Area Communications

[Jd Smith1]

So the situation is this: prepping for my group's next campaign.

It will be a modern-day early-stage zombie apocalypse. The backdrop is a handful of heroes (not the PCs) struggling to get a collection of complex truths told while an evil and powerful NGO works very hard to protect a simple lie.

The question is: how would the heroes get get the information out? They need a means to broadcast information across a wide area for months while the regular infrastructure fails, and in the face of a violent organization working to stop them. It needs to be a real-world option.

AM or FM radio was my first thought, because it lends itself to mobility, however it is a rather bulky mobile option unless cargo aircraft is used.

HAM radio? CB radio is too short-ranged.

The Net would be ideal, using something like Loon LLC*, but I wonder if the Evil NGO couldn't track down the balloons. Or perhaps that would be part of the struggle: the heroes building new hardware and sending it aloft while the NGO knocks them down. Does anyone know how long it would take to track down the location of such a balloon?

Or are there other methods by which limited Net service could be provided?

Any other methods to disseminate data to groups of people, many mobile, scattered across hundreds of miles?

* = Loon LLC - Wikipedia

 

[MGibster]

Any other methods to disseminate data to groups of people, many mobile, scattered across hundreds of miles?

I'm going to make another pitch for radio. Rather than having to carry bulky equipment, the heroes can make their way to one of the many AM stations scattered throughout the United States. Even if the power grid is down, a transmitter can be powered with a generator fueled by gasoline, natural gas, or kerosene and has a range of approximately 100 miles. This has the added advantage of giving you an excuse to have one of these heroes encounter the PCs while en route to an AM station. Maybe they offer the PCs ammunition or supplies to escort them to KRLD 1080 News Radio in Dallas, Texas.

What if the printed word makes a comeback? Someone figures out how to work an old printing press, starts churning out pamphlets, and sends runners out to drop those pamphlets off with groups.

Rather than just having one method of disseminating information perhaps they take a multi-prong approach? Back in the Arpanet days, the nascent internet was designed to continue to be useful even after a nuclear war situation. So maybe you still have some folks on the internet, others on the radio, and still others taking distributing pamphlets like para-apocalyptic proselytizers at a sketchy bus depot at 2 a.m.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I'm going to make another pitch for radio. Rather than having to carry bulky equipment, the heroes can make their way to one of the many AM stations scattered throughout the United States. Even if the power grid is down, a transmitter can be powered with a generator fueled by gasoline, natural gas, or kerosene and has a range of approximately 100 miles. This has the added advantage of giving you an excuse to have one of these heroes encounter the PCs while en route to an AM station. Maybe they offer the PCs ammunition or supplies to escort them to KRLD 1080 News Radio in Dallas, Texas.

What if the printed word makes a comeback? Someone figures out how to work an old printing press, starts churning out pamphlets, and sends runners out to drop those pamphlets off with groups.

Rather than just having one method of disseminating information perhaps they take a multi-prong approach? Back in the Arpanet days, the nascent internet was designed to continue to be useful even after a nuclear war situation. So maybe you still have some folks on the internet, others on the radio, and still others taking distributing pamphlets like para-apocalyptic proselytizers at a sketchy bus depot at 2 a.m.

Solid advice!

A trailer-mounted generator(s) would be easy to obtain as the uninfected population shrinks.

The PCs will encounter the media distributed, and make their own choices as to which side to take. I wouldn't want to second-guess their reactions.

I checked out ARPANET; interesting stuff. The idea of using old, mothballed systems is a good one, and led me to Usenet, which an interesting thing. If I understand it correctly, it is a series of servers that automatically update each other. If I am correct, that would allow the heroes to power up various servers, and the minions of the NGO destroying individual servers would not have as much effect. Server whack-a-mole.

Use your leaflet (or painted messages on walls) idea and the temporary take-over of abandoned radio stations (looks like there's a couple hundred in Texas alone) to alert potential users to the network.

Good stuff, thanks!

 

[Jd Smith1]

Giving the input more thought, I'm thinking podcasts are the right avenue (made with a free text-to-speech program). The heroes can set up radio stations to broadcast them on a loop until the baddies cut the power (which means sending a team), upload them onto old server networks as suggested, or even load them onto flash drives and other storage devices and distribute them with attached paper tags. Plus leaflets and wall art directing people to the radio freqs and server addresses.

 

[John Dallman]

How are people going to get power to run their radio receivers? Is that going to be a high priority for them?

 

[Ovinomancer]

You, uh, probably don't want to know the technical deficiencies here. Locating a broadcast signal is very easy with fairly lowtech means. There are counters to this, but not that let an audience not in on the scheme to listen. Networks ride a powered infrastructure over macro distances, so just powering endpoints doesn't work.

I'd suggest a HAM approach, but with enough operators out there (quite a lot of emergency planning in the event of an infrastucture collaspe relies on HAM) that individual stations aren't uncommon. This moves the issue from starting a tech solution that's easily thwarted to convincing stations of the truth and dealing with the counters.

Also, the difference between CB and HAM is a matter of power -- same bands. HAM usually offers more capability than CB, which is usually set to only use some channels of tge civilian HF band, but outside of that their functionally tge same. You can talk to a CB operator with a HAM setup. HAM is really just civilian HF -- goid ones are equivalent to military HF trasmitters, just lower power by law, not by capability.

 

[Jd Smith1]

How are people going to get power to run their radio receivers? Is that going to be a high priority for them?

Valid point.

Most vehicles have AM/FM radios. Fuel shouldn't be in short supply for about a year after things really get rough.

Plus a lot of hurricane kits contain crank-powered AM/FM radios.

 

[Jd Smith1]

You, uh, probably don't want to know the technical deficiencies here. Locating a broadcast signal is very easy with fairly lowtech means. There are counters to this, but not that let an audience not in on the scheme to listen. Networks ride a powered infrastructure over macro distances, so just powering endpoints doesn't work.

I'd suggest a HAM approach, but with enough operators out there (quite a lot of emergency planning in the event of an infrastucture collaspe relies on HAM) that individual stations aren't uncommon. This moves the issue from starting a tech solution that's easily thwarted to convincing stations of the truth and dealing with the counters.

Also, the difference between CB and HAM is a matter of power -- same bands. HAM usually offers more capability than CB, which is usually set to only use some channels of tge civilian HF band, but outside of that their functionally tge same. You can talk to a CB operator with a HAM setup. HAM is really just civilian HF -- goid ones are equivalent to military HF trasmitters, just lower power by law, not by capability.

Interesting.

So my podcasts on jump drives would make a lot more sense. Distribute those, get HAM or CB users to play them over the air, slip the covert Net system info to trusted sorts, do the radio station automated broadcast just for short publicity stunts.

I know the advantages lie with the baddies, but the baddies are pretending to be humanitarians, so they'll be operating under some constraints.

But you make an important point: the NGO isn't going to take this lying down: they'll be putting out info as well. I need to consider the media they would use.

 

[aco175]

Have you seen, Man in the High Castle on Prime? There are some resistance groups that make posters and billboards with paint. I would think billboards and sides of buildings painted with your propaganda would stay around for years. Signs pointing to the Terminal in Walking Dead bring people in all the time.

Common people want hope and safety. If the NGO is offering that, most people take it. You know the thing about giving up freedom for safety.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Have you seen, Man in the High Castle on Prime? There are some resistance groups that make posters and billboards with paint. I would think billboards and sides of buildings painted with your propaganda would stay around for years. Signs pointing to the Terminal in Walking Dead bring people in all the time.

Common people want hope and safety. If the NGO is offering that, most people take it. You know the thing about giving up freedom for safety.

Yeah, I'm looking at the struggle between the two being the backdrop for the entire campaign. Both sides selling a message, seeking credibility, while the government struggles with the zeds and factionalism.

I watched the first 2-3 seasons of MHC, but lost interest after a while. That got me thinking about wall art.