hybrid/electric F150s if you want a useful vehicle

https://www.ford.com/support/how-tos/electric-vehicles/home-charging/what-is-ford-home-backup-power/

pfo said:

---

Interesting idea. But if you ever find yourself having conversations, Jimmy Hoffa, Amelia Earhart or DB Cooper, it's time to step away from the whole survivalist thing and come back down to planet Earth.

---

Or you've breached some time/space loop like the movie Frequency (great movie btw).

Im confused . What good does the Nissan or Ford do when you run out of gas?

Quote:

---

I just found this today and am thinking of picking one up to mess with. WiPhone. It's an open-source phone that you can communicate with VoIP, rather than through a cell radio. You can also install and use LoRa to communicate with them too. They have a bunch of different circuit boards you can install, and there's really no limit. If the stuff ever hits the fan, it would be good to have these things up and running.

---

If the crap hits the fan, I don't think this is a good option, because you're likely to lose internet/IP service, and VoIP would likely not be an option.

ROLLS LFP 100 AH batteries are good. About $1K each. It takes a lot of energy to charge up EV batteries, so they are not great for off grid for double use

ETA that ham radios are a plus.

Side bar:

I have actually gamed out the whole survivalist prepper mentality.

Everybody looks at this wrong.

I think that people who are individualistic and live out on their own land will be the easiest targets

You have food, you have potentially modern comforts with solar and battery backup, fuel etc..

Due to your isolation, you would easily be killed. Sniped in your garden or sitting on the porch.

Anyone would be able to stake out the property in the most difficult and defended of situations and still snag family members, hostages, etc.

Pretty much every way you game it you end up dead. The property gets looted and abandoned as it is unsustainable.

So unless you have walls, food for dozens, extreme isolation, a militia, very good organization for defenses and an ironclad policy against negotiating with terrorist. It's just not gonna work out.

Micro compound city states are the only thing that survive and that world's gonna be ****ed up to.

Yea but ford is new to the EV market, F150 lightning is obscenely expensive and Ford might drop EV's all together because of losses
Nissan has been in the EV business a very long time

Ah, the old modular phone. Had one back in 80's. Really a challenge knowing which tower to tune to but it worked out in the wilds of South Texas oilfield.

What happens to the grid when a nuclear bomb goes off?

MagnumLoad said:

---

ROLLS LFP 100 AH batteries are good. About $1K each. It takes a lot of energy to charge up EV batteries, so they are not great for off grid for double use

ETA that ham radios are a plus.

---

Why would you pay that much for a 100ah LFP battery? Decent quality 300ah batteries are in the $400-500 range now.

CrackerJackAg said:

---

Side bar:

I have actually gamed out the whole survivalist prepper mentality.

Everybody looks at this wrong.

I think that people who are individualistic and live out on their own land will be the easiest targets

You have food, you have potentially modern comforts with solar and battery backup, fuel etc..

Due to your isolation, you would easily be killed. Sniped in your garden or sitting on the porch.

Anyone would be able to stake out the property in the most difficult and defended of situations and still snag family members, hostages, etc.

Pretty much every way you game it you end up dead. The property gets looted and abandoned as it is unsustainable.

So unless you have walls, food for dozens, extreme isolation, a militia, very good organization for defenses and an ironclad policy against negotiating with terrorist. It's just not gonna work out.

Micro compound city states are the only thing that survive and that world's gonna be ****ed up to.

---

txyaloo said:

---

MagnumLoad said:

---

ROLLS LFP 100 AH batteries are good. About $1K each. It takes a lot of energy to charge up EV batteries, so they are not great for off grid for double use

ETA that ham radios are a plus.

---

Why would you pay that much for a 100ah LFP battery? Decent quality 300ah batteries are in the $400-500 range now.

---

Quality, fire resistant, internal charge control with communication to the inverter.

Well I'm very remote so that helps. Regardless, I'd live comfortably until I get off'd, and then it doesn't matter.
Also if you get nuked, once again it doesn't matter.

Meshtastic is cool and very useful for secure comms while the rest of the world is able to internet. But it is extremely low capacity. You gotta ask yourself what happens when the internet and cell network goes down and suddenly users are crowding into meshtastic. Same with all the Baofengs that people have wrapped in tinfoil and stuffed on a shelf in their garage. When everyone needs to use those the repeaters are going to wilt under the barrage of traffic.

What you want is an EMP resistant vacuum tube radio (or two or ten).

Agreed, there are only two ways for actual doomsday prepping to work

1. Become the leader of a cannibal gang early
2. Go into a bunker for a year with all your stuff, hope no-one finds you, then re-emerge and hope you are strong enough / your stuff all still works to be able to have enough leverage to have a working relationship with the surviving cannibal gangs after 95% of the world's population is dead. Probably still need to plan for #1

That said, I think most actual preppers are prepping for the in-between stuff, like the next time a lab virus gets loose, hurricanes, etc. The thing I'm trying to get my head around is the best way to create some optionality for a post-AI world, where unemployment levels are at great depression levels. I have questions about the tech, and it can't get there in its current form, but to me that's the thing to watch.

Crime rates soar, and regular folks are begging the technocrats for robocop style policing.

MrWonderful said:

---

Agreed, there are only two ways for actual doomsday prepping to work

1. Become the leader of a cannibal gang early
2. Go into a bunker for a year with all your stuff, hope no-one finds you, then re-emerge and hope you are strong enough / your stuff all still works to be able to have enough leverage to have a working relationship with the surviving cannibal gangs after 95% of the world's population is dead. Probably still need to plan for #1

That said, I think most actual preppers are prepping for the in-between stuff, like the next time a lab virus gets loose, hurricanes, etc. The thing I'm trying to get my head around is the best way to create some optionality for a post-AI world, where unemployment levels are at great depression levels. I have questions about the tech, and it can't get there in its current form, but to me that's the thing to watch.

Crime rates soar, and regular folks are begging the technocrats for robocop style policing.

---

The intermediate makes a lot of sense.

Just choosing to get away makes sense too.

jeremy said:

---

Im confused . What good does the Nissan or Ford do when you run out of gas?

---

You mean guzoline?

Me have backup plan. Can communicate to mumbai fast. No Chief H1B needed. Hmmph.

Fair correction.