Ham radio
/thread
Seriously. There's so much lack of information about that Gotenna anyway that I wouldn't buy it simply on principle. What frequency it works on (Searching the web says low end HF) data rate, etc etc etc.
For one, IOS is restrictive of options to be able to do things WITH the device, so if you buy apple you should kill yourself.
Mac.Is.Bad.And.You.Should.Feel.Bad.
For a total investment of about $200 (used) per radio and studying to actually learn how radio works so pass the test to get your ham license, you could get a used military hardened handheld (Yaesu VX-7R) that is about the size of a pack of cigarettes, removable and swappable battery for uptime, removable and changeable antenna for adjusting for what you're doing from talking ten feet to talking to a sattelite, and a Mobilinkd TNC for an additional $70 per radio to plug into it for data/location sharing if you wanted to use it with an android. Plus if you have half a brain you can get it functioning with a terminal and be able to do straight 1200 bps data.
Or you can put about $500 each into Yaesu FT1D's which operate digitally as well as analog, which allows you to talk with legacy equipment plus transmit via digital modes either voice, data, or a combination.
The other thing is that when you get your license, you can get into much higher power/longer range equipment. Consider the fact that the VX-7R puts out the same power as a 119E, MBITR, or AN/PRC-152.
There's 2 things that directly contribute to being able to transmit long distances. The biggest one is your antenna, and any rubber duck configuration is going to suck compared to throwing one together out of a connector and some coax that you tune by length to the frequency you want to transmit on. One of many reasons I still to this day favor the old fat green Ranger handbook is because it had useful information like freq calculations and stuff... although I have that memorized now so it's no biggie. The antenna I used for HF transmission in Alaska cost me about $50 to make, primarily because I was using insulated wire due to it being easier to source. You can make a good HF antenna much cheaper, and VHF/UHF antennas you can make from scrap wire from when you installed your car stereo.
So, you can build/buy then install the antenna on the radio to work best for what you are doing. You can disconnect the antenna and attach it to an even better vehicle mounted one for better reception/range. You can hook it up to an inline amplifier and push it even further, if you really want... but the last option usually ends up being less cost effective than simply actually buying a Mobile radio to install in your vehicle (or use at home)
The next biggest thing is going to be how much power you can put to the antenna. 5 watts or more? You can talk around the world, depending on what frequency you can legally transmit on.
That VX-7R is going to give you a ton more situational awareness for your "SHTF" scenario. Know why? Because it can listen to just about everything you'd want to. Case in point, it's RF frequency list:
0.5-1.8 MHz (BC Band)
1.8-30 MHz (SW Band)
30-59 MHz (50 MHz HAM: USA version)
30-76 MHz (50 MHz HAM: EXP version)
59-108 MHz (FM: USA version)
76-108 MHz (FM: EXP version)
108-137 MHz (Air Band)
137-174 MHz (144 MHz HAM)
174-222 MHz (VHF-TV)
222-225 MHz (220 MHz HAM: USA version)
225-420 MHz (ACT1: Action Band 1:USA version)
222-420 MHz (ACT1: Action Band 1: EXP version)
420-470 MHz (430 MHz HAM)
470-729 MHz (UHF-TV: USA version)
470-800 MHz (UHF-TV: EXP version)
800-999 MHz (ACT2: Action Band 2, cellular Blocked
And with a software switch flipped it'll pick up everything, too.
I don't see how they can even say that the transmitted data is encrypted, considering anything over the air that isn't to a provider IE Cellular transmissions, is not legally encryptable for civilian use. And once again, the Gotenna website sucks ass as far as any hard facts/reality about the actual equipment, it's capabilities, etc.... and they're vague like that on purpose because it's not even licensed yet and the FCC is probably in the process of shitting itself about the encryption part too.
If you want some level of on-the-fly transmission security with Ham radio, you have 2 options. You just do Packet which sounds like this to the layman:
http://www.kb9ukd.com/digital/packet12.wav
Or you go Digital (ie the FT1D I mentioned earlier) which will sound along the lines of this:
http://www.kb9ukd.com/digital/des.wav
Both of those obviously are nothing but ear garbage to anyone without proper equipment to decode... and for anyone who hasn't worked with .mil radios and had a fill drop, here's what military radio sounds like when you're not cool enough to be on the net:
http://www.kb9ukd.com/digital/ky57.wav
All said and done, you'd get more range and more utility with less battery usage and more overall support if you went with Amateur radio equipment over this gidget gadget.
If you want to go sat messaging/alerting you're better served with Delorme products, because they actually function 2 way and have better power/support/functionality either individually or as tack-on units in combination with your choice of a mobile device.
http://www.inreachdelorme.com/product-info/
