No Two-Way Communications Allowed During National Emergencies Except by Established Groups

originally posted by: tovenar
In my experience, during most emergencies, the Feds are looking for help. Most recent example as the "Cajun Navy" following Hurricane Harvey. They Feds quickly got out of the way because it was obvious they were not equipped. Cajun navy even developed a crowd source app to show cleared areas and which docks to drop survivors off at, so missing persons were id'd and located, even what hospital or refugee area they were taken to.

Kids playing on SW, or just the village idiot with an areal, is a threat to genuine rescue work.

Quite true that kids or idiots may be ignorant enough to key on a licensed frequency that is being used for emergency purposes or by government sanctioned groups, but that is not really what this thread is about. It's more about a crack down to enforce a full spectrum communications blackout where even the unlicensed frequencies are being policed.

When you can't even access a landline or a cell phone, you should be allowed to use the unlicensed CB, MURS, FRS or WiFi frequencies if you can, but this EO can shut that down too. It too far reaching in my opinion.

originally posted by: klikmaus
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I'm a licensed HAM as well as SKYWARD certified.

During an emergency the repeater is limited to emergency communication but other frequencies have no restriction other than the usual licensing requirements and transmitting protocol.

You'd think that in certain localized emergencies that would be the case, but this EO ruling can shut down all forms of communications. Given a threat of great enough magnitude, or just the claim of such, even the unlicensed frequencies that are free for use by the average citizen could get shut down. Of course just because they can doesn't mean they will, but I wouldn't count on that.

If the declared "emergency" is an EMP then most hams would be knocked out anyway (like all other communications). If, as a prepper, you had your equipment shielded for the EMP blast and only brought it out to communicate during the emergency, enforcing the communications blackout would be a relatively simple task since very few people would even be able to use the networks. My main concern about an EMP and communications is a SECOND blast after the first blast when you've uncovered your equipment to find out what's going on. An EMP blast itself would be "enforcement" enough regarding all communications.

a reply to: whitewave

A very good point. It would be a far easier job to hunt down and eliminate the unsanctioned two-way operators if there are only so many intact systems left after an EMP attack.

During an emergency any frequency can be used. Restrictions are suspended.


The FCC Regulations in Subpart E of Part 97 relate to the use of amateur radio equipment provide special dispensation in emergencies :

§ 97.403 Safety of life and protection of property.
No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any means of radiocommunication at its disposal to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available.

§ 97.405 Station in distress.
(a) No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station in distress of any means at its disposal to attract attention, make known its condition and location, and obtain assistance.

(b) No provision of these rules prevents the use by a station, in the exceptional circumstances described in paragraph (a) of this section, of any means of radiocommunications at its disposal to assist a station in distress.

Truly disturbing that it is across the board. And contradicts FCC rules themselves. Looks more imperial than crisis oriented. The overlords will have definitely taken off their human masks by that point.

I have read that, following an EMP, it will take 1 to several days for the earths magnetic field to reset itself. So survivors should wait a bit anyway. I don't know how well short waves would propagate until the ionosphere or whatevs returned to normal

But yes a classic terror tactic is to have a second bomb set to go off once the emergency responders are deployed and vulnerable.

originally posted by: dragonridr
During an emergency any frequency can be used. Restrictions are suspended.


The FCC Regulations in Subpart E of Part 97 relate to the use of amateur radio equipment provide special dispensation in emergencies :

§ 97.403 Safety of life and protection of property.
No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any means of radiocommunication at its disposal to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available.

§ 97.405 Station in distress.
(a) No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station in distress of any means at its disposal to attract attention, make known its condition and location, and obtain assistance.

(b) No provision of these rules prevents the use by a station, in the exceptional circumstances described in paragraph (a) of this section, of any means of radiocommunications at its disposal to assist a station in distress.

All true under normal circumstances, and localized emergencies. However, that EO ruling suspends the normal rules, tosses them right out the window if they declare a national emergency or security situation. I'd be willing to bet though, that if you had a real personal emergency that they would honor those F.C.C. regulations even under a total blackout scenario.

Then again, they would likely take your two-ways from you after assisting you and putting you in a safe facility for your protection.

originally posted by: tovenar
Truly disturbing that it is across the board. And contradicts FCC rules themselves. Looks more imperial than crisis oriented. The overlords will have definitely taken off their human masks by that point.

I have read that, following an EMP, it will take 1 to several days for the earths magnetic field to reset itself. So survivors should wait a bit anyway. I don't know how well short waves would propagate until the ionosphere or whatevs returned to normal

But yes a classic terror tactic is to have a second bomb set to go off once the emergency responders are deployed and vulnerable.

I don't have the link on hand, but I read that an EMP caused by a nuclear detonation would knock out radio communications for a number of hours or a day or two. The disruption will more toward the nearest pole. Not too great a threat for communications, except it will travel though your antenna and fry your radio unless you have a spare system that is protected from the EMP.

Unless they inform the public about incoming in a timely manner, you'd never have a chance to protect your equipment that is set up. What you say about a second round could likely happen as well. In prepping, two is one and one is none.

most common newer radios (2010+) have "takeover chips" built into them. Alex Jones coined the term years ago when they made changes to how the EBS system worked in the late 90's. from what i understand the groundwork was laid in the 1996 telecommunications act, and then later refined in the patriot act post 2001.

the emergency "weather alert" function that seems to have found its way into everything from scanners to walkie talkies, can basicly be activated remotely and take over the functionality of your radio. instead of being able to switch to other comm functions it will tune itself to a preprogrammed "NOAA weather alert" frequency and just stay there repeating whatever "were here to help" message the gov will be transmitting at the time.

will older radios still work/exist? yes.

can the newer ones be modified? yes.

but 95% will be stuck on the same channel.

a reply to: RelentlessLurkage

That is really messed up, they seem to have all the bases covered. Lucky I have all older radios for the most part.

Thanks Relentless Lurkage, that one is very important.

Does anyone have a reference to the law mandating these "take over" chips? If we could find that one it would help to find radios without them.

All I could find was reports about a special chip to be installed in all wireless devices (specifically cell phones) that would interrupt with an EAS (Emergency Alert System) broadcast. Nothing about this being put into two-way radios. That was in 2011.

The federal government is keen to implement a centralized system of control over all communications, with the recent announcement that all new cell phones will be required to comply with the PLAN program (Personal Localized Alerting Network), which will broadcast emergency alert messages directly to Americans’ cell phones using a special chip embedded in the receiver. The system will be operational by the end of the year in New York and Washington, with the rest of the country set to follow in 2012.

LINK