I see that most recommend a cell phone, charger, extra batteries, and even solar charging equipment and I agree all of this is great. My question is if SHTF would you really want to compromise your location with a cell phone?
Thes can be tracked by tower and also by GPS, only if turned off and the battery removed renders teh phone incapable of tracking.
For that matter your laptop, tablet, or other device can also be tracked.
And let’s not forget the drones.
The use of my cell phone during a SHTF event would be to contact family and to call for help if it were available. Unless I was running from the law I hope that emergency responders could track my signal and provide assistance should I need it.
I would suggest the government would have bigger issues on their plate during a SHTF then tracking my cell phone use and location.
I do understand contacting family, and I guess I see our current government in a different light, perhaps because of where I live, but also I am not a fan of “I am from the government and I am here to help you.”
I’m just not all that sure that I would want them or others to know where I am in SHTF situation other than a natural disaster.
I am not sure who you would have to be, that the Gob’ment - in the midst of a SHTFBBQ - would be scanning the airwaves hoping to find your cell phone; amongst the 100 million other cell phones out there.
Probably better to hunt you down using the implant the Alians put in you…
That attitude and answer is disappointing. There are alot of other scenarios were you may want to re-think your reply. As for the government wanting to find me, I doubt that they would want to but it could be find anyone, perhaps you. I was only something to ponder.
I know how I will be communicating.
If the SHTF situation you described was to transpire then why would you need any hand held electronic device? To begin with they would in all probability be defunct and number two if you are on the lamb and going off the grid then you should have fried your shit in a microwave oven to begin with. :dirol:
Guess what? You don’t have to worry about anyone tracking you because nothing was working…no mobile service.
I had started a recent thread about what kind of radios people would use, but not much came of it other than a link to another thread.
Anyways, I use a FHSS radio that is essentially perfect in regards to security because of the number of channels that is available for communciation with family.
A cell phone certainly could be tracked by tower or GPS triangulation. An alternative to using traditional towers for communication is a wireless mesh network on a smartphone. Something I wish more people would look into.
As far as I know, a standard handheld GPS unit cannot be traced - it only receives GPS signals.
Was this due to too high of a volume of use or a break in signal?
Few months back during a earthquake in ME (I live in NH) after it happened you could not get through on a cell phone for hours. Texting was your best bet but even that would fail to send at times. During a real emergency not an ideal situation to not be able to communicate.
I’m not sure. I think it was a combination of both.
Power was intermittent, and signal strength indicators on your phone did show less signal…AND even when there was signal, frequently calls could not be made and texts did not go through.
So I suspect it was a combination of both.
Overall, everyone was very civilized throughout the ordeal, although there was sporadic looting. One person did get shot by the property owner, and it was very satisfying to have the Sheriff come on the radio (the only source of information for a week) and tell the general public that property owners have a right to shoot trespassers.
Back in 2004 when Southeast Florida was hit by three hurricanes, you didn’t really have to worry about your cell phones, the towers were down. If the disaster is a serious weather event, the phones aren’t going to do squat anyway.
Even if cellular telephone towers are not knocked down by a natural disaster, emergency response service agencies will be given first priority on usage of the towers. All other communications will be given lower priority.
I would plan on no cellular telephone service and no internet access when formulating a contingency plan.
