Thanks a bunch for posting this.
Have been hamming/swling since, umm, 1958. On the desk right now is an HQ-180, an FRG-7 and a SONY SW7600GR. My first QSO’s were with a WWII ARC-5 and Heathkit AT-1.
While this hobby is viewed by some as eccentric old guy behaviour, I suspect we will be important in the months/years to come. The HF broadcast frequencies are filled with loads of counter-cultural information (some of it is even accurate - imagine that).
Where I am headed with this is the inevitable need for COMINT when the internet and grid go down, or are shut down. All Freepers and preppers would be wise to take up your pasttime; learn their way around the SWL bands, not to mention the VHF/UHF ‘official’ channels. I believe that the foreign HF outlets will be going long after the coming tyranny co-opts the internet.
While it would be great for preppers to become amateur operators - that takes time and money. Having several shortwaves (tube & solid-state) will possibly provide intelligence when it really matters.
I have been quite favorably impressed with the Grunding G3 and G5. I keep one in the survival kit in the trunk of the car. Anyway, thanks for the post and 73’s.
“Have been hamming/swling since, umm, 1958.”
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That is when I was first licensed as K4ZKZ.
I later became W4EX, obtaining the call of my good friend and
top DXer in the world. He became an SK in the 90s, but his widow requested that the FCC let me have his call. I always hated my original call, haha.
Chasing DX was my passion, making it to the DXCC Top of the Honor Roll group, but I am now inactive since becoming an Expat starting in 2000.