Below is the additive "Comms Package" that I keep in the car. It's kept inside an ammo can for EMP protection and it's purpose it to make contact with my wife if I'm at work (50 miles away) when an EMP/CME/MALWARE ATTACK takes out normal (phone) communication options.
My wife and I have a written SOP not to establish contact until after 24 hours have passed in the off chance of a second EMP being detonated immediately after the first, but given a Ground NUKE attack, sheltering in place will last until the Nukalert determines it safe to come out of shelter.
So If I'm not able to come out of shelter for several days, getting a message home that I'm OK is pretty important, as well as nightly check-ins to monitor my progress and/or pass on info she may need to secure the homestead.
Because the FT-817 is also a VHF/UHF rig that has been "opened" or received the "MARS/CAP Mod" to allow it to transmit on non-HAM freqs, I can communicate with EMS radios, FRS/GMRS, MURS, as well as HAM Frequencies. Combined with my Uniden Bearcat BC125AT Handheld Scanner, I don't even need to have the CTSS or Frequencies of the EMS, but can capture and communicate with them in the field without prior programming in the radio.
CONTENTS
Yaesu FT-817 Radio w/ rechargeable AA batteries in radio plus an extra set of Alkaline AA
Talentcell Rechargeable 12V 3000mAh Lithium ion Battery Pack (kept in pack for all electronics)
When you have no direct line of sight, only HF will get the message through. How efficient your system is at getting through is dependent on many factors, the most important being that of the antenna configuration and MODE being used.
An example of the MODE efficiency is easily show in the graph below.
Unfortunately, in the field, to gain the MODE efficiency shown above you need increasingly more complicated setups (outside of CW) to realize that efficiency. Speaking of Laptops/Tablets running software like FLDigi, JS8Call along with digital modes interfaces like the DigiRig.
In the case of CW, the "software" to translate that MODE is the human brain and ability to learn. For some it's quite easy, for others as myself it's not and you still need another "machine" on the other end of the radio to translate.
So for the most part we are left to SSB "Voice" for field setups, and you either need more power or the best antenna setup you can get.
TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY
Not having another operator on the receiving end of my transmissions that can use software / hardware to utilize efficient modes like JS8Call, PSK, etc. means that even if I was willing to carry extra gear to use such modes, because of the learning curve and need for a proficient operator to make use of such, the message is not going to get through.
The beauty of SSB "Voice" is that anyone that speaks your language can communicate just by pressing the PTT button on the mic.
ANTENNA EFFICIENCY
Using NVIS antenna setups, increase the efficiency of the signal by closing the gaps that horizontal polarized signals have when trying to communicate in the 30-300mile range, the range most likely to be used in "tactical comms" in the HF realm.
Without NVIS configurations, the signal of "horizontally polarized antennas" (verticals) tend to have low takeoff angle (signal that passes over the first several hundred miles) unless there is an element of NVIS in you setup to increase vertical polarization or a LOS ground wave path. Because the Inverted-V has both, I've found it to work well from 30-600 miles, extending past the doctrinal 300 miles for a purely NVIS antenna.
Takeoff angle can be illustrated by the angle of the Hypotenuse in the image below.
The smaller the angle of "A", represents a "low takeoff angle" resulting in a longer path to the atmospheric layer it will bounce off of (B) resulting in a mirror angle back down to earth.
The "lower" the angle the farther the distance between two radios must be to communicate, due to the signal skipping over ("skip") the ground area between them.
I'll leave it to you to use your "Google-Fu" to discover the effectiveness and purpose of NVIS in detail and suggest you "get up on it" because it's the most important use of HF in post SHTF in my opinion.
NVIS = CRITICAL RANGE
Knowing what is going on in a 30-300 (doctrinal range) and even 600 miles (my experience with 20W) is the most important information HF is going to allow me to collect
With only 5W available as is the case with my FT-817 radio is below the doctrinal 20W minimum for NVIS reliability, but I have found that a Resonant Dipole (tuned) antenna is a must for even making NVIS even semi-reliable .
Since anything that is being "matched" by a tuner is adding resistance to the antenna, it's decreasing the available power out of it. That 1:1 SWR is coming to you at the cost of power available at the antenna, namely your "signal strength" being sent.
I CAN NOT STRESS A "RESONANT DIPOLE" ENOUGH FOR LOW POWER HF OPS!
It's not a sexy antenna and probably one of the first ever made, but it's undisputedly the BEST even in today's world of tech.
THE INVERTED-V
This particular NVIS antenna setup is a favorite of SOTA members as it uses a rigging that can be setup anywhere to raise the mid-point of a dipole.
A traditional dipole NVIS setup would be to raise both ends by 7-15ft and string it tight horizontally, creating a near vertical "takeoff angle" that sends the signal straight up to bounce back or "splatter" down in a cone shape that tends to fill in the areas that horizontally polarized antennas tend to miss because of their low takeoff angles.
Working QRP 5watt NVIS setups for a while, I have known for some time now that compromised antennas like the vertical MPAS are not effective on voice and there is no getting around the fact that you need wire (resonant dipoles) to maximize your low power signal.
Using an EFHW had been my primary choice in the past for field Ops as in the PNW there is always a tree to sling a wire to, but it can be a real hassle and time suck when you are on the move and want to just get a SITREP out and continue on.
Camping and setting up once at the beginning of the week and striking at the end, the EFHW is not so bad as the base is at your radio and you only need a single elevated point (tree limb) to raise the other to.
Doing such every time you stop while on a march home to send a SALUTE, make this a non-starter setup for me. So this year I decided I was going to try the SOTA Inverted-V antenna route and use a telescoping pole as the center point of my new QRP 40M ~ 80M Linked Dipole .
Good news is that for $42.00 the 7.2m "crappie pole" works just fine and I don't see a need to spend more to save a foot in collapsed size for packing, especially since my 50 Mile Get Home Setup is taller than the collapsed pole.
WHY YOU NEED HF COMMS
HF opens "comm links" that no other media can and does not require a dependency on anyone's infrastructure. This is the sole reason I started looking into comms as a young Prepper in 2014 and became a HAM in 2015. I realized that you can't "KNOW" a thing unless you practice it.
You can't KNOW tactics and patrolling UNLESS you do it. That's why I do it on a regular basis. I can't rely on tactics I learned as a grunt 40 years ago and can't know how many of those DO NOT APPLY to my AO and SHTF abilities, unless I do it in MY area of operation and at my age now, not when I was 17.
That's why I became a HAM, to learn HOW to do it, not because I enjoy doing HAM things but because I know I need to have those skills in SHTF and not being able to practice them before hand only leaves me with "theory" which is never enough.
Radio requires an FCC license to practice and is easy and cheap to do so. I have yet to meet ANY Prepper that has HF capabilities that was not a licensed HAM.
If that's you?
I suggest getting your "Stuff wired tight" when it comes to comms, including HF, that means getting a HAM license and doing the work while the internet is up to help.