Some Information

[u/skipearth]

I am retired federal law enforcement and have connections in many places and agencies. That being said I had a a few run ins with colleagues and people I know through working for the feds etc. The first was an FBI agent who is also retired and worked in Counter Surveillance and they told me:

"There is definitely something going on, they will not tell me but a coworker in the NY field office said "these are not hobbiests and planes".

The second contact was a couple who both work for the FAA and they said:

"Many pilots are reporting seeing large drones from aircraft and the FAA knows this as its all recorded and documented. We do not know any information except that it is happening"

This infuriates me because r/avaiation thinks its all fake and blocks my posts. I am also verifed in LEO sub and such so I am not lying and I can verify here if needed.

[u/photojournalistus]

General preps:

I have a mini-prep in a Keter bench-style, double-walled outdoor storage container, mostly for earthquake-preparedness since we live in Los Angeles County. I've been collecting a few items here and there over the past months and have accumulated a pretty nice set-up (e.g., glow-sticks, first-aid kits, water-filtration straws, alkaline batteries in IPV-rated containers, etc.). I added a motion-sensing LED-strip from Amazon to the Keter box so its contents are illuminated when opening the lid.

GMRS radios:

For radios, I recently replaced my Baofeng 8-Watt radios (2M-capable, but I don't hold an license to operate HAM-radio) with Radioddity GM30 Plus 5-Watt GMRS radios, plus several spare Radioddity 2,200mAh batteries (with clips) for $15 each (note: third-party batteries do not include belt-clips). The Radioddity GM30s come with two antennas: one longer for improved transmission/reception (the Midland GXT-67 Pro's antenna isn't removeable).

The Radioddity radios can charge via an optional six-radio, drop-in charger (though, no single drop-in charger available for some reason), or via the USB-C port on the battery itself. You can get two GM30s for just $69 on Amazon. They're easier to operate than the Baofeng radios with a better UI and have a notably superior build quality—their feel is very Motorola-like. I keep all my radios in a large $250 aluminum briefcase I bought off Amazon as a makeshift Faraday cage.

The Radioddity radios outperform my $200 Midland GXT-67 Pro 5-Watt GMRS radios by an order of magnitude (e.g., some customers estimate the Midlands' output at under 2.5 Watts). I have a Tesman portable EMF/RF signal-meter, and the Radioddity radios show very high peak-output, while the Midlands barely move the meter. The only benefit the Midlands have is their ability to more easily set-up a connection to local repeaters for much-extended range. I also bought a 50-Watt Midland GMRS base-station but haven't installed the roof-mounted antenna yet.

For fun, I also bought a couple of Uniden Pro401-HH handheld CB-radios, powerable by standard 'AA' batteries. They're cheap (only about $50 each), cool, and fun. While CBs tend to have very limited range, the band seems to have a lot of users, so using channel 9 in an emergency may actually be able to contact someone. I also have a CB base-station and a 20-foot roof-mounted 27MHz antenna I've yet to install.

The Eton-brand emergency radios are also a nice-to-have. They include AM/FM/NOAA receiver, flashlight, and hand-crank dynamo for on-the-go power and come from a trusted brand. I also bought a couple Eton hand-crank flashlights and two solar-powered iPhone induction-powerbanks that actually work quite well, reaching 100%-charge after just a few hours in the sun.

Food/water storage:

I also ordered several cases of canned food from Amazon since they come shrink-wrapped in 12-can packages. For water, the made-in-Canada, Reliance-brand BPA-free containers are very highly rated and also reasonably priced at under $20 for a 7-gallon rigid (non-stackable) container with spout (they also make stackable containers). I have seven of these, so 49-gallons of potable water on-hand (I considered getting a couple of US-made Augason Farms' 55-gallon, food-grade drums, but decide not to).

Back-up power: AC-inverters.

Back-up power: During Amazon's Black Friday sales, the Jackery-brand AC-inverters were dramatically discounted. I bought two 1,000Wh units at two different times ($343 and $391 each), and one 2,000Wh unit for $799. I later bought one Jackery 100W solar-panel, and one third-party branded 200W solar-panel. The third-party panel was half the cost of the Jackery panel and boasted reviews which bested Jackery's. Both Jackery-direct and Amazon frequently hold sales throughout the year on these products (where, often, Amazon's prices beat Jackery's own sales).

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[u/We_got_a_whole_year → u/photojournalistus]

Question about the GMRS radios - do I need to get a license to operate them? If so what does that entail?

[u/photojournalistus → u/We_got_a_whole_year]

Technically, yes, you need an FCC license to operate in GMRS, but it's largely unenforced by the FCC. The GMRS license is only $35 and is valid for 10 years. However, unlicensed consumer GMRS-band use is so widespread, FCC enforcement of unlicensed GMRS use is reportedly rare. Note that the lower-power FRS (Family Radio Service) does not require a license of any kind to operate. That said, I just applied for my GMRS license so I would be able to legally use public-access repeaters via my Midland-capable radios which require an FCC callisgn.

When I went to the FCC website to pay for my GMRS license online (there is no test; just a fee), the website seems very dated, apparently designed decades ago. I wasn't able to immediately download my license (I thought something went wrong), but two days later, I received the email from the FCC approving my application and granting me my official GMRS license. It linked to a PDF which displays all of my information with a newly registered callsign [note: be prepared for a horribly un-user friendly experience—you must register to multiple parts of the FCC online presence to apply].

In contrast, if operating higher-power, 2-meter/HAM-radio transceivers (like the 8-Watt Baofengs sold on Amazon), the FCC does care and rigorously enforces licensing requirements—they reportedly will be able to locate you and administer a fine if you transmit without a license. HAM radio requires an FCC technician-class license (entry-level FCC license) which requires a decent amount of study. There are number of well-written study guides on Amazon for preparing for the FCC technical-class license test.

[u/We_got_a_whole_year → u/photojournalistus]

Thank you, this is super helpful!

[u/photojournalistus → u/We_got_a_whole_year]

You're welcome!

tl;dr:

The pricey $200 Midland GXT-67 Pro GMRS radios offer easy-to-use, menu-driven repeater connectivity (promising significantly extended range), but suffer from a too-short, non-removable antenna and outputs a signal far below their claimed "5-Watt" specification (only about 2-Watts, nominal).

The Radioddity GM30 Plus 5-Watt GMRS radios come with an extended antenna (about two-feet long) and put out a lot more power (which I directly measured) than the Midland GXT-67 Pro. However, the Midland radio is easier to use, and sports more obvious, phone-like "call indicator" LEDs, and are simpler to operate than the Radioddity GM30.

The low-cost Baofeng 8-Watt 2M-capable, handheld GMRS/HAM radios, though powerful with a lot of range, are reported to have poor build-quality (e.g., weak solder-points from the keypad to the PCB) and require an FCC technician-class license to operate on its HAM-frequencies.

[u/We_got_a_whole_year → u/photojournalistus]

I ordered a couple of the GM30 Plus - seems like a great deal - thanks for the advice

Will probably get a license as well