from Hacker News

Militia Radio Frequencies

by roycoding on 2/2/16, 5:33 PM with 105 comments

  • by zekevermillion on 2/2/16, 8:20 PM

    These photos remind me of William Gibson's observations on tactical fashion -- if you are really a militant, then the last thing you'd want to do is look all tactical and stuff. The Army surplus look, radios with whip antennae, etc., is fun. But in any scenario where militia were up against organized force, I would think they should try to blend into the population. But I guess it's hard to keep morale up if you just go to meetings where you practice blending into population. Like, an organized concealed carry sit-in at Starbucks where you don't tell anyone you're carrying and try not to be noticed? Or, have radio conversations where you discuss nothing of substance and avoid transmitting any coded messages?

  • by twothamendment on 2/2/16, 9:34 PM

    Interesting read, but it almost paints anyone who owns a Baofeng as a terrorist. It does do a great job of showing how lame it is to think that those radios will help in a standoff like that. If the government was going to go in, you can bet the first thing they'd do is jam those cheap radios.

    For anyone interested in ham radio, there isn't a better place to start. Without these cheap, not-as-good-as-something-that-costs-10x-as much radios you can get into the hobby for under $50 including your license. I'd spend a tad bit more and go for the UV-82hp and a new antenna, but $75 to get going isn't bad. Without these I don't think there would be many younger people getting started. In my area there is a very active repeater of normal people (many of them software guys, so maybe not all that normal) chatting about all kinds of topics and there is always someone to answer a question.

    Passing the test isn't bad - checkout the mobile friendly http://www.hamstudy.org (no, affiliated, just a happy user).

  • by tzs on 2/2/16, 6:48 PM

    > MURS is the longest range VHF radio service that can be legally utilized by anyone without the need for a radio license.

    The operator does not need a license, but I believe that the radio must be certified for MURS operation. The Baofeng UV-5R is not [1]. It is certified under Part 90. MURS requires certification under Part 95.

    [1] http://www.gordonwestradioschool.com/attachments/FCC_Part_90...

  • by davidw on 2/2/16, 7:04 PM

    I've been following the latest standoff pretty closely, as it's only a couple of hours east of Bend. It's pretty interesting to see the different subsets of people involved, including the lot this article kind of touches on, who seem to like to play "army guys". Scary, too.

    I like the quote at the end:

    “Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.” -Mark Twain

  • by jff on 2/2/16, 7:59 PM

    > (obscured by the upper receiver of the assault weapon)

    You mean the stock of the semi-automatic rifle which happens to be scary and black?

  • by arca_vorago on 2/2/16, 9:45 PM

    I find it unusual that there is only passing mention of Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) and frequency-hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA), which by themselves do have some issues, but combined with encryption like KY-57 or KY-58+ they can be pretty hard. Since that is some of what the US military uses, and militias are largely comprised of former military, I would expect to see more PRC119's and similar in the article, but don't. I wonder why?

    edit: found my own answer in the article. "The average militia individual can’t afford the $7,500+ price tag of a 5 watt VHF HT radio that has high levels of encryption combined with frequency hopping capability; anything less than that (such as DMR or P25) is easily intercepted and decrypted in realtime."

  • by VLM on 2/2/16, 9:56 PM

    Its interesting that the article has nothing specifically militia related. In that its just a list of point to point radios anyone can use.

    There probably are characteristics or features that would appeal to anti-government activists on either the left or the right, but the article didn't mention them.

    For example, if you want communications in the deep mountains for hiking or camping, its not a bad "buyers guide".

    Interestingly it does side step using actual military surplus radios. Probably because the mil-surp radios us Ham Radio guys use are either too expensive or too antique to be of use. I have a nice R-392 (a "mobile" R-390). Its not exactly tacti-cool, LOL. For about a quarter century I've been planning on buying a PRC-77 to work ham radio 6 meter FM... in my infinite spare time. I like the 6m band although I've almost exclusively worked weak signal SSB.

  • by pythia__ on 2/2/16, 8:58 PM

    What this makes me wonder is, could they use a cell phone Wi-Fi mesh network at least for a significant part of their communications?

  • by unethical_ban on 2/2/16, 7:38 PM

    For SHTF or remote rural use, I would use the FRS frequencies. No license required, but the Baofengs do transmit above the .25W power max. Oh well.

  • by hackuser on 2/2/16, 11:52 PM

    Isn't the FCC auctioning off some spectrum soon in former TV frequencies? Perhaps the militia groups could bid on some ...

  • by legulere on 2/2/16, 7:43 PM

    Why call them militia-patriots when they're domestic terrorists?