Swedish preparedness pamphlet

Laurentius

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 13, 2009
2,540
704
Knowhere
Probably an obvious answer but why would you need to power up your router?
The old telephone system was powered at about 50 volts I believe. It worked independently of your household electricity connection and generally being on a seperate supply worked when the power didn't so you could phone out for any emergency. VOIP or voice over internet protocol is what this is going to be converted to, some of us already have it. That is to say you have to have a router working on 12 volts in order to make a phone call on your broadband. If the power is out and you do not have a battery back up for your router you cannot make a land line phone call. Yes you can argue everybody has a mobile now, but they don't and my brother for instance lives in a house where you cannot get a signal.
 
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Jared

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2005
3,577
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Wales
I liked some of the guys on Doomsday Preppers. Sensible stuff like 7 day packs in case of earthquake etc. But some were way OTT. And I'm not a fear porn guy, stopped following guys like Canadianprepper on YT when they kept pushing that stuff.
But seeing that pamphlet and the Nato announcements on the upcoming wargames has made me reevaluate some things and I'm going to become a little more prepared. Going to use the checklist this weekend and see what needs to be Improved on.

There were people filmed for that series, that never got aired because they were too sensible.
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,413
1,702
Cumbria
Plenty would argue if it wasn't for the nuclear deterrent much of Europe would be talking Russian by now. What it doesn't cater for is someone who's in all likelihood rather ill and wants to leave a legacy behind when they're gone. A small tactical nuclear exchange in Europe in the next ten years does seem more likely these days, one hopes if it gets that far people come to their senses before everything is wiped out.

On a more important note, it's good to see rusks on the list of stores, I've always liked rusks.
People probably don't realise the royal navy have had a nuclear deterrant in the form of a nuclear weapon carrying submarine since 1969. That's always at least one sub somewhere out at sea underwater just in case. There's really not many countries that can say that. Even the French navy which is often thought of as better than ours, on account of having an aircraft carrier in service when we had decommissioned ours and had messed up on the replacement one. Even now they can't achieve that at sea deterrant. Despite a pitiful number of surface and submarine ships/boats we've still got quite an effective navy in terms of deterrant. Of course only with usa but then the whole of nato is probably only effective with usa involved.

I do think as a nation we're often doing our own country down. I can't see bits shouting UKUKUK like Americans shout USAUSAUSA at the slightest opportunity! I'm not into jingoism but I do think we could do with just a bit of our own style of American patriotism at times.
 
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lou1661

Full Member
Jul 18, 2004
2,225
225
Hampshire
The old telephone system was powered at about 50 volts I believe. It worked independently of your household electricity connection and generally being on a seperate supply worked when the power didn't so you could phone out for any emergency. VOIP or voice over internet protocol is what this is going to be converted to, some of us already have it. That is to say you have to have a router working on 12 volts in order to make a phone call on your broadband. If the power is out and you do not have a battery back up for your router you cannot make a land line phone call. Yes you can argue everybody has a mobile now, but they don't and my brother for instance lives in a house where you cannot get a signal.
Because, with VOIP there is no power down the line. We live in the middle of nowhere, with no reliable mobile signal, if our power goes down and the optical router is off, we have no phone.

Thanks, that is what I thought, Only problem that I was aware of in that scenario is that if the power loss encompasses one of the street-side green telecoms boxes or the local exchange neither of which have a back up or resilient power supply you would end up with a powered line to and from your property but it would not be able to connect to anyone else. In all probability the mobile network would also have problems as there would be no power to the cell towers.

Louis
 
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GreyCat

Full Member
Nov 1, 2023
191
189
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South Wales, UK
Thanks, that is what I thought, Only problem that I was aware of in that scenario is that if the power loss encompasses one of the street-side green telecoms boxes or the local exchange neither of which have a back up or resilient power supply you would end up with a powered line to and from your property but it would not be able to connect to anyone else. In all probability the mobile network would also have problems as there would be no power to the cell towers.

Louis

I think you'll find that the mobile providers typically have quite good power back up to the cell masts. However in times of emergency, the government responders can control the cell masts and prioritise their own calls, so capacity for the public is likely to be an issue.

For resilience, Starlink with power backup is probably up there, although good old fashioned amateur radio is another option for those with the licenses and kit.

GC
 
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demented dale

Full Member
Dec 16, 2021
1,022
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hell
Prepping has got a very bad name, learning how to be resilient on the other hand is something useful, I have seen some garbage on social media recently about cooking with tea lights when you have a power outage, never mind the old chestnut with the flower pots. I expect most of us have more than enough equipment to cook and light during an extended power outage. An important thing nowadays considering we will all be forced over onto VOIP soon is to have a back up power supply for your router.
.
 

lou1661

Full Member
Jul 18, 2004
2,225
225
Hampshire
I think you'll find that the mobile providers typically have quite good power back up to the cell masts.
I think you will find they don't have an effective power back up to anything other than the bare minimum of their masts, Im also going to expect they will be in cities especially London
However in times of emergency, the government responders can control the cell masts and prioritise their own calls, so capacity for the public is likely to be an issue.
Emergency responders use a separate network so don't have any ability to prioritise their calls over any of the other networks.
I could be wrong in the above and if you have documented evidence to prove the above I would like to have a look. If its based on assumption or Dave down the pub said then maybe have a rethink.

"Storm Arwen (November 2021) was most severe, resulting in millions of customers losing access to mobile and fixed-line connections."

"All affected customers would be unable to call 999/112"
The above statements are taken from
National Risk Register (2023)
 

Wildgoose

Full Member
May 15, 2012
871
509
Middlesex
I think you will find they don't have an effective power back up to anything other than the bare minimum of their masts, Im also going to expect they will be in cities especially London

Emergency responders use a separate network so don't have any ability to prioritise their calls over any of the other networks.
I could be wrong in the above and if you have documented evidence to prove the above I would like to have a look. If its based on assumption or Dave down the pub said then maybe have a rethink.

"Storm Arwen (November 2021) was most severe, resulting in millions of customers losing access to mobile and fixed-line connections."

"All affected customers would be unable to call 999/112"
The above statements are taken from
National Risk Register (2023)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-network#about-the-emergency-services-network

It’s called ESN. Gives emergency services priority on 4G masts
 

Wildgoose

Full Member
May 15, 2012
871
509
Middlesex
Dunno about the cost, but it’s in.

It was an option as far back as 7/7, but there was no measure on how many responders were registered.
 
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Chris

Life Member
Sep 20, 2022
980
1,136
Somerset, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire
In the event of nuclear war my plan is to sit and drink my wine stockpile with my wife and wait to get vaporised.

In Jan 2020 I picked up a big plastic tub which I filled with enough essentials to last me two weeks, because I had been following the news in China. Just enough meds/food/nutrients/bog roll to sustain me for 2 weeks if I was ill and needed to quarantine. One of my family said “I hope you bought a tin foil hat to wear as well”. 2 months later, guess who wasn’t in a 3 hour queue waiting to buy beans and bum rags!

That said it feels like a lot of the Prepper community (and some of the bushcraft community globally) is all about posing kit for instagram pictures rather than actually doing anything useful.
 

Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
13,031
1,642
51
Wiltshire
In the event of nuclear war my plan is to sit and drink my wine stockpile with my wife and wait to get vaporised.

In Jan 2020 I picked up a big plastic tub which I filled with enough essentials to last me two weeks, because I had been following the news in China. Just enough meds/food/nutrients/bog roll to sustain me for 2 weeks if I was ill and needed to quarantine. One of my family said “I hope you bought a tin foil hat to wear as well”. 2 months later, guess who wasn’t in a 3 hour queue waiting to buy beans and bum rags!

That said it feels like a lot of the Prepper community (and some of the bushcraft community globally) is all about posing kit for instagram pictures rather than actually doing anything useful.

Oddly, I was able to buy as much food as I pleased while others were struggling to get tp...
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,891
2,143
Mercia
I think you'll find that the mobile providers typically have quite good power back up to the cell masts.
Sadly not so. Most masts in areas of low population density (e.g. ours) have no resilience at all. Larger densities have very limited battery backup (3 or 4 hours). A very few major hubs have automatic generators with fuel for up to 24 hours, but these are a tiny percentage
 
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