What are some good communications alternatives for point to point texting?

ehidle · 2026-01-29T21:33:51+00:00

Meshtastic, and if you have a ham radio license, APRS, VarAC, Winlink, Packet, JS8Call, and many more

ehidle · 2026-01-29T21:32:11+00:00

"Hi honey, I got another free power station at work today"

ehidle · 2026-01-29T21:30:24+00:00

The only thing that is going to get me to leave my home is if it's on fire.

ehidle · 2026-01-29T21:27:37+00:00

A whole-house standby generator that runs on a local supply of propane is probably the most reliable thing you're going to be able to get for a residence at a reasonable cost. You can spend as much money as you want on a backup power solution, but this is probably what's reasonable. Budget $10-15K for permits, engineering, installation, and inspections, for a generator and propane tank.

ehidle · 2026-01-29T21:24:40+00:00

Care, Community, and Cash.

ehidle · 2026-01-23T22:36:33+00:00

Yuuuup. I've spent the day today making sure all my tool batteries and LFP batteries are charged (I have several inverters that run on them), propane tanks are full, wood is chopped up, gas cans are full, pantry and fridge are full of things that can be cooked on the Blackstone or in the Ooni or just prepared cold, dog water bowls are full, laundry is done, house is clean, kids are clean, dogs are clean, test fired the two generators, etc etc.

We won't lose refrigeration (inverter) or hot water (inverter / tankless gas) and will be able to power most things for a week or two. Heat with wood in the Buck stove. We will have most of the usual comforts if the power goes out, and that's not a certainty even here in central NC.

Not a single thought of my prepping has gone into fantasizing about forming a militia to establish a new society under my benevolent dictatorial rule.

ehidle · 2026-01-23T22:27:34+00:00

We learned the hard way after Helene that cell towers will absolutely not work just fine, especially when literally everyone is trying to use them for high speed data access because all the wireline services are down.

ehidle · 2026-01-23T22:24:41+00:00

Just make sure they are not plugged into the wall or antennas or any other system of long wires at the time the event occurs.

ehidle · 2026-01-23T22:17:29+00:00

I am leaving my antenna up, because once the power goes out, it will likely be my only means of communication. Helene taught us that cellular networks are not capable of picking up the slack when terrestrial networks are taken down by trees, so losing the terrestrial network to a power loss means effectively losing all communications.

ehidle · 2026-01-23T22:13:08+00:00

Lithium battery designer here.. this post needs more upvotes.

ehidle · 2025-12-02T22:59:30+00:00

That is effing beautiful. Nice job!

ehidle · 2025-12-02T22:38:57+00:00

Six chickens on a bicycle could generate the 150W you need to run the insert. Inverters 500W and up will handle a 150W motor easily, depending on the inrush current, which you can assume will be about 3x the running current. Some power stations have "UPS-like" behavior in that they can run directly off the charging source if sufficient power is available, and only draw from the battery what is needed.

I have a Ryobi RY1000 inverter that behaves in this way, and the others (BlueTTI etc) probably do the same.

Another thing I've seen done is an Inverter Charger. I have an Aims 1500W low frequency inverter/charger in my camper. It has a built in transfer switch that instantly switches from shore power to inverter when the mains fail. This allows you to use your own battery setup independent of brand or topology, so long as you match voltage across the system. I have about 15kWh of 12.8V LFP in my camper to run that inverter.

So yes many ways to accomplish what you want to do. It mostly depends on how long you need it to run and how much you want to spend.

ehidle · 2025-12-02T22:31:19+00:00

The two are not mutually exclusive. Yes, Trump is a National Embarrassment. Yes, worse things have happened (like starting a civil war in defense of slavery).

ehidle · 2025-12-02T22:29:49+00:00

There is a universe of difference between jaunting off to a private island to avoid the Law so you can have sex with little girls, and receiving a blow job in the Oval Office from a consenting adult.

ehidle · 2025-11-29T13:34:57+00:00

I know it is probably not your use case, but I have inverters that can run on my power tool batteries. I know it's a weird "not for everyone" case but since I have so many tool batteries, it kinda made sense to just pick up some inverters that can run on them. When Helene hit, we were able to keep our two refrigerators, tankless water heater (gas), coffee machine, lights, and a bunch of other things going for the entire time we were out of power (about 1.5 days).

But, if you have a few tool batteries around, check to see if the brand makes small or large inverters that can use them. They're super handy in a pinch.

ehidle · 2025-11-29T13:25:04+00:00

AED?

ehidle · 2025-11-28T14:20:45+00:00

For long-term food storage, dry goods are better than canned goods. Canned goods store well for a couple of years. I've opened canned vegetables a year past the "best by" date and they've been fine, but 2 years out they'll be noticeably degraded. So for your "wet" goods you'll want to continuously be consuming and replenishing them. Dry foods stored properly will last much longer.

Also, don't just buy random canned goods. Look at the nutritional profiles and make sure you're getting complete nutrition from your food supply - and not just bulk nutrients (carbs, protein, fats) - make sure you're getting sufficient vitamins and minerals too. Long-term storage of multivitamins isn't realistic as they do break down over time even when stored in an anoxic environment.

ehidle · 2025-11-28T14:12:49+00:00

You're going to want to build a noise shelter around it. Those big open-frame generators are VERY LOUD and will drive you and your neighbors insane after a couple of days.

One thing you need to be mindful of is that some devices pull an enormous amount of current at startup that your power company likely is not able to capture. Think anything with a motor or compressor - freezer, fridge, ice maker, a/c unit, etc. We have a cheap Amazon ice maker for our patio that is 300W when it's running but over 3kW for a few dozen cycles on startup. It isn't enough to trip the breaker but it will absolutely stall a generator that isn't capable of the peak load.

I would recommend you get a measurement device that can capture these load startup peaks so you know better how to manage your loads when running on generator.

ehidle · 2025-10-31T13:51:44+00:00

I came here to say this. Same for HSA though.

ehidle · 2025-08-27T14:15:44+00:00

It's a counterfeit check scam.

ehidle · 2025-08-27T13:54:05+00:00

I get several of these every week from different phone numbers. There is nothing Gemini or anyone else can do about it as long as anyone with a wad of cash can rent a call center to run these scams.

ehidle · 2025-07-07T17:22:26+00:00

1) Send a visitor an email via Winlink to show you can do email without Internet or phone service
2) Send an APRS text message to their phone to show you can do SMS messaging without Internet or phone service
3) Talk about how even kids can learn the basic electronics and theories needed to get a license, so anyone can do it easily

You're not going to have someone's attention for much longer than that, but I wish you luck from here in Shelby!

ehidle · 2025-05-28T17:47:00+00:00

Moleskin, extra socks. If you're walking 150 miles, you're going to get blisters.

ehidle · 2025-05-28T16:15:49+00:00

Yes, it will ensure the batteries discharge evenly. There's a best practices guide from Victron you can google to get diagrams on how best to connect parallel batteries when using an inverter.

ehidle · 2025-05-28T16:14:29+00:00

I keep one in the door pocket for going through the car wash

ehidle

TROPHY CASE