Report From a Respiratory Specialist Treating Coronavirus in New Orleans

This isn't good. Link.

A Few Things to Improve My Get Home Bag

Since I took an internal transfer about two years ago, I now work in the 'burbs rather than commuting into center city Philadelphia. My office is about 25 miles away via vehicle but if I ever need to hoof it home, it would probably be longer. I therefore keep a get home bag in my truck.

I'll do a full post sometime, but in the interim thought I'd share a few things I've added recently:

First is a 1"x 10 yard roll of Gorilla tape. I keep a full size roll of duct tape in my truck's tool bag, but this will give more a more portable roll. Duct tape is useful in general for everything from repairs to a bandage cover to a fire starter, and Gorilla tape is the toughest.

Second is a travel sized bottle of Gold Bond Original Strength Body Powder. It weighs next to nothing but can add a great deal of comfort, whether it's for your feet or your dangly bits after you've been in the field for a day or two. As far as I can recall, I don't think I've ever seen some kind of body or foot powder mentioned in a get home bag.

A 25 oz. DZO brand stainless steel camping cup with lid. I keep a 40 oz. Kleen Canteen stainless steel water bottle in the bag but wanted a vessel for cooking in and a second vessel for boiling water. The DZO cup is well made with a nice fitting lid, and the price was reasonable.

A Sawyer Mini water filter.

An extra pair of socks, specifically these Särmä merino wool hiking socks from Varusteleka. I took advantage of their July 4th free DHL shipping promotion and bought two more pairs along with some other stuff. The socks are stored inside a Ziplock bag in my pack and a pre-loaded with some Gold Bond powder.

The get home bag itself is a Särmä Large Assault Pack from Varusteleka, in olive green. It's Maxpedition knock-off but seems well-made for the price. For something that's going to ride in the back of my truck 99+% of the time it will do fine. Before I decided on the Särmä pack, I used a German Alpine rucksack. The Särmä has much better shoulder straps and is a little larger, which gives me room to add more insulation in colder weather.

For what it's worth, I'm not worried about the pack's tactical appearance drawing unwanted attention. After 18 years of the never-ending Global War on Terror, seeing MOLLE even in urban areas isn't unusual. Heck, I've seen frumpy women in their 60s carrying similar packs in downtown Philly.

I'm going to be adding a USGI-style poncho that I've had to the GHB tomorrow. I decided to seam seal it before doing so, so that it doesn't leak whether I'm wearing it or using it as a shelter. For that I used Silnet Silicone sealant. Most ponchos, especially cheaper ones, will benefit from seam sealing.

Today I made up a quick-deploy ridgeline for use with the poncho or the USGI casualty blanket I keep in the bag. I used about 30 feet of OD 550 cord and three #36 bankline Prussik loops, as demonstrated in this video by Corporal's Corner:

I wound up using twisted bankline from a spool I ordered by mistake. I prefer the braided, which while not quite as strong doesn't fray as easily when you cut it.  The twisted stuff will be fine for this application.

One last thing that I have on order is a bottle Sawyer picaridin-based insect repellent. I'm not generally averse to DEET which IMHO is the gold standard for bug repellent, but picaridin has the advantage of not eating plastic. Like DEET, it repels mosquitoes and ticks, both of which would be a concern in a bugout or bug home scenario (if not during, afterwards if you catch Lyme disease or West Nile virus). I recently bought a bottle of this stuff and tried it out while sitting on my back patio after dark. It worked to keep the skeeters away. Otherwise I would have been eaten alive.

I'm planning to do a video on my get home bag, perhaps an overnighter with it.

BBC: Why One Man Left Silicon Valley and Setup a Survival Camp

BBC News published this video, which I think is worth watching. It's only a few minutes long. (I couldn't figure out a way to embed it.) H/T to Tamara on Facebook.

The BBC reporter's reaction to the AR15 was a bit stereotypical, but amusing.

As someone who works in information technology and who is seeing the push to automate more and more, I don't think he's completely off-base.

Heck if I know the solution, though.

Lever Action Carbines for Defense

Recently I was able to get some shooting in over a friend's house (he lives in the country). One of the guns I shot was my Rossi 92 lever action in .357 Magnum. It's a replica of the Winchester 1892, designed by John Moses Browning. Shooting the R92 got me to thinking about the practical application of this 19th Century design in late 2015, especially in light of current events.

Those of us who live in free states have unfettered access to modern defensive rifles like AR-15s, with full capacity magazines. However, if you live in a ban state such as New York, unless you're willing to break the law, no more standard capacity magazines will be available. If you're just now looking to get a defensive rifle, modern semiautos and acessories may be limited in availability.

In my opinion, a lever action is a viable alternative, even though the basic design is a century and a half old. If we're looking at a rifle for defense against bad guys (as opposed to dangerous animals) the ones to look at are those which fire handgun cartridges. Although there are several other options, if buying a levergun for social purposes I suggest that you choose one in .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, or .45 Colt. These are currently the most common such cartridges and are easy to reload for.

Of these three, my first pick is the .357 Magnum. Ammunition is widely available at less cost than .44 Magnum or .45 Colt, it provides effective terminal ballistics, and recoil is mild.

From rifle length barrels, magnum revolver cartridges get a big performance boost. For example, a .357 Magnum 158 grain bullet that leaves a 4" revolver barrel at about 1250 FPS will probably be doing at least 1700 - 1800 FPS from a 20" carbine. .357 loads with 125 grain bullets can exceed 2,000 FPS from a rifle! The muzzle energy of a .357 Magnum round fired from a rifle can be double that of the same load fired from a handgun.

Compared with a shotgun, lever action carbines have less recoil, smaller and lighter ammo, and greater magazine capacity (generally speaking).

Currently, the Rossi 92 is probably the most commonly available pistol caliber levergun. The Marlin 1894 is still around, but 1894s in .357 seem to scarce as hen's teeth. There are also Winchester 1894s in .357, .44, and .45 available on the used gun market, if you can find one.

Some features that I like about the Rossi 92 include:

• The 20" barreled models hold 10 cartridges in the under barrel magazine. The 16" models hold 8, while the 24" rifles hold 12 rounds.
• In the 20" barreled version, it weighs in at about 5 pounds. Even my 11 year old daughter is able to shoulder it.
• The .357 Magnum carbines have very mild recoil, even with full power loads. I've single loaded .38 wadcutters, which recoil like and sound like a .22 when fired from the 20" barreled carbine. This is great for familiarization firing for new shooters, and can also be used for small game.
• The design includes a built-in gunlock incorporated into the hammer. It is unobtrusive and is locked/unlocked with a key included with the rifle. If you want to secure a loaded rifle outside of a safe, it's one of the better solutions I've seen. IMO, it's safer than gun locks that go in the trigger guard.
• Rossi 92s are reasonably priced and readily available, although you might need to order one through a local FFL or from an online retailer. 
• While my rifle is blued steel, Rossi also makes the 92 in stainless steel. If you need a rifle for a boat or other humid environment this is definitely a big plus.

Some things I don't care for:

• There are some rough edges inside the loading gate that I need to debur. They can chew on your fingers when loading the magazine.
• Several years ago Rossi added a manual safety on top of the bolt to John Browning's original design. It feels cheap and cheezy. I removed mine and replaced it with a plug from Steve's Gunz. The gun still has the original half cock on the hammer.
• The magazine follower is a cheap piece of plastic. I replaced mine with a steel follower from Steve's Gunz.
• The finish on the wood was not only bland, but it didn't seal the wood well, either. I gave it a couple coats of Watco Danish Oil to better protect the stocks. Boiled linseed oil, tung oil, or a sprayed on polyurethane would also work well.
• Browning's design does not lend itself to easy takedown. The good thing is that takedown is rarely required. Marlins are much better in this regard.

Steve's Gunz has a good DVD on slicking up the Rossi 92s.

As an aside, Rossi's quality control can sometimes be a little spotty. Years ago I had an 1892 Short Rifle in .357 made by Rossi for EMF. It had a 20" octagonal barrel, crescent buttplate, and no barrel band around the forearm. It was a beautiful rifle but when I first got it, it gave me extraction problems. Rossi had me send it in and they fixed it, but this was a hassle. At some point I traded it off but I do regret that.

The pistol caliber lever actions give you a light, fast handling rifle that fires an effective cartridge, can be operated quickly, and especially in .357 and .45 Colt, has mild recoil. It's worth a look for home or property defense if you can't have a modern rifle.

Free Book Download from Sparks 31

I've been following Sparks 31's blog for awhile now, and bought his book Communications for 3%ers and Survivalists. He's decided to make the full text of that book and his other tome, The Modern Survivalist available as one PDF, for free.

https://sparks31.wordpress.com/2015/08/26/free-book-download/

It's worth a gander.

Gun Training in Nasty Weather

Over on gundigest.com, Dave Morelli has an article in which he advocates gun training in bad weather.

I see nothing in the article with which I disagree. The author isn't advocating going out in crappy weather to learn the fundamentals. He's telling you to get out there in sub-optimal conditions to learn what your gun does -- and what you do -- when it's windy, rainy, or cold.

Based on my own experience in shooting practical rifle matches at my club, operating your gun in extreme weather conditions stresses the shooter in ways not experienced when it's 75 and sunny. If it's humid, lenses (both eye glasses and scope lenses when you accidentally breathe on them) get fogged. If it's snowing ice can form on your gun while you're waiting to shoot, rendering it slippery. When it's hot, your sweat gets in your eyes and on the gun.

Or step in a 10" deep puddle of ice water while your waterproof boots are only 8" high, then go on to finish the stage.

In cold weather your clothing limits your movement and makes working fine controls more difficult.

Get the basics down in good weather. Then go see what happens when it's shitty out.

It was about 12 degrees out when this pic of me was taken back in January.

Under stress you will default to the level of your training. If you train easy, you will fail get life gets hard.

Got Comms?

Sparks has recently posted  about Internet service interruptions, some of which are the result of intentional action. See this post, too (and my readers may recognize the picture of the FT-817).

Today, I ran across this story on Ars Technica, reporting a fiber optic cut near San Francisco which was the twelfth such interruption in that area this year.

A sufficiently motivated party could cut several such fiber optic lines, or take out a colo facility in which many such lines pass through, and thereby cut off comms for a large number of people for a significant period. Given our current dependence on the Internet and telecommunications, this could be disastrous for those affected.

BTW, from the viewpoint of someone who's worked for an ISP for nearly 15 years, if somebody takes out a colo facility, Shit Just Got Real.

The Internet was designed to route around breaks but as it has grown in the past 15 years, the level of overall redundancy has dropped in many areas. Too many parts of the infrastructure are vulnerable to intentional disruption. With Islamic terrorism happening more frequently on US soil, I am concerned that at some point they'll go for infrastructure.

This is why I highly recommend getting at least a General Class amateur radio license. The General Class license gives you operating privileges on most of the frequencies allocated to ham radio operators in the US, and isn't much more difficult to get than the entry level Technician license, now that there is no Morse Code requirement.

There's a lot of overlap in the Tech and General exams, but you get a lot more privileges on High Frequency (HF) with the General ticket. HF is what's needed for long distance communications, or certain kinds of regional comms (see, NVIS).

The ARRL maintains a web page with info on getting licensed, including training and finding an exam, here.

You need to get licensed now, before you need comms, because you need to know how to operate your radio, and understand on-the-air procedure. You cannot expect to be able to turn on a ham radio, press a button, and talk to someone like you're using walkie talkies. Just like having an AR-15 doesn't make you a Navy SEAL, having a radio doesn't make you a competent operator. It takes practice, and the only way to get it is to get on the air.

If you're not licensed, don't expect to be able to get on the air with a fake call sign. Not only will licensed hams not talk to you, they may very well track you down and sick the FCC on you. The penalties for unauthorized transmissions can include $10,000 fines.

It's not a bad idea to have unlicensed communications options available, as well. FRS and GMRS* are good for local comms, as is CB Radio. See Dialtone's posts on the "Jungle Telegraph," here and here.








* I know, GMRS requires a license. However, I'll bet that 90% or more of bubble pack FRS/GMRS radios are operated without one.

"Technical Glitches." Uh huh.

Unless you were under a rock, you know about the following three things:

1. The Chinese stock market dive.
2. "Technical glitches" grounding all United Airlines flights in the US yesterday.
3. "Technical glitches" causing all trading to be halted for several hours on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday.

On Tuesday, this was tweeted by Anonymous:

Unless the network and system admins at UAL and the NYSE are totally incompetent, they have major redundancy in place to prevent shutdowns like this from happening. There's simply too much money at stake to have single points of failure.

Now, was Anonymous responsible? Perhaps it was someone looking to divert attention from the Chinese stock market meltdown. Whatever really happened I doubt that the powers that be would share the truth, for fear of upsetting the apple cart.

My tinfoil hat feels a bit warm. It would be a good time to revisit your emergency preparations.

A Ham Radio for SHTF Only?

My post yesterday, Testing the Arrow 146-BP3 Yagi Antenna, got picked up by a couple sites, including Sparks31 and Amateurradio.com. Thanks, guys! It also generated the following question:

Can you recommend a ham radio for emergency use only (hand held if available)?

There really isn't a good, quick, "Buy this radio," type answer.

Obviously, ham radios are a valuable addition to your preps, otherwise I wouldn't write about them so much. However, being able to effectively use a radio is more complicated than unboxing it, turning it on, speaking into the mic, and expecting someone to answer with useful information. You must learn something about radio operations and get some practice in before the SHTF. To do so, you must get licensed.

Piccolo summed up very well on Arfcom, here, why you need to get your ham license before the SHTF.

Getting a ham license is not hard for most people. Kids get licensed. Morse code is no longer required. The entry level Technician license requires you to pass a 35 question multiple choice test. This allows you to operate on VHF and UHF frequencies, which are good for local communications. The next level up, General class, gives you access to most of the HF (shortwave) frequencies, which depending on your setup, can give you regional to global communication capabilities. This is a second 35 question exam. There's a lot of overlap in the two exams, so it's not uncommon for someone to pass the Technician exam and then take and pass the General exam in one sitting, for one $14 fee.

The American Radio Relay League has info on how to get licensed, here.

After you've read some of the Technician level study material you'll have a better idea of the capabilities you need/want in your commo gear.

Now, if I've convinced you of the need to get licensed, I'll mention that no license is required to purchase a ham radio, and you can listen as much as you want. Just don't key the transmitter until you're licensed.

Survivor Library

This site has a ton of old books on everything from farming to Boy Scout manuals, engineering, chemistry, education, and radio. They can be downloaded as PDFs or ePub files.

http://www.survivorlibrary.com