Link – Sparks31

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It’s mentioned a time or two in the past, but I thought it might be timely to post a reminder about Sparks31 blog. Pretty much everything you want to know about ‘grid down’ communications, and even some “What to buy if you don’t want a lecture on radio theory and just want a shopping list”.  A guy who is on the same page as most of us in terms of mindset, and the technological experience and know-how to be an excellent resource. Go check him out.

And, in case he happens to check his logs to see where his referrals are coming from – Dude! Email me sometime and say hi.

12 thoughts on “Link – Sparks31”

  1. I just favlinked sparks31 blog. Went there and found out I’d bought the wrong radios (baofeng). Wish I’d of had that and sooner. I will make those p’s of sh- t work if it kills me.

    • The UV5-R radios are much better than many give them credit for, as long as you can run them properly and have the time to invest in learning them. Use the newest (updated regularly) Chirp build to program with, but don’t expect miracles from a $36 radio. I have 4 and sometimes they give me a headache, but they’re disposable, easy enough to hand-jam on the fly, and I have yet to break one.

    • I’ve checked out sparks31. A lot of good stuff over there but he is, in my opinion, way over the top in his dislike for Baofengs. These inexpensive radios are getting people into Ham who otherwise wouldn’t. I’m one of them.

  2. Nice to see he has a blog again. He’s had several since I’ve been following him. He usually has a freak out and deletes everything he has online about every 6 months or so with a “This is it, no more Internet, Meatspace only” posting. If you find something he writes truly useful/interesting, copy it into a Word file or something.

    He’s set up to moderate a private forum I’m part of and hasn’t even logged in for nearly a year…

  4. Thanks for the link. Wildflower gave me a heads up that you mentioned me.

    The blog deletions were part of an experiment I conducted, and the results were very interesting.

    I don’t do forums any more. Got enough on my plate with Signal-3 and running a research lab that having to deal with 200 “but my Baofeng is great”, and “I’ve got my ham license for a year and took an incident management course so I’m an expert” posts is not on the list.

    • “Subscriptions are only $50/year, and all subscribers get access to the entire back issue archive as well as an exclusive online discussion forum maintained and moderated by Sparks31. “?

      • Keywords: exclusive, maintained and moderated by yours truly.

        In the Internet world where anyone with $20 a month can register a domain and set up a website, one’s own private sandbox does not count when mentioning a plurality. Note the plural “forums.” Like I said, I don’t do forums any more.

        In the meantime, if you want the original and the best, Commander Zero approved, 30 years of experience doing survival comms, and the results of an active research lab, then please subscribe.

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