If you are an experienced prepper, you’ve likely discovered plenty of ways to communicate. When the grid goes down, cell towers go silent, and the internet vanishes, staying in touch becomes a survival skill. But let’s be honest, HAM radio isn’t your only option. There are plenty of clever ways to communicate that can help you stay connected when the going gets tough.
We’ve already talked about how to communicate when the grid is down, but we’ve come up with a few more handy ideas. This time, we’re bringing a bit of old-school ingenuity. If you want to watch a video instead of reading the article, here it is:
Text version continues below:
Signal Mirrors
If you position the mirrors correctly, signal mirrors can send your messages for miles. Not only that, but they are lightweight and battery-free, which means you can use them without needing extra supplies.
You don’t need a fancy military mirror in your prepping kit. In fact, any reflective surface, like a small compact mirror, a piece of polished metal, or even the back of a smartphone, can work in a pinch.
To send a message, tilt the mirror so the sun reflects toward your intended target. Then, use a series of short and long, or pre-arranged patterns to convey information.
A helper or spotter can identify your flashes against the natural background light. With a bit of practice, one person can send signals across hills, valleys, or any open terrain.
The best part? No one else hears it, and you’re not relying on electricity, cell towers, or radios. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll understand why preppers swear by it as a quiet, ingenious way to get a message through.
Fire and Smoke Signals
As you know, smoke and fire are among the oldest ways humans have communicated and sent messages. For instance, signal fires are great to relay warnings or coordinate movements.
Different patterns of smoke puffs or fire flashes can communicate specific messages, such as three quick puffs for “danger,” a long, continuous column for “all clear,” or intermittent flashes to indicate a particular location.
Even simple methods worked surprisingly well if everyone agreed on the code ahead of time. The key is line of sight: hills, ridges, or watchtowers were often used to extend the range of vision.
In a modern prepper scenario, controlled signal fires can still be effective, but you’ll want to plan carefully to avoid attracting unwanted attention and always have a safe way to put the fire out.
If you want to learn how to communicate this way, the VIDEO below will show you the safest setups, timing, and techniques for long-distance signaling in the wild.
Whistles and Sound Signals
Sometimes sound travels farther than you think. Whistles, horns, or even banging metal can communicate across short to medium distances. Like with any other no-tech communication method, the key is to establish a pattern that everyone knows.
For example, three short blasts could mean “come here,” while one long blast could mean “danger.” Once everyone is trained, it works reliably under stress.
Morse Code
Morse code has been around since the 1830s, and there’s a reason it’s still in use. Long story short, it’s simple, effective, and requires minimal equipment. A flashlight, a mirror, or even tapping on a pipe can send a coded message over surprisingly long distances.
The trick is to have pre-arranged codes so your team can understand them quickly. SOS is obvious, but you might also use three short flashes for “come here” or a long one for “danger”.
Once you know the Morse code basics, you can signal across fields or down a road without anyone else noticing. It’s low-tech, reliable, and perfect for quiet communication.
In his book Bug-in Guide, Navy SEAL Joel Lambert recommends pairing Morse signals with pre-agreed messages. Doing this helps avoid confusion when stress is high, which is exactly when clear communication matters most.
I also recommend keeping this book on hand, as it’s full of practical advice on how to communicate effectively after a grid-down or post-SHTF situation.
Click play and find out more:
Reflective or Colored Tape Codes
A note left in a pre-agreed location is simple, secure, and reliable, but it’s not very subtle. For a more discreet approach, use colored tape to communicate important messages.
Instead of paper notes, use reflective tape, colored cloth, or glow-in-the-dark markers to create simple, pre-arranged signals in key locations. You can leave these codes on trees, fence posts, or buildings to silently communicate messages like “safe,” “danger,” or “help needed.”
The beauty of this method is that it’s instant and reusable. Even without electricity, everyone in your group who knows the code can quickly interpret it. It’s discreet, can work at night with reflective/glow materials, and can be combined with mirrors or lights for added clarity.
Flags and Cloth Signals
Historically, armies and ships used flag codes to coordinate movements or relay orders. We can all learn from history. A simple colored cloth tied to a pole or waved in a specific rhythm can work surprisingly well.
The key when using this method is consistency – each movement or color represents a specific signal, similar to Morse code.
You can also combine this method with others, like signal mirrors or light flashes, to ensure your message gets through even if one method fails.
The advantages are clear: it’s inexpensive, reusable, and doesn’t rely on electricity or cell towers.
How effective are these methods?
The tools we’ve explored may be simple and handy in a pinch, but they can pack a serious punch when it comes to staying in touch. So, let’s be honest – even if you’ve practiced signaling with mirrors, waving flags, or tapping out Morse code, nothing beats having a working radio when the world goes quiet.
But, when it comes to protecting your gear, there’s one threat that can silence it all in a split second: an EMP. As most of you know, this is a powerful electromagnetic pulse can travel hundreds of miles and burn out every circuit it touches – radios, solar generators, GPS units, even that old backup phone you keep in your bug-out bag.
What many people don’t realize is that there’s an easy way to protect their gear. The EMP protection fabric, often called EMP cloth, is woven with conductive metals like copper and nickel. When used properly, it redirects the surge around your devices instead of through them – the same principle used in military-grade Faraday cages.
👉 Secure your communication gear with a military-approved EMP Cloth!
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I hope Claude Davis will continue this project as long as possible and I hope he is in good health. The things I have been learning from this website saved my life. . He’s written many books, but “The Lost Ways”, and “The Lost Ways II” are my favourite so far. I want to give a special mention to Easy Cellar as well, becasuse i made the best cellar/bunker in a very small space. I recommend anyone to check these books, you won’t find such info anywhere else
I have to agree. Due in large part to Claude making it through Hurricanes Helene and Milton was a lot easier. Not only is it the skills he presents but the knowledge behind it. He challenges your thinking so preparation becomes a very relevant task.
Thank you for your kind words. Claude Davis is alive and well. He is focused on new projects, just recently launching the Dollar Apocalypse book to protect Americans in the event the dollar loses its value. And right now Ask A Prepper is trying to get back to its roots and provide as much useful information for preppers and survivalists as possible. We need it now more than ever with how unstable the world is.
one method of communication not mentioned is sign language. its silent and fairly easy to learn, i took a course in sign language when in college.(my girl friend taught the class). this article brings up good possibilities in silent communication. keep up the good articles.
I read that it was invented by order of a general (Napoleon? can’t find it now) who needed a silent way for military to communicate when in close proximity to the enemy so the enemy couldn’t hear them.
Howdy from an undisclosed location high in the desert swamp,
Years back I knew I would lose my hearing. In was a painful ordeal. In the meantime I was learning ASL. I was at a pro baseball game and sitting down about 20 rows. I looked up at the top and saw my wife. She signed if I wanted something. I signed hotdog, onions, ketchup, cheese, fritos and Dr. Pepper please. I saw the lady behind me look back and she saw my wife signing back to me. She looked at me and said something. I don’t know I was looking at her. My wife asked who’s batting and I fingerspelled the name. I sat and a few minutes later she came down with the food. She looked at the lady who was clearly irritated. My wife said he’s deaf. He doesn’t know you’re talking to him. She sat and ignored the lady. A few minutes later I got tapped. It was the lady and she was asking questions about what I signed. That was a pleasant exchange. I also taught my guys about 30 maybe 50 words in sign language and we practiced all the time. When the UCOIN training happened we never turned our radios on. We used cd’s for signal mirrors. ASL and binoculars. Our sniper was also the tweener for the squad. He got ASL looking through his binoculars and passed it on through binoculars. We took the building and never once did radios or comms. I was accused of cheating so next round we did it again. Now I have their attention and I told them. The latest example is the little girl across the street. She is 8 and learning because she wants to talk to me. She waved at me and I saw her sign, how are you? I signed back good. She signed what are you doing. I signed and she didn’t know the sign so I fingerspelled. She told the letters to her mom and her mom told her I said making cactus jelly. Silent and a distance farther than shouting. I talked with her mom about it when she got back. If she needs me and sees me out she can sign to me and I can to her. Her mom said she would never have thought about it. I told her about the baseball game and several other places where I was able to communicate and no one knew what I said. That wasn’t the point but it’s true and we got our signals straight. Again people asked me. They almost always say, I need to learn a little of that. It’s a language. Law, medicine, military words and signs. Youtube has ASL university. Dr. Bill starting from alphabet to as advanced as you can get. I highly recommend learning sign language. It’s good for your brain and keeps your fingers limber. You can carry on conversations and not many know what you’re doing. With a few motions of fingers complete conversations were said and understood.
Remember the Alamo
Remember 9/11
Remember North Carolina
Remember to have your soul prepared
everyone should know ASL. i think that it should be offered as classes in schools like french or spanish.
i was taught by a deaf co-worker years ago but sadly i have what’s called stupid fingers.
Sign language is excellent if you think someone is listening in or you need to be quiet that`s why the military uses it too, through in hand signals.
Any electronic communications should be encrypted and consider certain words,phrases for specific things making it just that more difficult for an outsider to understand.If using email etc. send it as an encrypted attachment to protect yourself.
Do what the Mossad does just pick a game or something that has a chat feature as its very hard to pick someone out of thousand of messages and use just made up names or pick one out of a phone book.
Though I appreciate the information that is available on this site, it would be great to download the articles from my desktop computer. However, the pictures, drawings, and misc. dark colored graphics do not make a download “printer friendly”. It takes way to much toner. Could you make a more printer friendly version for downloads. Thanks.
Try converting it to a PDF many extensions exist for all browsers and online services as well.
Good article.
POOT – Great comment! there is tactical sign systems as well as “sign languages”. In everyday life it is great for your brain to learn and use a new “language” that is under served in the communities. Also most of us become deafer as we age so might as well get a head start on that need during regular life!
All of these suggestions and ideas require one specific thing; practice, practice, and more practice. They seem simple but you need a lot of real situational experience and memorization to perform efficiently and accurately. The more complex the messaging the more practice required. A flare, horn, or basic smoke is great for simple messages like “go”, “leave”, or “help”, but any patterning solution needs two skilled individuals at a minimum. Always be aware that any visual or audible signal can “out you” to even untrained observers in the area. One method I did not see is the use of coned light (flashlight with a long hood) or focused light (laser pointer). This goes right back to the skill requirement, you have to know the code and have to know the location of the receiver to be effective with these methods.
Is ham radio the only way to do long distance, such as Oklahoma or Texas to Northern Maine or reverse? Thank you, trying hard to understand this.
Rhea,
If there is no electricity? Radios will be useless. So, no. There won’t be any electricity driven communication from a small town in Texas from one side of town to the other let alone to Maine. None. You will be on your own, or your community will be on it’s own for however long it takes to solve the event taking out electricity. Days? Weeks…?
Thank you for info. Trying to figure things out.
💖💖💖👣🌜🌝🌛👣💖💖💖
There are a lot of radios that work on 12 volts or even AA batteries.
The wars fought in this country were conducted by couriers. The telegraph helped but it could be intercepted by the opposing force. The Carrington event in the 1870’s?? set telegraph lines and stations on fire stopping telegraph until new lines were run. There is precedent for no electric driven communications in this country. Scary but true.
No there are a few different ways of communicating over long distance.
YouTube is filled with videos explaining how to do it and do it covertly so your HOA will not notice and neither will anybody else.
You’re right, there are several ways to communicate over long distances, and YouTube has some great guides. This video, for example, shows a covert setup that won’t draw attention from your HOA or neighbors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqyTvxELCzA
Morse code without ham radio replaced by smoke signals? Of course, when the SHTF, the FCC probably won’t be sending out violation notices.
When their is a emergency the FCC makes provisions for it just read the regulations. Their are also amateur bands for individuals to use also.
Lol. Lol.
I’ve known about the off grid communication techniques, or coding techniques, since I was between 9 and 12 years old. All of them. But, you left one really great one out and that is sending and reading sign. The Native First Nations people of America devised the techniques I’m speaking of. I can’t even begin to remember what indications or information that any given sign represents. But, it all has to do with the affecting of the physical aspects of any and all tangible forms. Symply, one sends a message signal code by doing something like aranging a small rock pile in a specific manner to refer to a specific meaning or indication. One could also just plainly carve grooves into the trunk of a tree in certain way to where it would represent a specific thing, idea or meaning. All ya have to do is become aquatinted with what a specific sign is communicating between the sender and the reader. That being said, all the people that you are in contact with, or who lives within your community, would be connected by this code meaning communication technique.
✌️🪬🦉
ancient native americans used Trail Trees. young trees bent over to point the way to resources.
You are talking of hand talk, hand signs. The Plains peoples were very fluent in sign language to each other even if they didn’t know the other groups language. There are books that have Indigenous hand signs. Interesting to me as an amateur, N. American historian.
Lots to ponder.
HAM, the best ! but, only at a prearranged time, if power is a concern you cant just let her run.
Tap Code.
Sign language, obviously start with finger spelling, its GREAT, out with friends, need to communicate with spouse – easy to do a few words like lets go, and across a LOUD room it still works well.
Smoke, just like tracers, marks YOUR location for ALL.
reflector light signal, morse code. How good is your Aim at 2 miles ? ? ? its only a long if your STEADY as heck, other wise the same motion is just a real short. Better to use kiss principle, Keep It Simple Stupid. have a few options, like others said, meet with me, danger, Hunting is good, help, RUN HIDE. have these written down and keep close at hand.
Also, use drop spots. When the indicator is active, they need to go to the drop spot, open a jar and pull out paper message. Indicator can be massive smoke at noon, old shovel moved to left side of the tree, flat cracked bell sound, GREEN or what ever.
These little FM units are cheap, easy, use little batt. turn on at sun set each day and check group. OR turn on immediately if xyz signal is seen or heard. AND simple CB.
WHO, WHERE, WHEN do you wish to chat – determins a lot.
Rhea, there are others, but HAM is king, for many reasons. Its also cheaper than a high altitude flight with trailing wire antenna. In your area you have a HAM club, you can set up a visit and learn about feet and doors. OR at worst, travel an hour to the next Ham fest.
Thank you for info
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When my cousin lost his hearing due to illness in childhood, I wanted to learn sign language. My aunt, his mother said no! She said I needed to learn Lip Reading. That’s another language skill that once mastered, can really come in handy.
Both are very useful in the real world.
The flags & cloth signals you’re referring to is called Semaphore. Semaphore was and still is a Navy signaling standard. Once taught and you and your friends or family learn the alphabet, you’ll probably never forget it and can silently use it at will. The signalmen would communicate ship to ship when underway replenishment was going on. The communications were between the signalman on each ship without interfering with radio communications. They had multiple devices to perform these daytime communications, red/white 16″ square flags, colored paddles and often just using their hands to talk to crewmen on either ship. During nighttime replenishments flashlights with a 12″ red cone attached were used. No white light! The red cone diminished the light transmission over a longer distance helping to conceal the signals yet were highly visible close range. Morse Code is still the holy grail of basic communications. Once you learn the alphabets dots & dashes, you can always communicate with someone, using a flashlight, signal mirror or tapping on something to transmit sound. Caution in using the sound method, anyone will be privy to your message. Morse Code is no longer a requirement for a HAM license, but still a valuable asset in any situation. Great article, but the fire/smoke signal may be problematic for us in Oregon due to the prominent wildfire conditions.
Semaphore is such a fascinating skill, and you’re right, once you learn it, it sticks for life. I totally agree that Morse Code remains invaluable for discreet communication, especially with flashlights or mirrors. And yes, the fire/smoke signals definitely need caution in wildfire-prone areas like Oregon. Safety first, folks!