GhostNet 1.5, page 40

40 STRADCON Criteria STRADCON 1 Full Alert: All Radio Communications Tools Deployed and Net- working Personal security established in the local area. For small teams/groups, handheld radios distributed and turned ON. HF radio antennas emplaced and SWR verified to be within acceptable safety limits for the radio. HF radio (and computer) turned ON, tuned to GhostNet freq on JS8Call (and/or other freq specific to team SOP) and networking. Second HF radio (if available) turned ON, scanning ALE net. STRADCON 2 Full Alert: All Radio Communications Tools Deployed and Ready to Transmit. Personal security established in the local area. For small teams/groups/elements, handheld radios distributed and turned OFF. HF radio antennas emplaced and SWR verified to be within acceptable safety limits for the radio. HF radio equipment DEPLOYED, but NOT turned on or transmitting. STRADCON 3 Reduced Alert: HF radio equipment CARRIED, but NOT deployed. HF antennas ready to deploy. Batteries fully charged and packed for movement. STRADCON 4 Minimum Alert: All radio equipment readily accessible within one hour. Batteries charging. Important Note! - Don’t Forget EMCON Concerns! These Radio Conditions are irrespective of whatever EMCON level may be in place. Personal security always takes precedent over generalized procedures, so there may be times when it is not appropriate to transmit or follow the readiness levels indicated above. These STRADCON levels generally are best emplaced when EMCON levels are more permissive of networked communications. You may find yourself in a situation where you need to operate at STRADCON 1, but the tactical situation in your area makes radio transmissions ill-advised. In all cases, EMCON takes priority to STRADCON. As most people will find them- selves operating at EMCON Level 1 conditions most of the time (even if a national event/crisis is unfolding), having some guidance for how to prioritize radio comms may be beneficial. Most importantly, having this guidance in place before a crisis, will allow prepared citizens to independently and simultaneously know what to do, and all be able to link up via HF radio, all without any top-down guidance whatsoever. Again, considering the strategic nature of HF radio, these STRADCON criteria are a very niche idea, but a concept that is most certainly needed in the event that national/regional communications outages become more routine and frequent. In wartime, this standard will likely not be of much use...the EMCON concerns of a combat zone make these procedures largely irrelevant, or require customizing to each user's needs that a common universal standard isn't really helpful. However, much like the rest of the GhostNet plan, these criteria are merely a stopgap solution to long-term strategic problems that currently do not have any satisfactory solution. User experiences may vary, along with the real-world usefulness of this standard.