Communication – How Do You Do It in the End?

Communication is where preparedness plans can fail fast.

You can have food, water, gear, and security handled — and still be blind, deaf, and isolated when things go sideways. Ask anyone in the military, emergency services, or disaster response what collapses fastest in an emergency and you’ll hear the same answer: communications.

If chaos doesn’t kill your comms, infrastructure can.

When the power flickers, towers overload, or networks go down, your cell phone becomes a paperweight. And when that happens, most people realize too late that they never planned how they would communicate when it actually mattered.

So ask yourself now, not later:

How do you plan to communicate when the systems you rely on fail?

When things go south, how do you plan to communicate?

Two cans and a string?

Your cell phone?

Do you actually know how cell towers function? How quickly they get overwhelmed? Ever been to a concert and tried to make a call or send a text? That’s a normal event. Now imagine a disaster.

I’m willing to bet you haven’t given this enough thought.

How far do you want to communicate?

·         On your property?

·         Down the road?

·         A couple of miles away?

These are questions you should answer now, not when it’s too late.

The equipment you choose matters. Cheap walkie-talkies aren’t going to cut it. They might work from the front yard to the backyard, but add distance, terrain, or buildings and it’s static city.

HAM radios are “old technology,” but they can reach much farther. The real question is: Do you know how to use them?

Can you legally use them in an emergency if you’re not licensed? Yes — but only if you know how, and only if you know what frequencies to use.

A simple analog handheld HAM radio can give you the ability to listen and communicate over greater ranges. HAM radio has also moved into the digital world, with options like DMR handheld radios. GMRS radios are another option for around the property. GMRS is basically a fancy name for walkie-talkie frequencies, and the equipment ranges from cheap to expensive.

Radios are one of my weak points — no question. It's a skill I’m actively working on with a friend, and I won’t pretend otherwise.

What I will stress is this:

Communications fail. A lot.

I’ve seen it in the military. I’ve seen it in civilian life. Equipment fails. People fail. Messages don’t get through.

Real-world experience has shown me just how fragile the cellular communication system really is. During a tornado event in my area, towers were knocked out — and the internet went with them. In today’s world, cell phones are the default communication tool. And suddenly, no one could use them.

The FirstNet plan on my corporate phone did work with towers down, but that’s a special system. The emergency group I work with had deployable kits designed to reach farther, still-functioning towers — and even those had limits on how many devices they could support at once.

Your phone is not set up to work on those systems. I know that for certain.

I do have some communication options I recommend if you want to look at them. These are radios I personally keep in my kits, and more importantly, I know how to use them.

Do you need to use these exact options? No.

Are they good options? Yes.