It almost sounds like you're in Maine. :D

My old stomping grounds were in Aroostook county.
I had an unofficial "older brother" who was a Game Warden and I used help out when he had to dynamite culverts that the beaver dammed up.

If you're young and dumb, dynamite is a lot of fun. :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

This was back when the budgets weren't so hot and a lot of those sticks were well-past their "use by" date. You couldn't help but get Nitro on your fingers and we would (carefully) flick it at the ground where it would "fizzle".


:Kaleun_Cheers:

I don't know how the rules for a breakdown of society is in USA. Here the Government has made some laws which says that Electricity, Water and electronic must under any circumstances work. This is for the authorities and other important institute. Hospital, care homes, school a.s.o.

When people mention things like a post-apocalyptic where there's no electricity, no water, no electronic a.s.o

Indicate for me that either my area of the planet has been hit by some major solar eruption or nukes has been used.

Markus

:haha: I remember doing that in the past. We would have a terrible time with beavers causing flooding when I was young. So I started trapping them.

My friend would get half sticks of dynamite and we would just blast these dams. Yea dynamite hunting is real effective. I think the crazy guy might just have bought a ton of M-80 fireworks from Mexico. He would tie those together in long strings and just blow up stuff in the woods. Crazy kids..

I am a strong proponent of alcohol's medicinal properties, but I learned early on in life that you never drink and drive, and you never set beaver traps with a couple of beers in you. People think beavers slowly die in traps, and that it is inhumane....its instant death, those things can take your leg off instantly.

I must be missing something in translation Markus because what good are government laws if society has broken down? That's like ordering Flight Attendants to keep a fully stocked beverage cart on a plane that has already crashed into a mountain.

You are so right Dave.

I toke it from what I heard in an issue some weeks ago. Where the reporter said that the government had made some "in-case-of-laws" and he said that things like electricity, water a.s.o should be working despite collapse/shortage on electricity.

I guess you right and I....must have heard something wrong.

Markus

Maybe but who can tell these days? Some folks put great faith in laws and regulations. :)

Its the darker half of the year again, and that means I have my Baby Specials (yes, plural) more in use again, for I just love the warm cozy and still surprisingly bright light they make.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNaHK8cufNo

This is as proven a design as it can get, there must be reasons why the design has not been changed and even the manfucturing method has not been changed since 125 years.

One tank filling is 330ml maximum, I recommend to measure only 300ml separately and then fill it into an emptyd lamp, because the thing leaks if you overfill it, and petroleum is extremely difficult to see in the tank, you canot judge how high the liquid level stands (water you see easier). The flame should stand still, should not flicker, because then it overconsumes , and also consumes the wick, and quite quickly. Cold and warm air stream s in side the lamp are part of their design, and why they burn brighter than candle flames, if the flam eflicker,s the physical system inside this is not balanced, burn sub-optimal: reduced brightness, more gas building and more smell and wick consummation can be the result. Manage the flame height correctly, temps will be optimal then, air will cirulate as wnasted by design, and all is good, and the wick will live for years. One filling should last 20 hours, and longer.

Use good, highly cleaned petroleum, then it does not smell at all. Buy cheap stinky petroleum, and you will regret it if using it inside. You can use petroleum lights inside (like you can use petroleum ovens as well, of course you can...) , our forefathers did that for generations, mind you, just act a bit sensible and reasonable and occasionally make sure that some frehs air can get in. Modern man and modern laws are simply so anxious of just everything that that it borders neurotism. If you want, you can use a CO and a CO2 detector.

Preferred light choice for prepper'S ambitions. One bottle of 1l petroleum gives you light for 60-70 hours - power and solar independent.

If you ever had stinky petroleum in use, not only wash out the lamp tank as best as you can, but also change the wick. The stink never goes away from the wick, you cannot wash it out by using clean petroleum.

Ever again people complain their lamps would leak. The manfucaturer says they have 30-40 leaky lamps in 100,000 produced. The leak is in fact most often from mishandling the lamp. Either too much petroleum was filled in, or after shutting it down, people let the wick show up, or just blow it out. Thats is not what you do. Do not blow it out, it consumes the wick, but turn the little key so that the wick sinks into the sink, until the flame dies. Then leave the wick inside the capsule, so that it does not reach out. If the wick shows, capillar effect will soak petroleum from the tank to the top of the wick , which then gets wet, and then starts to drip - and then you have the "leak".

The flames will stay stable and will not flicker if you adjust wick height to have the flame between 1 and 2 cm. More it should not be, and must not be. You can increase it more, yes, and if you never saw a cold air petroleum lamp burning you might be surprised how bright it can become, but the flame will flicker then and the wick will be consumed fast.

I have one in red, and one in anthrazit/cast iron look. I love these lamps since my childhood. Nothing beats the light from open fire.

Placed an order for a high quality short wave receiver ("world receiver"). While i have two dynamo/solar-charged radios for emergency, They lack quality to be useful ove rreal long distances and shortwave. Why this might be relevant? Becasue if the government does not want the population to know certain things and certain info not being broadcasted, it might just shut down radio stations or have them sending propaganda, and then it might be useful if you can access radio from several thousand kilometers away: from other countries, maybe even other continents.

I opted for this, I already have their survival radio and am quite impressed with the feature, performance and build quality of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99of4zQIbC8

He reaches almost 10500 kilometers out (with an external fixed antenna) !

The survival radio I mentioned, I absolutely recommend this model, at least to have one such radio in your household, no matter whcih model). The only difference is the one I have looks like in the video, but has an additional digital FM receiver (DAB).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cEA_fICFZk


They are moving more and more to digital radio, so the DAB feature makes sense: but only as long as the local media infrastructure still can maintain digital raido in case of a real emergency. Then it might be useful if you can reach long range and to other countries or continents, even if that needs you to run short wave/non-digital. I am living under the roof, and via cable connection from my balcony can wire the whole roof truss and turn it into an antenna, if need be. :D



Heck, I hope I do not mix up short and long wave here, I know not much about this stuff. :D

You fight like you have trained. You live like you have prepped. Practice beats theory!

https://www-focus-de.translate.goog/..._x_tr_pto=wapp

Amazing what a difference some meters of copper wire can do. The radio has arrived and I tested it during last night, and this evening again. I used the included 7m wire antenna for SW, also played around with a separate 5m cable I still had left from I don'T know when, attached it to the radio'S telescope antenna (which is 1m or so...). I was surprised what difference that made to the telescope antenna alone. What difference it made to use the wire not inside but outside the appartment, on the balcony, around 7m above ground. An no,no wall of steel concrete betweee my flat and balcony, only wood and glas.

German transmitters on SW and MW are all dead and gone, it seems. MW saw plenty of British stations, speaking English with unmistakable British accents. Many such stations, the band is almost crowded with them. :) A few French and exotic languages as well. Almost in FM quality came a monster transmitter from Spain, listed in my - improvised - list with 2000MW energy. Wasting energy has a charme of its own. :D

Mostly silence (white noise) on LW band, but a few things I caught up. Two English stations that did religous programs and spoke with strong American accents (I beleive I also caught one of such programs in MW, but I am not certain, the signal was not good). A Japanese-French program, apparently a radio-language course, so I cannot say whether it came from Japan, or France. One or two Spanish language things, two or three exotic languages, and one other that I clearly identified as native Japanese; then, no surprise, : a Chinese, and another Asian language station, that maybe was Korean, but I can reliably only say it was neither Chinese nor Japanese.


Only very few of these statioosn however wopuld be of use in case of emergency: being strogn enough in signla and being in English so that I could actually understand them. In case of huge desasters however it might be possible that some classic stations get reactivated for emergency duty, if the hardware was not destroyed.


Disconnecting the wire atennas, and most of all this immediately disappears in white noise. And over day it is more difficult to receive.

Well, first lessons for the total radio newbie that I am. And no, it will not become a new hobby, most likely not. Just wanted to say that the machine I bought really makes a HUGE difference to ordinary normal radios.

If you have any tips to improve receiving, and that do not include complicated additional electronics and constructions, but relate to how to improvise best with simple wire antennas, let me know, please.

I read that BBC had reactivated two programs for Ukraine due to the war one in the 19m band at 15735KHz from 16-18H, and the other in the 49m band at 5875KHz, broadcasting from 22-00H, but I find nothign in that frequency ran ge. Are they already switched off again? I would have expected to be able to catch them, with Germany sitting between the UK and the Ukraine.



I also read that MW still seems to be very common in the US, but most of them will not make it over the pond, I assume, are just reigonal small stations with too low power output. And in Britain MW also still seems to be alive, obviously. Man, over here they seem to own the MW band...


In Germany, FM was planned to be dead by now, replaced first with DAB a decade ago, which was a dud, and then DAB+, which works decently, but the technical execution and the demand of radio listeners made them giving new licenses until at least 2032 or 2034, DAB+ still are not selling too well. MW however is dead, so is LW, all german transmitters are switched off, often already are destroyed. In case of emergency, our dependency on internet communication and digital radio (short range) can badly backfire. I will never understand how one can be so stupid to have given up the telephone cable network just for VoIP, and even give up Deutschlandfunk on LW and MW. Redundancy is a foreign word for bureaucrats and bean counters. And not one German radio transmitter capable to cover all Germany...? Only short ranged FM (UKW) regional transmitters and DAB+?

If I am wrong, point me to it, please. As I said, I am a total noob (though with physics classes at school...) regarding radios, absolutely possible that I miss something.

SW Short wave is the way to go in case of emergency.
You need a long antenna, outside, but you already got that.
And FM (frequency modulation) is still present in Germany, all the bigger broadcasters are still active, from NDR to DLF; and Radio21 :D
You cannot rely on DAB/DAB+ or the internet, if all really goes wrong. Or you need a satellite system, but this is too expensive and probably not portable.
I have an older Sony radio for use during sailing, it is good enough, but needs AAA batteries. You cannot have enough of those in case of an emergency, but you also cannot store them forever.
An older good Radio with an elongated/prolonged(?) antenna and enough batteries is better than the new small emergency ones.
If you use Panasonic 'eneloop' rechargeable AAA accumulators they will last for 2+ years without reloading – if it does not get too cold. Reloading them via solar panels works like a charm.
Do not use metal-hydrid ones, they have a good high energy output but do not last long withour reloading. Speaking about three months storing time (without use) or so when new. Experience with those was not well.

Thanks. I still have a Sony ICF-SW12. Its good if you clip a wire to the telescope antenna, also it is small, the Sangean is quite big, you do not pack that in your Rucksack. But the new Sangean beats it hands down. Well, it costed 2.5 times as much, so... Also, the Sony has only UKW, SW, MW, no LW and no AIR like the Sangean.

A tip for batteries, if longevity and performance even in low temperatures are a concern: Energizer Lithium. Beats hands down everything in AAA and AA batteries I ever have used, but are more expensive. I use them in the squqirrel cam outside, and especially in winter they make a very huge difference to normal good batteries. They last longer, in summer I would estimate 1.5 times longer, in winter with temps around 5 to -2°: even 2-3 times longer than normal batteries. And their shelf lives is counted not in years but decades.

As a sailor and on high sea, you may want to consider them as an iron reserve. I occasionally read tests about them, with more in detail descriptions of their characteristics, they not only beat normal Alkaline batteries, but also Lithium batteries of other producers.

I buy them in bigger numbers at Amazon, but even at Amazon they are currently more expensive than usual. I recommend to be selective what to use them for. Currently you can get offers of around 2,10 per AA, in better times last year I often got them for 1,20 per AA. For my wildlife cam they are ideal.

On antennas, it seems that in SW you best use long wire antennas, but in MW and LW you seem to need T-arays and loop antennas which if you transmit yourself even need to be tailored to the frequency you intend to use. I am not into all that. I will look in my cellar and find some old T-wire antenna that I still must have somewhere, and see what it will do. I also read about frame antennas. But I admit I did not really memorize or understand all what all the talk was about. For my purpose I intend to keep it simple: emergency, short wave, thrown wire antenna, period. That I get plenty of British MW stations, mostly BBC apparently (I have no clue how radio is organised in the UK but I often listen to Smooth Radio London on internet), is a bonus. If Germany all turns into a burning crater after the moon fell down , its good to have them there, calm and unexcited. :D

I tested again, with a loudspeaker wire I found (edit: to be precise: a double litz wire/stranded wire in transparent PVC coating), a length of around 7m. I split the two wires and attached the loose ends, winning around 14m in total length, then attached the 7m thin wire that came with the radio, that way, having over 20m in the end.

I spun this in a double-S pattern (I mean an S with additional U-turn: forth and back and forth and back and forth) across my loggia/balcony, over an area of approx. 4.5m x 1.3m, then used the remaining cable length to get it inside. Then I tried it all out during night, around 1-2 a.m. LOC, simply clipped to the telescope antenna of the radio.

Wowh, that was a headjump into another world. The number of stations I receive this way has multiplied by several factors, and on MW many of them, from the UK, are surprisingly clear. On shortwave I got plenty of stuff too, mostly from Asia, two news programs identified themselves as something from Canada, it seems a few foreign language European stations, some American ones: half of them bible stuff. Only a few signals on LW, however. FM was as crispy as if it were DAB+. I did not try different antenna designs like frame or loop antennas, just the simply linear wire spun like described above. And: higher is better.

It really makes a huge difference to increase the wire length. Do it, even if you think those some meters you already have hanging outside were already much. It never is enough! :D Also, the stuff must be outside, not inside the house.

Its good to have many such programs in English from far away. Receiving Asian programs is nice for the stats and scores, but it would not help me at all if I could not understand them...


So add to your prepper list: not just a short and medium wave radio, but also 20m of suitable wire (I read there is nothign wrong to have the wire up to 70m long if you are in for short wave. Note that some other wave bands seem to prefer or even command certain antenna geometry and precise wire lengths for specific frequencies being taken into account: every frequency needing another antenna length.).

Antennas should be cut to a half or quarter wave length of the radio frequency range that one wants to pick up. Blindly increasing the length might work, or it might not.

The composition of the ground below also factors in as does antenna height.

Learn more here:

https://www.radioworld.com/industry/antenna-basics

^ yep, thanks!

You speaking of batteries, not accumulators?
I take it you mean batteries like these: (?)
https://www.akkuline.de/test/energiz...a-test-messung

Meanwhile also bought a 'Feuerhand' baby petroleum lamp (had a cheaper chinese one that leaked and now finally ditched that)

Waiting for a new wood stove, living 'in the woods' there is no shortage of burning material so it looks like the obvious choice.
The existing older stove is not longer allowed in Germany due to environment regulations. I told the chimney sweeper to stuff it before we freeze. New one ordered in july '22, estimated delivery now february '23.
Early enough to use it in summer :wah:

Yes to both. These are hands down the best batteries I ever have come across. Currently quite expensive, however. As I said: one better is selective regarding their use. For many purposes they are not needed, are overkill.
There are lithium accumulators in AA and AAA format as well, since a few years. Higher capacity than Eneloops, but lifespan is questionable with many models, it seems.


Congrats, I just love these.

Leaking: Most cases of leaking Feuerhands is due to overfilling them, or leaving the wick too far out when the lamp is dark. Read here:

https://www.petroleumlaterne.com/de/...Feuerhand.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tOLPwwv7D8&t=393s

Fascinating how simple these things are built, and yet superior to an open-burning petroleum lamp (full-glass table lamps, for example): a correctly adjusted Feuerhand hand does not soot, does not consume the wick, burns with an absolutely calm flame no matter the wind, normal other open petroleum lamps soot very much.
Since I measure the petroleum separately when filling and empty the tank beforehand, I no longer have any problems with creeping petroleum smear on the lamp.

Noch 'ne Feuerhand! ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKj65dl6Tvw


Proven: Feuerhands are unkaputtbar!

man kriegt alles wieder hin :03:


Meanhile i saw this .. be prepared :D
The REAL zombie apocalypse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhkMBl4AqHM

Completely escaped my radar so far, but that has changed: if still looking for light sources, consider this economic as well as efficient solution! They are brighter than I expected, though I should have been warned from my high quality LED torchlights.

Combine a powerbank with small LED lamps that are plugged into the USB port. 20-25 Euros, and you have light for weeks with one charge.

I just tested it with a new 10,000 mAh powerbank and a tiny warm-white LED light that was as bright as several candles or two petroleum lamps at medium flame - and that LED-powerbank combo burnt for almost precisely four days and four nights, in the end it were 94 hours, without break.

I got two such powerbanks, 10K mAh, of good quality, in an Amazon sale for 17 Euros. Do not forget that you can get such powerb banks with 20,000 and even 28,000 mAh for 25-30 Euros already.

I bought twenty small lamps like these - for a total of 7 Euros.




https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...AC_SL1000_.jpg


Or use these (even brighter, but drawing some more power):


https://testie.de/wp-content/uploads...ach-gesamt.jpg
The yget hot, and come in two colours, cold-.white and warm white. The warm white are really very, very good. And bright. With two of these popinted at the ceiling, my living room, 25 sqm, is fully lit.

And then these, which really replace ordinary light bulbs' brightness:


https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...AC_SL1423_.jpg
Practical, economic, enduring, and cost-efficient! :yeah: With a 20K powerbank, the lamp I tested with would have lived longer than one week (short of 8 days), and if you consider you burn it only 6-8 hours a day/night, maybe, then you are into the range of 3-4 weeks - close to one month.

Light quality of these devices differ greatly, mainly between cold blue-ish-white (terrible light these make in living rooms), and warm-white (not like the old halogen light, but better than the cold white LEDs, some offer really good colour quality now). Some really get surprisingly bright. Some stay cool, some get quite hot - since they are cheap, it makes sense to get a reserve of them, a handful, not just two or three. They often even get sold in bigger numbers.


P.S. It makes sense to have a solar accumulator (or a Diesel :) ). And if you have, it makes sense to have several much smaller powerbanks as well. Just to distrubute your light options across more area, more rooms, more places. What I descirbed aboive, is a cheap but well-working solution.


I seriously ask myself what took me this long to get this idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DANTP2n8x3c

A nice series from Lindy Beige, but this vid also points out some basics for this thread.

:Kaleun_Salute:

-If you want to pack some kit, MAKE SURE you know how to use it. If you're trying to figure out how to remove the packaging so you can find the instruction manual, you're only wasting time. Having a tourniquet in your first aid pack is almost as important as knowing how to use it. :yep:

- Don't bring a bridle and saddle to a dog show. :up: In the case of a bail-out bag, MAKE SURE what you have in it will be useful at some point.
Having a nifty laser-reflector fire starter is useless if you can't find wood to burn. :yep: Having stuff that looks cool is fine, if its only going to take up space it will also weigh you down.
How do you know what is essential and what is dead weight? Practice. :up: