All Episodes
Previous Next
July 13, 2022 - Health Ranger - Mike Adams
21:38
PrepWithMike GEAR review: Satellite messaging and solar generators
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Welcome to this PrepWithMike.com review of emergency backup communication systems, power systems, We've got sat phones, we've got solar panels, and also the big 400-watt solar panel behind us there.
I'm going to go through all of this, and why does this matter?
Because, of course, right now we are dealing with massive risk of blackouts.
Rolling blackouts, cyberattacks that are being, well, we're hearing alarms about that from even the State Department.
We've got World War III on the cusp here right now.
And the power grid is just failing, you know, intermittently.
But it's going to get worse because we've also got energy shortages.
Think about the lack of coal power, the diesel problems that are happening right now, and the natural gas shortages affecting Europe especially.
But also we've got a natural gas plant in the United States in Freeport, Texas, that had an explosion yesterday.
And now the Biden government will not allow that plant to reopen until, I think, the end of the year.
So if you want to be able to stay online and stay in communication, you're going to have to avail yourself of these kinds of solutions.
So working with the Satellite Phone Store, which is our sponsor, For BrightTown.com and my podcast, and that website is SAT123.com, they have put together a really incredible package that I'm going to go over right here that can keep you in touch with loved ones or business associates or if you're in the military or the National Guard or Border Patrol or law enforcement and you need to be able to function even when the power
grid goes down.
Or maybe you're a first responder, rescue team, firefighter, paramedic, you name it.
You need to know about this equipment.
So first, starting off, the bivy stick made by ACR. This is a two-way satellite text messaging device.
It's quite remarkable.
It works very well.
This unit by itself talks to satellites.
Let me actually get a close-up so you can see how small it is.
Look at this.
It's really small.
It's super portable.
Talks to the satellites, and you can send and receive text messages.
You actually compose and read your messages on any phone.
This is a Nokia phone that's pre-installed with the Bivy app.
So that you can read and receive messages.
Now remember, your phone does not need to have cell tower access, doesn't even need a SIM card.
But you can send and receive texts to other bivy sticks, you can send and receive to satellite phones like this, and you can also send and receive to other people's mobile phones using the traditional cell network.
So the bivy stick allows you to do that.
And these are extraordinarily small, lightweight, they work, they're reliable, they use hardly any power.
You can recharge it using this five watt panel, by the way.
This is a Gold Zero panel that's got a kickstand built into it right here, so you can set it at the angle that you want.
Just set it and leave it there.
You've got power generation.
The satellite phone store has this kit here that includes this five watt panel The bivy stick, a Nokia phone that's pre-installed with the software, plus this power bank right here that allows you to recharge both the phone and the bivy stick, and a Faraday bag from Go Dark.
So this bag protects all of this from a solar flare or an EMP attack.
They send you the bag, the solar panel, the power bank, the bivvy stick, and the phone.
And you have unlimited texting.
And it's a monthly fee.
And it includes insurance for loss or damage or any kind of breakage of the mobile phone as well.
Just go to sat123.com to find out about that package.
They've got also more affordable packages if you just want the bivvy stick and you want to use your existing phone.
Now, by the way, here's a tip.
When you launch the Bivy app on the phone, You do not need to create an account.
Even though a screen pops up and it wants you to create an account, I'm telling you, you don't have to do it.
You just scroll down and you hit skip.
So you're going to see skip at the bottom of that screen.
And then that will take you, it will connect through Bluetooth to the bivvy stick.
And then on your phone, you're going to have message composition, sending, receiving, And maps, you're going to get topographical maps via satellite bandwidth, plus real-time weather reports, all coming in via satellite through the bivvy stick.
So if you need a bug out plan and you can't trust the cell towers, you can't trust the local power grid, This is the way to go.
This is going to work beautifully.
The bivy stick.
And here's the box for it.
It just kind of shows you some of the benefits and everything.
And not only am I using this.
Oh, it's got an SOS function.
Forgot to mention that.
There's a button on the bottom here that allows you, in an emergency, you can click it, it'll broadcast your position, it'll call SOS services for you.
But whether or not you want to share your location with the bivy stick is entirely up to you.
You might be hiking with friends and you do want to share your location.
You can click the share button or you can keep your location secret.
And you can just send and receive text messages anonymously without any account.
And especially if you have a dedicated phone like this with no SIM card.
It's not talking to AT&T. It's not connected to your credit card or anything about you.
So you can send and receive either anonymously or you can share your position if you wish.
Now these satellite phones, this is an Iridium phone and this is an Inmarsat phone.
These are two different competing satellite networks.
These sat phones are completely wiped out of inventory.
And some of these are selling for thousands of dollars on the used market right now.
Even if you can get them.
But for the most part, you just can't find them at all.
Just not available.
So even the satellite phone store doesn't have these available right now.
And that's why a lot of people are going with the bivy stick, because that's something that they can get right now, and it gives them two-way satellite communications to almost any device out there.
The sat phones, if you can get them, they're very expensive right now.
They do work.
They work extremely well, but the battery life is a lot more limited because they're in constant communication with the satellites, whereas the bivy stick, the standby battery life is about 20 hours because it's only sending and receiving in burst mode.
It doesn't have a constant communication with the satellite.
So I want you to know about that.
This is a satellite bandwidth antenna that's also available from the satellite phone store but probably also out of stock or mostly out of stock.
So these are great.
You can go anywhere in the world.
And you just set the angle, you set it up, and it creates a Wi-Fi hotspot so you can connect your phone or your laptop.
You can send and receive email.
I mean, you can't watch YouTube videos on it because it's not made for high bandwidth streaming.
But it's very useful for lots of things.
You could send and receive images on email.
Great emergency backup communication system.
I don't know if they have any of these in stock.
They might be completely gone, but it is something to look out for if they come back in stock.
Now, I'm showing you this right here.
This is the Baofeng UV5R radio, and I think that every person needs one of these radios.
These are made in China, and the Baofeng company has mass-produced these to make them very, very affordable.
These are You know, local short-range radios, and they work on many different frequencies.
Just to put it plainly, you'll need to do your research about what frequencies are legal for you to broadcast on, and you can change the broadcast power.
Some of these radios go up to 8 watts, which you may not want to broadcast with 8 watts.
That might be way too much.
you can crank it down to four or two or one, and you can choose your frequencies.
But you can use these for neighborhood protection, keeping in touch with people, even people within a few miles radius.
This is how you do community defense and emergency communications.
And then the bivvy stick is how you do emergency comms for long-range stuff, you know, trying to keep in touch with loved ones who might be hundreds of miles away or somewhere else across the world.
Now let's talk about the EcoFlow unit here.
This is a brand...
Look, I spent thousands of dollars buying a lot of different solar generators, as they're called.
They're really just large power banks with built-in inverters and charge controllers.
And you can see on the screen here...
You can see the status of how much input and output is taking place, how many hours it would provide.
In this case, it's maximum because it's barely using any power.
I just want to show you, I have here an electronic arc lighter connected to it that I'm charging, which I think this is a really great survival device.
See?
See how the lighter works?
So if you can have solar panels and a solar generator like this, you can make fire with an arc lighter.
And you don't have to have lighter fluid.
I also have a little flashlight here that I'm charging just to kind of show you.
You can charge, you know, your power bank, obviously.
It's got multiple USB and then it's got regular AC plugs as well.
So it's designed to run laptops.
This can even run blenders.
Even some power tools and power tool battery chargers can run off of this.
This is called the EcoFlow Max.
It's a very powerful unit.
And I've been looking at these for quite some time.
I've bought several different units like this from different companies, and I've been very disappointed.
A lot of it has just been, frankly, total crap.
No other way to say it.
It's just been...
A lot of crap out there in the backup power marketplace.
But EcoFlow is the best that I've found.
And EcoFlow, their stuff works.
In fact, I've been using this as an inline UPS, although I don't think that they guarantee it's going to work that way because the switching time might be too much for certain computers and things like that.
But I've been using it that way so that when the power blips out, I have uninterrupted power, so for me it works great on my computer and my power supply.
I can't guarantee it's going to work for you that way, but it does work for me very well with my computer.
EcoFlow not only makes this unit, which is available at the satellite phone store, you know, again, sat123.com, they sell the whole line of EcoFlow products, But they make these incredible 400-watt solar panels here.
These are folding four-panel solar panels.
So you see each panel is 100 watts.
So there's your 400 watts of power right there.
And you can plug it in.
It's got standard solar connectors, as you can see right here, just real standard connectors.
And it plugs right in to the EcoFlow or other units from...
EcoFlow.
And then that's how you can charge.
Now, 400 watts, if you're able to get sunlight for, let's say, 10 hours a day, I mean, that's what?
That's 4,000 watt hours.
That's a lot of power.
That's 4 kilowatt hours, right?
So what can you charge with that?
Well, all kinds of small electronics, even more than this stuff.
You can run computers off that.
You can run...
Even for a while, you could run blenders, you could have power tools that are being charged, you could run power tools off of that, certain ones, maybe not everything, but it's a lot of power, and you can use multiple solar panels on various EcoFlow units.
And the reason I mention all this is because the blackouts are coming.
And the typical American consumer is going to have no backup power and no backup communications.
Like, they're not going to have the bivy stick.
They're not going to have the satellite phone or even a little $30 radio.
They may not even have a little 5-watt solar panel here.
So they're going to have no means of communication with the outside world.
They won't be able to contact loved ones or Find out where their family members are, or conduct business, or call for help, or report locations, or report crimes, or anything.
Because they're just not ready for what's about to happen.
They're not ready for the power outages.
But you need both power and backup comms in order to be ready, I believe, for what's coming.
And this is the combination.
The bivy stick And the EcoFlow brand and EcoFlow makes smaller units as well.
They've got, you know, kind of entry-level units, mid-size units, large ones like this, and then household-size units.
And that's what that thing is back there.
That's a...
If you look at this...
This has got 10 different power system controllers in it.
This is designed for you to run off-grid.
You can see when you're on grid power here versus AC1 and AC2 that are part of these units.
You need to do research on this.
You're going to have to have an electrician to help you install this system if you want it because it's kind of a whole house unit.
but EcoFlow has that option or you can just go with a more portable unit like this one right here that you can carry around it is quite heavy but it's got handles built in you can carry it or if you can't you know two people can carry it quite easily and in any case you can harvest power from the Sun and you can have backup power where other people might be trying to go out and find gasoline for gasoline generator well Guess what?
Gasoline may not be available.
We already have diesel fuel shortages right now.
We've got refineries shutting down.
We've got the EPA attacking the fossil fuel industry to try to shut down natural gas and shut down refineries.
You've got Biden canceling pipelines.
You've got truckers running out of gas on the highways in Florida.
I mean, you can't count on having diesel fuel or gasoline or gas stations or refineries or cell towers or anything of the kind.
So this is a solution.
I think we're entering a very dangerous time for America.
Watch my videos with Steve Quayle, by the way.
BattlefieldAmerica.co is where you can find that.
BattlefieldAmerica.co.
And Steve and I did an interview series about what's coming.
And he agrees that we're headed for some very, very difficult times.
It's not going to be easy for people to survive.
A lot of people will not survive.
We've got food shortages on top of energy shortages.
We've got planned blackouts.
Obviously, comms are going to go down.
Cell towers are going to go down, on and off.
You're going to have fuel shortages.
Gas stations might ration fuel soon, especially on the East Coast.
So, these are the kinds of solutions that can help keep us alive.
And that's why I started investigating these solar generators really a couple years ago.
And then, over time, I realized that the EcoFlow is the best brand out there.
And then I learned that the Satellite Phone Store is a distributor for EcoFlow.
So, kind of a happy coincidence.
They, I guess, came to the same conclusion that I did.
But here's what I want to say.
If you want to get some of the EcoFlow hardware, get it through the Satellite Phone Store instead of somebody else, some other retailer like Amazon.
Because the Satellite Phone Store is going to give you specific support, and they are offering solutions that are pro-America, pro-freedom, to help you stay free and help you stay alive, preparedness, readiness, all of that.
And again, the website is sat123.com.
That's sat123.com.
They're going to help you tremendously.
Again, whether you're a prepper, a survivalist, an outdoor sports person, you go kayaking, mountain climbing, if you're a first responder, a police officer, a soldier working in Ukraine, or a National Guard soldier on the border of Texas and Mexico, or a National Guard soldier on the border of Texas You know, you need these units.
This is your emergency comms that works everywhere when other things don't work.
And again, with a little panel like this, you can charge it with a couple hours of sunlight and a little tiny portable panel.
It's pretty cool.
This technology did not exist a couple years ago.
This is new stuff.
And it's very impressive.
We're lucky to have access to this.
And frankly, we're lucky to be connected with the satellite phone store because they've secured supplies of these things.
They've got a whole lot of these EcoFlow units in stock.
You know why?
Because they plan ahead.
Because they already know that the blackouts are coming.
These are all going to be sold out later this year.
Mark my words, as the rolling blackouts really take hold across America, people are going to be buying these like crazy.
People are going to be blown out of generators too, you know, like gasoline generators at your local hardware store.
But these lithium ion generators that run on solar panels, these are going to become like unobtainium.
These are the kinds of things to get now while you can.
So that when the emergencies come, you're covered.
That's what this is all about.
So I wanna thank you for your attention here.
I'm working hard to help connect you with the kind of gear that I think is gonna be life-saving.
I've got a lot more videos coming here on this very table about survival gear, self-defense gear, All kinds of things.
Emergency equipment, night vision, things like that.
So watch my channel.
I'm doing a lot more filming of gear reviews right now and some how-to stuff.
So watch my channel, prepwithmike.com or just go on to bryteon.com.
There's a lot more coming.
And my goal is to help you get prepared to make it through all of this.
If you heard what I was hearing, From my intel sources who are connected to military intelligence, it's not a pretty picture, folks.
They are expecting massive escalations by Russia.
They're expecting a nuclear exchange, just to tell you.
They're expecting this thing goes nuclear before the end of this year.
And if you know anybody in military intelligence, they'll tell you the same concern.
That's no joke.
And if that happens, you know, gold will skyrocket.
Food will just disappear from the shelves.
All this equipment will be totally wiped out.
And who knows?
Who knows what's going to function?
You're going to have chaos in society.
You're going to dial 911 and they won't even answer.
You know, the cops won't be able to help you.
Not that they even do now in places like Uvalde.
They just stand around.
You're on your own, man.
That's where we are today.
You're on your own.
So you've got to get the gear and also learn how to use it.
Go through it.
Set up the app.
Send text messages.
Learn how to use the radios.
You can get books on the UV5R. Learn about the different frequencies.
Set up radios with you and your neighbors.
Learn how to use the sat phones.
Learn how to dial domestic phone numbers versus satellite phone numbers.
There's a bit of a learning curve.
You know?
But the sooner you get started, the better off you're going to be.
So thank you for listening.
I'm Mike Adams here at The Health Ranger.
PrepwithMike.com and also Brighteon.com.
Take care.
This is an amazing company that has sponsored both of us.
And this is a way to have backup communications when the grid goes down.
Well, the situation became problematic, Mike, with the New Orleans, the latest hurricane, because people panic.
And this is one thing that I've learned from being associated with the satellite phone store for over a decade.
People will call and order 600 phones at a time.
What?
It's like this, Mike.
Anytime there is a crisis, people want these.
And ladies and gentlemen, they've created such a good deal for Mike's viewers, my viewers, our combined viewers, that this is the only way you're going to be able to communicate.
And that's the other beauty about these phones, is they can't track you because it's not talking to a cell tower.
It's talking to satellites.
You know, orbiting over the equator.
▲
Export Selection