RATTLEGRAM
WHY YOU NEED IT NOW
RattleGram is a BETA of a new program designed to pass encoded traffic over ANY analog radio voice signal. While it is a BETA, it works perfectly in my experience already and should be put into service by Preppers & Minutemen now.
The parent site of the program is at: https://www.ribbitradio.org and they do a great job of explaining the purpose and the how on that page via videos, so I won’t duplicate it here.
I do want to get people thinking about the benefits of this “mode” and how it can be applied to the Prepper/Minuteman Comms Plan though.
SCENARIO
It’s 6 months after the event, you are running small team tactics at your AO and performing frequent RECON Patrols, reporting back to base what you find in a basic SALUTE report. Depending on the length of that report and amount of information being passed, even if kept short as it should be, can take up to several minutes of traffic.
AND YOUR MESSAGE IS COMPLETELY IN THE OPEN!
Not only that, but after some time it will be easy to recognize your voice pattern by anyone monitoring your traffic, at the very minimum, letting those with a scanner know “Group-A” (or whatever they designate your signal as) is in the area.
The longer you are keyed-up the more information is being gathered on you, and if they are comms savy at all, will be using directional antennas to “foxhunt” your position.
BURST TRANSMISSIONS
Keep your exposure time on the airwaves to a minimum and with less than $45.00 into two Android phones, you can be sending secured traffic (by the fact that 99.99% of those around you will not have this APP) without giving your voice signature away.
You can also easily ENCRYPT/DECRYPT your messages, making understanding them impossible without the proper encryption key.
MY SYSTEM HARDWARE
Moto e6 (16GB) - Black eBay $22.00
Doesn’t matter what the provider is, you are NOT buying a phone but a computer.
I bought this model only because I had the same phone from a previous contract and wanted a matched set. As long as it can run RATTLEGRAM that’s all that matters.
CONXWAN Portable Charger 26800mAh Power Bank 22.5W Fast Charging Amazon $25.95
I’ve had good luck with this power bank, but use what you like.
One nice thing about this bank and phone is it fits perfectly in an OtterBox 2000, which unfortunately they discontinued but can still be found as of this writing on eBay for ~$8.00.
OtterBox 2000 Series Box eBay $8.00
Seems OtterBox doesn’t make much anymore except phone cases.
The link above is to an eBay seller that had used ones for $8.00 at the time of this post. They fit this setup perfectly and are good for many other waterproofing tasks.
As always, using the lowest power needed to hit your receiver is the golden rule as they can not find you if they can not hear you.
CHECKLIST
Limit your transmission time by using burst transmissions.
Lower your signal profile my using just enough power to get the message out.
Use a YAGI to direct that small amount of power in a narrow line instead of 360deg radius from your location.
Use encryption if you have time, make sure base responds unencrypted if they have “good copy on decode” to know you got through.
Don’t transmit in the same spot twice, try to put at least 1/2 mile between spots.
I prefer to use a pre-filled SALUTE report and have found that this simple notepad program allows me to copy and paste a template into a new note, then after editing… send it to RATTLEGRAM, where is it ready to transmit.
The advantage of forming the message outside of RATTLEGRAM is that you can not send it partially completed with a fat finger is using VOX, which I strongly recommend against. The chance of an ACD (Accidental Comms Discharge) make VOX a non-starter IMO. This is directed traffic, pushing the PTT works fine.
The Crypto App I’m using is:
It’s the simplest I’ve found and is free. Simple is good.
EDIT: 07.04.24
I’ve switched to using P.T.E. (Paranoia Text Encryption) for use with all platforms. It works on iOS, Android, Windows and Linux. Recommend buying the app pro version for $3.99 to unlock the pro features on all platforms.
MY BURST TRANSMISSION DEMOS
Using the APPS listed above.
06.30.2024