Prepping in Spain: From Weekend Hobby to Walkie-Talkies and Maps

I am discovering the prepper community and enjoying it

What is needed to start prepping without being ripped off? The answer from long discussions is less epic than YouTube channels suggest: a manual, a map of springs, and a €25 walkie-talkie. The rest —the weapon, the bunker, the three-year pantry— is decoration. And much of that decoration is also illegal or useless.

The conversation starts with requests for links and reading material for beginners. The first solid recommendation is John Lofty Wiseman's SAS Survival Handbook, presented as "the Bible of Survival" and "indispensable for your library." The second, less bookish and more field-oriented: go out and practice. "Besides getting exercise, health benefits, and fun, you will learn a lot through your own experience."

Which walkie-talkie to buy and why most are illegal

The thread heats up when someone recommends a portable VHF-UHF transceiver "for 25 bucks on Amazon." Then comes the technical slap: those devices are "legally complicated." To press the transmit button requires an amateur radio license, and fines "are huge." The reasons, listed bluntly: frequencies outside legal PMR bands, detachable antennas, and power exceeding 0.5 watts at the antenna. Even with a license, one is not safe: authorities can claim the imported device is not homologated. Another fine.

Practice, however, is different. "If they operate on PMR licenses, nobody knows what junk you are talking to." There is established custom: hikers use PMR channel 7 with sub-tone 7, known as initiative 7-7. For those wanting to go further, the exam is held by the Telecommunications delegation of each province. Range depends on topography, but from Peñalara peak, people have communicated with Palencia and Toledo via VHF. The veteran's conclusion: "In case of MADMAX, wipe your ass with the license."

The spring map is worth more than the pantry

Against the imagery of shelves of cans, the most useful advice appears: have a map with water points, springs, and streams in the province. Those who defend this have gone to identify hidden potable water sources "off trails and transit paths," declaring themselves fans of cartography and geocaching. This part of prepping cannot be bought: it must be walked.

Skepticism arrives early and harshly. "As a hobby, it's fine. For a real MADMAX, you need thousands and thousands of euros, US style." In Spain, there are no virgin spaces: as soon as you light a fire, they find you. The inventory of skills that truly save lives reduces to three: endurance walking and running, first aid, and distinguishing edible plants from poisonous ones. Everything else is weight in the backpack.

Preparing for collapse or preparing to not need it

There is a current that directly rejects the scenario. "I do not aspire to survive a possible catastrophe in a post-apocalyptic world like The Road. In fact, I prefer to be among the first to die." If it is a nuclear mess, let it hit directly: what remains after "is not worth seeing." Others lower the goal to something more prosaic: living almost self-sufficiently, low profile, rowing minimally, and enjoying small things, which cost the least.

The most uncomfortable argument points out that all material things can be lost. In a looting scenario, any gadget you have will be taken; the only thing not stolen is what you know. Knowing how to heal a wound, start a motorcycle, or repair a generator makes you useful to those in charge. The rest, they say, is acting foolishly.

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And amidst all this, the Guardia Civil. The conversation shifts to its military nature and role in the radio spectrum, with units dedicated to surveillance. Someone recalls that fox hunting by amateurs helps locate emissions: if a group of friends can find each other, imagine how fast the Guardia Civil does. Dry final irony: the day Armageddon arrives and one has to eat their own waste to survive, many will remember the sub-forums that never peine.