Best Bet

I think it is significant, that the means of communications offered to the National Guard, for ALL emergencies, is of course H.F. radio, something I have advocated from the beginning as the best frequency area for comms in the worst case situations. Of all the frequencies available, if I had to choose only one after any major EMP disturbance it would be in the low HF, i.e. ham short-wave area.

1. Because these frequencies are not dependent only on skip from the ionosphere, in fact they have an excellent ground wave ability, which should remain in place even during ionosphere disturbances.
2. There is by far the best chance of finding others to talk to on ham frequencies due to hams having the ability to jury rig an antenna, or fire up a transmitter from raided parts from an old TV set. I once made a series of transmissions around the world with a H.F. transmitter connected to a tree, certain trees are better than others, but most will do it! Almost anyone can do it. I can provide a full article if need be.
3. A lot of hams still know Morse code. A Morse transmitter is even easier to build from an old TV set than a voice modulated transmitter. A one valve A.M. transmitter operating in the low end of HF, say 80 meters, should be built now. As I have done, it will transmit around the world, and needs no shielding from EMP as valves are not particularly sensitive to EMP. That is why all soviet and Chinese fighter aircraft had valve devices instead of solid state. Plus if you are worried about EMP then you can easily unplug a valve, and store that in protection (or store a spare) rather than the whole radio.
4. Contact with the ham fraternity in your area would be a good idea, these people are usually very resourceful, and in the main will freely give time to helping others and helping in emergencies.

Offered by Darryl.