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Radiation Detoxification Supplements for the Prepper

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PSK31…A Ham Radio Mode for the Prepper

The March 27th, 2012, episode of “Doomsday Preppers” on the National Geographic Channel featured the “Ark Two” and it’s Ham Radio station. However, the mode they were using was not voice, but a digital mode known as PSK31 aka Phase Shift Keying 31. For all you techie Preppers, this is right up your ally, but … Continue reading »

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Wheatgrass…Another Easy Indoor Food Crop

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Citizen’s Band Radio for the Prepper

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Growing Potatoes Indoors in a Five Gallon Bucket

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Collecting “Weeds” for Your Food Supply Post-Catastrophe

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Radiation Detoxification Supplements for the Prepper PSK31…A Ham Radio Mode for the Prepper Wheatgrass…Another Easy Indoor Food Crop Citizen’s Band Radio for the Prepper Growing Potatoes Indoors in a Five Gallon Bucket Collecting “Weeds” for Your Food Supply Post-Catastrophe

May
14

Radiation Detoxification Supplements for the Prepper

by Travis Waack

Almost everyone in the prepper community has heard of Potassium Iodide (KI) that is taken to fill the thyroid with non-radioactive iodine so that the thyroid, which loves iodine, is full when exposed to radioactive forms of iodine. I highly recommend having KI and taking it if a nuclear detonation occurs downwind of your location or a nuclear plant accident occurs within about 50 miles of your location. However, there are many other radioactive elements other than iodine that can be absorbed into your body during nuclear war or a nuclear power plant accident and KI will do NOTHING to stop those elements from doing damage to your body. Fortunately, there are a number of dietary supplements that can help you to detoxify, known as chelating, the heavy radioactive metals from your body.

· NOW Foods “Detox Support” – This dietary supplement contains Sodium Alginate, a powerful kelp extract shown to reduce radioactive strontium absorption through the intestinal wall by 50-80%, and Chlorella, a powerful chlorophyll rich food that has been shown to neutralize radioactive cadmium and remove radioactive uranium from the body.
Apple Pectin – This dietary supplement contains Pectin, which according to “Fighting Radiation and Chemical Pollutants with Foods, Herbs and Vitamins,” Pectin has the ability to bind radioactive residues and remove them from the body.
L-Cysteine – This dietary supplement contains Cysteine Hydrochloride, which according to Dr. Donsbach “protects against the damage of radiation by terminating the free radicals produced by ionizing radiation.”
Baking Soda – Baking Soda baths and mouth rinses consisting of baking soda and water has been shown to pull radioactive contaminants from the body.

Of course, the best way to protect yourself from radiation is time (exposing yourself for as little time as possible), distance (placing as much distance between you and the radiation), and shielding (placing as much dense matter, like water or metal, between you and the radiation). In addition, you want to avoid ingestion of radioactive fallout dust by eating only canned or sealed foods and avoiding crops grown or milk produced during the fallout period. You also must avoid breathing in radioactive fallout dust by using a gas mask or N95 respirator. Finally, you also want to avoid getting fallout dust on open wounds. However, you may still find yourself contaminated with heavy radioactive metals as a result of absorption or ingestion of radioactive fallout. In these cases, the above dietary supplements may offer your best hope if emergency medical treatment is not available.

You will also want to make sure that you give your immune system as much support as possible following a radiological event because exposure to radiation significantly reduces the body’s ability to produce white blood cells. Your white blood cells are your body’s natural infection fighters. Vitamins and herbs, such as Garlic, Echinacea, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D are great choices.

Sources:

Foods That Cleanse Radiation From Body: http://www.livestrong.com/article/334359-foods-that-cleanse-radiation-from-body/

Combatting Radiation Poisoning Tips: http://www.healingcancernaturally.com/chelating-ionizing-radiation.html

The information, concepts, or opinions from CatastropheNetwork.org are intended for informational purposes only and must be evaluated by the reader, in consultation with a professional, to ensure viability for their individual situation.

Tags: Nuclear, Preparedness, Radiation

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Apr
01

PSK31…A Ham Radio Mode for the Prepper

by Travis Waack

One of the main reasons that PSK31 is such a great Prepper communications mode is because it makes the most efficient use of the transmitter’s power output. The reason for this is really simple. In order to transmit your voice over the radio waves you use about 2400 Hz of bandwidth using a common voice mode known as Single Sideband (SSB). However, in order to transmit a PSK31 signal you use only 31 Hz of bandwidth, which is just a hair over 1% of the bandwidth used for voice communications. That means if you are transmitting PSk31 data at 5 watts (considered very low power in the Ham Radio world) it would be like transmitting voice at 500 watts (considered high end power in the Ham Radio world) because your power output is focused in such a narrow bandwidth. This gives you huge advantages when operating on solar charged batteries or other Prepper power sources as 5 watts draws far less current than 500 watts.

If there were a downside to PSK31 it would be that a computer with a soundcard interfaced to your radio is required to use the digital mode. However, a computer doesn’t have a to be a big power consuming device and an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) protected computer would have some other serious benefits for the Prepper. I would highly recommend that the serious Prepper keep a small “netbook” computer inside a steel trash can and load key files, ebooks, etc. onto that laptop. Not only will this “netbook” computer allow you to communicate with the world using your Ham Radio, but it could store a wealth of books and information that you might not otherwise be able to bug out with.

So what is required to use PSK31? There are three basic components to a PSK31 station. First, a Ham Radio and an antenna capable of transmitting and receiving on the 20 meter (14.070 MHz PSK frequency) and or 40 meter band (7.070 MHz PSK frequency) in the High Frequency (HF) bands. An inexpensive HF Ham Radio is the Alinco DX-SR8, which can be purchased for just over $500 or a great Prepper radio, the Yaesu FT-857, which has both HF capabilities for regional and worldwide communications, but also VHF/UHF for local communications via repeaters all in a small package. Second, a computer, as I mentioned above, a “netbook” with Windows XP, Vista, or 7 and the free PSK31 Digipan Software would be a perfect solution. Third, what is known as a “Radio Soundcard Interface” is needed to connect the radio to the computer’s soundcard, such as the SignaLink USB. The computer soundcard does the work of decoding the data’s audio from the radio’s receiver by linking the audio output of the radio to the line in on your computer and creating the data’s audio to be transmitted by linking the audio from the audio output of the computer to the microphone input of the radio.

The following image shows what the Digipan Software looks like decoding some PSK31 on 20 meters using my station (an FT-847 Transceiver using a R7 Vertical Antenna). Notice that there are multiple yellow/red vertical lines in what is called the “waterfall display.” Each of these yellow/red vertical lines represents a text conversation on PSK31. In the upper portion of the screenshot, you will notice a variety of horizontal lines, this is where the computer automatically picks out the different signals and decodes them in realtime. The box in the upper left represents the data at the point of the purple diamond at the top of the waterfall display. The purple diamond can be moved and represents where in the spectrum you would be transmitting if you were properly licensed and had the appropriate equipment configuration. Click the image below to enlarge you will notice a QSO (conversation) between a station in the United States and CU3EJ in Portugal.

If you have a shortwave receiver capable of receiving Single Sideband (SSB) on 14.070 MHz or 7.070 MHz then you can easily get started with monitoring PSK31 simply by downloading the free software mentioned above and configuring it to use a built in or external computer microphone rather than a soundcard interface. Configure the software by clicking “Configure,” then “Soundcard” and selecting your microphone as the input device. Now just set your microphone next to your shortwave receiver and you should start to see your waterfall display populate with conversations if any are present. PSK31 has a unique sound, click this link for a PSK31 Audio Sample, so if you can hear it, your computer can too.

Tags: Amateur Radio, Communications, Ham Radio, Preparedness, PSK31, Radio, SHTF

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Mar
24

Wheatgrass…Another Easy Indoor Food Crop

by Travis Waack

I recently began experimenting with wheatgrass, which I quickly found was a ferocious little food producing plant. In addition to potatoes, which I mentioned in my post “Growing Potatoes Indoors in a Five Gallon Bucket,” I’ve quickly learned that wheatgrass is another food crop that you can grow indoors all year. I researched a number of different ways to sprout the grass, but finally I decided to grow my wheatgrass like I would grow anything else, in dirt! I planted about 10 seeds in each pod of a seeding starting tray and sprinkled just a little dirt over the seeds and thoroughly watered them. After just two days, the seeds were already puffed up and sprouting.

After just a week, the wheatgrass was well established and the roots were actually shooting out of the bottom of the pods into the water tray. These are aggressive little plants! After a week, I “mowed” the wheat grew to about an inch high and threw it into a juicer for a nutrient packed shot. If you leave an inch behind, after a few days, you will have several inch high wheatgrass to harvest again.

This brings me to my next point. To eat wheatgrass you MUST juice it because the body cannot otherwise digest the fibers of the wheatgrass. You will get the the nutrient benefit and may well find yourself very constipated if you don’t juice your wheatgrass. Specialized hand crank wheatgrass juicers are sold on Amazon for around $100, don’t go cheap here because the reviews are terrible on the $20 and $30 juicers. I have also found the electric juicers are not particularly effective at juicing wheatgrass, so hand crank is the way to go, not only for effectiveness, but from the prepper standpoint as well.

Tags: Food, Juicer, Preparedness, SHTF, Wheatgrass

Mar
18

Citizen’s Band Radio for the Prepper

by Travis Waack

Following any catastrophe, there are likely to be a number of local truckers and pick up truck drivers who have Citizens Band (CB) radios. CB radios have been around as a radio service since the 40′s and are still popular today, particularly with semi-trucks. CB radios do not require a license, unlike Amateur “HAM” Radio or GMRS, which do require a license. Many pick-up trucks also are equipped with CB radios and some base stations also exist. It would benefit the prepper to obtain at least one CB radio and base station antenna to communicate with citizens in their immediate community. You can obtain a CB from Amazon.com or Walmart for between $30 and $50 for a basic model, which is all you need. See below for a variety of CB radios from Amazon.com.

Base station antennas are also inexpensive an easy to install. The rule with Citizen’s Band (CB) is, the higher the antenna, the better the range. You may have heard about “Skip” using CB, which is possible over great distances depending on atmospheric conditions, but won’t help you communicate with people in your own town. You need a high antenna to do that! Below are a variety of base station antennas and coax cable to run between the CB radio and the antenna. I would suggest the Solarcon Vertical with Ground Plane as the best option and the Double Bazooka only if you are on a tight budget. The Double Bazooka is a dipole antenna, which has the wrong polarization for talking with most Citizens Band stations that use vertical antennas, although it will work. Also, you must buy RG8 or RG8X coax cable as featured below, DO NOT use television coax for your Citizens Band setup.

Most people use the Citizens Band (CB) Channel 19 for routine communications and Channel 9 for emergency communications. Either of these channels should be monitored during a catastrophe and you may want to consider a “is anybody monitoring” call at the top and bottom of the hour if you have the electrical resources to do so. You can also monitor CB Channel 9 and 19 on most scanners or a an Amateur Radio HF Transceiver. The freuqency to monitor for Channel 9 is 27.065 MHz AM and for Channel 19 it’s 27.185 MHz AM.

Citizens Band (CB) radios also require a 12 volt DC power supply, as compared to the 110 volt AC power that comes from your home outlets. Your vehicles cigarette lighter supplies enough 12 volt DC power to supply a CB radio, as does a car battery pulled from a vehicle or a most AC to DC power supplies that supply at least 2 amps (A) or 2000 milliamps (mA).

Tags: CB, Communications, Preparedness, Radio, SHTF

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Mar
14

Growing Potatoes Indoors in a Five Gallon Bucket

by Travis Waack

Don’t throw away those potatoes that have “gone bad” and grown eyes. Instead, toss one, eyes up, in a 5 gallon bucket that has holes drilled in the bottom for drainage and cover it with about 6 inches of dirt. In no time at all, you will have a healthy and ferociously growing potato plant! Once the plant starts to grow a few inches above the dirt surface, add a little more dirt. Repeat this process over and over again over the course of a few days until the dirt is within a couple of inches of the top of the bucket. Now, let the potato plant get plenty of sunshine and start growing you a bucket full of potatoes. Don’t be surprised if the potatoes are a little small, but in a world without rule of law (WROL) or shit hits the fan (SHTF) situation, being able to grow potatoes indoors could provide you with a valuable food source all year.

Tags: Food, Garden, Potato, Preparedness, SHTF

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Mar
03

Collecting “Weeds” for Your Food Supply Post-Catastrophe

by Travis Waack

Naturally, as a prepper, you will want to make considerable efforts to learn gardening skills and practice those skills on an annual basis. You will also stockpile canned and freeze dried foods to supplement your annual harvest after the excrement hits the rotating device. However, there are considerable bounties of edible “weeds” all around us that we often do not pay much attention too, other than by pulling them from our gardens. However, these weeds are nature’s way of providing us a little extra bounty without much effort on our part. Unfortunately, identifying edible wild plants is often difficult and downright scary for some. Fortunately, these edible “weeds” are usually commonly known, even by young kids, which might be a great way to put their energy to use!

The first edible weed is the common Dandelion, known scientifically as the Taraxacum. Almost everyone knows what a Dandelion is, but what most people don’t realize is just how edible and healthy weed is! While the entire Dandelion plant is edible (the flower, the leaves, and the roots), the best tasting part are the young leaves (those on the plant prior to flowering), which can be eaten raw for a nutrient rich green. Mature leaves, roots, and flowers often have a bitter taste, which can be easily removed by boiling them and drinking the water as a tea and even eating the boiled leaves, roots, and flowers. The Dandelion is commonly found in lawns, especially if you don’t mow them for some time, as would be the case post-catastrophe.

Photo: Greg Hume, Wikipedia

The second edible weed is the common Clover, known scientifically as the Trifolium. Just like Dandelion’s, almost everyone knows what a Clover is, but most people don’t realize it’s edible and healthy. Just like the Dandelion, the flower, leaves, and roots of the Clover are all edible, but the best part to eat raw are young leaves. However, the flowers, mature leaves, and roots can all be boiled to make a tea or remove the bitter taste for eating. The Clover is commonly found in lawns, especially if you don’t mow them for some time, as would be the case post-catastrophe.

Photo: Alvesgaspar, Wikipedia

Photo: Megan McCarty, Wikipedia

The third edible “weed” is the Plantain, known scientifically as the Plantago. Most people will recognize the Plantain, but it doesn’t have as a high a recognition as the Dandelion or the Clover. However, the young leaves of the Plantain are edible and provide lots of nutrients. Like Dandelions or Clovers, more mature leaves can be boiled to remove the bitter taste that develops as the plant ages. The Plantain is commonly found in lawns, especially if you don’t mow them for some time, as would be the case post-catastrophe.

The fourth edible “weed” is the Burdock, known scientifically as the Arctium. Burdock’s are widely known because their annoying velcro like seeds that stick to clothing, animal hair, etc. However, the taproot of the young Burdock can be eaten just like a carrot! Spend some time pulling the young Burdocks to eat the taproots and you won’t have to deal with the annoying seeds later in the summer and fall. Burdocks are often found on the edges of fields and wooded areas.

The fourth and final edible “weed” that I would like to highlight is the Queen Anne’s Lace, known scientifically as the Daucus Carota. Just like the Burdock, the taproot of the young Queen Anne’s Lace can be eaten like a carrot. However, you must be careful not to eat the plant itself or handle it without a pair of work gloves as it can irritate the skin. Queen Anne’s Lace is often found on the edges of fields and wooded areas.

Photo: Rangeley, Wikipedia

Please note, be absolutely sure that you have positively identified plants before eating them. In addition, you must ensure that the plant’s you are eating have not been sprayed with chemicals, including lawn chemicals.

Tags: Food, Plants, Preparedness, SHTF, Weeds

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Feb
06

Prepper Fitness Goals, First One Down…

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by Travis Waack

As I had pointed out in my post, A New Years Resolution You Didn’t Know You Had…Prepping, many common New Year’s resolutions are also great goals for the prepper. One of my goals for this year was to become more physically fit, so that I can physically survive the rigors of what life would be like post-catastrophe. I am happy to report today that I met my first goal today. I successfully walked on the tread mill (it’s Winter here) the distance from my full-time residence to my primary bug out location in a neighboring city, a full 8 miles by car, without stopping to take a break. In addition, I walked the entire 8 miles up-hill at a 10 degree incline to simulate the potentially harsh conditions of a post-catastrophe situation. The following are a complete listing of my prepper fitness goals:

Walk the distance between my home and primary bug-out location without stopping to rest and up-hill to simulate harsh conditions…completed!
Attain a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 24, in the “normal” range, but not too thin to be less prepared for starvation situations . Click here to determine your BMI.
Attain a passing score of 60 on the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), which consists of a set number of push ups, sit ups and running. Click here to determine what would be required to score 60 for your age range.

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Jan
10

Preventing “Cytokine Storm” Death from Pandemic Flu

by Travis Waack

What many people don’t realize is that during deadly pandemic influenza outbreaks, it is not the virus itself that kills, but rather the bodies own super-strong immune system response to an unrecognized virus. A strong immune system releases what are known as Cytokine’s when it is attempting to fight a foreign virus or bacteria. However, when too many Cytokine’s are released at once in response to pandemic influenza, like the 1918 H1N1 Spanish Flu or the current Avian H5N1, the body essentially commits suicide by destroying lung tissues. This is why so many people die of pneumonia or suffocate from fluid buildup in the lungs. Two Cytokine’s particularly responsible for the “Cytokine Storm” are known as TNF-a and IL-6.

So you may be saying to yourself…if I want to survive H5N1, I actually want a weak immune system? The answer is NO. What you actually want is a strong immune system that has had TNF-a and IL-6 blocked, thus preventing “Cytokine Storm.” Fortunately, there a number of over the counter medication and some prescription medication that can effectively block TNF-a and IL-6, while still leaving the immune system strong enough to fight off the virus at a more moderate speed. One common prescription drug that blocks TNF-a and IL-6 are common ACE Inhibitors used to treat high blood pressure. These are commonly prescribed as Captopril, Lisinopril, and many others ending in “pril.” If you take any of these for high blood pressure, you may be in a benefitial position if you get H5N1, relatively speaking that is… Fortunately, there are also a number of over the counter vitamins, herbs, and suppliments that also block the bad Cytokine’s. They are as follows:

Vitamin C – Taken in high doses (1000 mg hourly for 6 hours and then 1000 mg 3 times daily after reporting flu symptoms according to the Health Gazette in a May 11th, 2006, article) can serve as both an antiviral, immune booster, TNF-a blocker, and IL-6 blocker.
Vitamin D – Taken in high doses (2000 IU to 10,ooo IU per day, consult with your doctor) serves to prevent flu and also inhibits several Cytokines responsible for “Cytokine Storm.”
Green Tea – One of the most powerful anti-virals available in non-prescription form that blocks TNF-a.
Vitamin E – Powerful immune system booster that also blocks TNF-a.
St. John’s Wart – An effective anti-viral that blocks IL-6, which is not blocked by Green Tea or Vitamin E.
C12 Peptide – An effective natural ACE Inhibitor that not only lowers blood pressure naturally, but also effectively blocks both TNF-a and IL-6.

Taking other flu remedies, such as Echinacea or Elderberry, might actually do more harm than good during a pandemic, because they will boost your body’s ability to produce TNF-a and IL-6 that could contribute to “Cytokine Storm” if you are infected. These remedies work great for seasonal flu, but not for pandemic flu. Of course, you should consult your doctor before taking any of these vitamins, herbs, medications, or supplements, but specifically ask your doctor about boosting your immune system without promoting “Cytokine Storm” during a pandemic.

Tags: Flu, H1N1, H5N1, Pandemic, Preparedness, SHTF

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Jan
02

Another Take at EMP Protection, without an Insulator

by Travis Waack

After some further research, I have concluded that an insulator between your electronics being protected and the metal trash can or wrapped aluminum foil to protect against EMP is not necessary. Insulators, like paper towel or cardboard in a metal trash can, are very popular in the Prepper community. However, in this test, I actually rested the metal antenna of the radio against the metal can and once the lid was closed, the signal still completely disappeared! Putting an insulator in place may be simple enough that you might consider doing it just as a precaution, but in theory and according to this test, it is not necessary.

Tags: Communications, EMP, Preparedness, SHTF

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Dec
31

A New Years Resolution You Didn’t Know You Had…Prepping

by Travis Waack

By all accounts, the year 2012 is going to a wild and crazy year! Whether your are predicting economic collapse, a world war, or even a Mayan doomsday prophecy…this is the year they all seem to converge together. So why not make preparedness a New Year’s Resolution for 2012? Many may answer this questions by saying that the old standby resolutions, such as loosing weight, spending more time with family, getting out of debt, kicking a nasty habit like smoking or drinking, or learning something new are just more important to them. However, what most people don’t realize is that these all can become part of an overall resolution to become a Prepper!

Weight Loss – Most avid Preppers will tell you that physical fitness is a key to being prepared for whatever might come our way in 2012. Being fit makes you healthy and less likely to be dependent on doctors and medications that may not be around post-catastrophe. Being fit makes you more ready to defend yourself and family from civil unrest. Lastly, whatever might happen in 2012 is likely to make life much more difficult. Walking may be the only replacement for oil powered cars and trucks. Toiling in the garden may be the only replacement for the grocery store! Being physically fit will make these new difficulties much easier to bear.
Spending More Time with Family – Most avid Preppers will tell you that one of the most frustrating, yet critically important, parts of prepping is getting those you care about to do it with you so that they won’t have to depend entirely upon you post-catastrophe. Make prepping a family activity and in doing so, you will spend much more time with family while doing something incredibly productive in the process.
Getting Out of Debt – Many Preppers fear financial collapse because many economists all around the world have beaten their drums as loud as they can to alert the world to the collapse that is imminent. A part of any collapse will inevitably involve a so called “credit crunch” where banks becomes much less likely to lend and much more likely to repossess and foreclose. All of this will come at a time when pink slips will be distributed like a company newsletter. Don’t get caught in a situation where your income is gone and your survivability is at stake because of bank repossessions and foreclosures. Do everything you can now to pay off your debt!
Kick Nasty Habits – Smoking and drinking are not only bad for your health, but they cost a lot of money and they make you dependent on products that will quickly disappear post-catastrophe. Use the money you save by quitting smoking or drinking to pay off debts or buy preparedness minded products.
Learn Something New – There is plenty to learn in the preparedness community. Learning to garden, to become a ham radio operator, to can and preserve food, to use guns, or to put up a solar panel are just a few topics that you can learn about with rewarding and fun results.

Most people don’t realize just how much prepping can contribute to an overall healthy lifestyle. Take the plunge…make Prepping your New Year’s Resolution and you’ll find it’s easy to accomplish a whole bunch of other things in the process.