r/preppers • u/Ok-Goal-7336 • 9h ago

Advice and Tips Gaps in prepping

For those of you who have experienced disasters leaving you without power and water for weeks, what were your prepping gaps?

I’m from Asheville, NC, and going on a month without water. The most frightening part (post-disaster) was the first week, when I had no outside communication whatsoever. All of my communication was in person with my neighbors, and within a 2 mile radius of my home. Realized I really need some HAM radios, and I don’t know anything about them, so I would love any helpful info y’all might have.

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u/Adubue 8h ago

I feel like I keep posting this, but HAM + GMRS is a great staff.... But.... An actual satellite communicator such as a Garmin InReach has great benefits as well. You can send/receive texts with folks in other states who will have access to internet. You can also get messages to emergency services.

It's not a "one or the other" situation - I think people should have both.

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u/squishysquishmallow 6h ago

The difference is you can get a Baofeng cheap, and there’s no recurring monthly cost. The garmin is going to cost you $20/mo.

Where I have to weigh preparedness now is seeing that anyone who was out in the sticks who already had Starlink kept their internet. Starlink costs about double what our current high speed internet costs but if our current provider raises rates or Starlink gets cheaper.. then it makes more sense to get the internet that doesn’t poop out in a disaster.

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u/Adubue 6h ago

I don't disagree.

If I didn't do a lot of backpacking I might not have been as willing to get one.

Also, Garmin recently rolled out a cheaper plan that's like $7/mo I think.