I need some help - Page 5

smitty · 07-22-2006, 22:57

Learn everything about commo and electronics. You are expected to be the expert on the subject for team and the commander.

For a UW enviornment during the Cold War morse code was essential...
Then the digital world ...the DMDG ('Dum Dog') required a 12dB signal in order for it to work well. Something similar for the -137 I would think. The -137 was an idea that came from the MIB in the mid to late '80s. Satellite comms for the Cold War was out of the question. Digital was and still is questionably unreliable due to electromagnetic pulse (EMP).

My opinion, I think we are getting to wrapped around our high tech toys to the point we lose the ability to fight mano a mano.

Joseph Priestley:
The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.

**Jack Moroney (RIP)** · 07-23-2006, 05:07

[QUOTE=smitty]Learn everything about commo and electronics. You are expected to be the expert on the subject for team and the commander./QUOTE]

You can take him at his word. He was one of the best in the business if this is who I think it is.

BMT (RIP) · 07-26-2006, 07:03

I make out to the Base Station once in awhile. The new GEE WHIZ systems look great and have some time saving features. What happen if your 'puter crashes??

BMT

Para · 07-26-2006, 14:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by BMT

I make out to the Base Station once in awhile. The new GEE WHIZ systems look great and have some time saving features. What happen if your 'puter crashes??

BMT

The war ends. LOL When in doubt, pull out the sat phone and go secure.

smitty · 07-26-2006, 17:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Para

The war ends. LOL When in doubt, pull out the sat phone and go secure.

To me it doesn't matter if you drop a quarter in a pay phone or use X, K, wideband satcom and superheterodyne recievers. The question is did you get it?

smitty · 07-26-2006, 17:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by BMT

I make out to the Base Station once in awhile. The new GEE WHIZ systems look great and have some time saving features. What happen if your 'puter crashes??

BMT

I played with both ends of the spectrum... Base Station, out station, high tech, no tech No particular preference so long as it works and it's reliable. Test comms while under duress (that's when you need it most). I'd be willing to bet that no military radio, used for voice communications, uses a compression amp on the input (esoteric humor).

smitty

Hellboy · 07-27-2006, 17:38

Get proficient on Morse Code (CW) transmitting and recieving for openers. Get yourself up to at least 20wpm in and out, you can get faster later. Good Luck.

Para · 07-28-2006, 13:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by smitty

To me it doesn't matter if you drop a quarter in a pay phone or use X, K, wideband satcom and superheterodyne recievers. The question is did you get it?

I am tracking, PACE, redundancy within, etc... Just chalk up what I said as a large amount of frustration coming out as a sarcastic remark that should be truely left to discussions over cases of beer and scotch.

QRQ 30 · 07-28-2006, 17:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Para

I am tracking, PACE, redundancy within, etc... Just chalk up what I said as a large amount of frustration coming out as a sarcastic remark that should be truely left to discussions over cases of beer and scotch.

That wouldn't hurt. But just having the code is good. I had non-05B's send and receive by writing down the dots and dashes . I worked the 10th Grp XMTR site and we used a mechanical keyer set to 14-16 gpm for BTB. Copying in a code room is different from copying in the snow, under a poncho with a red flashlight. Sending is a little shaky too under field conditions.

I agree code should continue to be a backup. Any port in a storm and the more tools in the chest the better.

I was watching a thing on the Brits in Burma in WWII and was amazed at how clear the IMC was at about 10wpm. It has been 30 years. Its like a bike, once you learn you never forget.

Aoresteen · 08-05-2006, 18:35

I think it is a mistake to drop IMC. But as a HAM (W1AJO) I am biased. I was of the opinion that everyone on the team should be able to copy 10GPM so at least they could get the freq from the BTB and everyone should be able to cak up a tape (for burst). It isn’t that hard to do.

Yes I know that the digital modes and SAT links are faster and easier but are also more complex and have more points of failure. They also require more power to run.

One of the pressing issues for conventional units is the lack of bandwidth in satcom links. Everybody wants a channel and there are not enough to go around. Divisional HQs & Corp HQs units are re-looking at HF como as an alternative to crowded satcom links. Makes you wonder.

Consider this: What happens when Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan all go up in smoke and we are all trying to make como on very limited satcom links?

If a nuke goes off you now have EMP issues to deal with. IMC will get through but voice and digital won’t. Forget about IP, the net will be down in strategic places and will be unreliable. HF is the last resort.

My main HAM rig is a Yaesu FT-817. 5 watts. It is TINY! I’m in Florida and I have worked the South Pacific, Caribbean, Canada, Europe, and Africa. I also use it to do local 2m FM work. I do have a small 50-watt linear amp but don’t use it much. Antenna? A G5RV dipole and a 20 to 10 meter beam are what I use. A Z100 HF antenna auto tuner makes it sing. A 12 watt version is possible and it could replace the AN/PRC-74/70 HF rigs easily.

The problem with the old HF technolgy wasn't with the mode or freq/bandwith; it was with the equipment that was just too damm heavy. With today's technologhy, a super lightweight HF radio is possible that doen't use a lot of power but will make reliable HF contacts. It seems we have thrown out the baby with the bathwater.

Tried & true burst IMC should be in every ODA’s bag of tricks, even if used only as plan B. Just my 2¢ worth.

QRQ 30 · 08-05-2006, 18:45

Burst requires too clear of a channel. A crackle of interference wipes out a page.

**Jack Moroney (RIP)** · 08-05-2006, 18:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aoresteen

I I was of the opinion that everyone on the team should be able to copy 10GPM so at least they could get the freq from the BTB and everyone should be able to cak up a tape (for burst). It isn’t that hard to do.

.

I concur and made it a requirement in both B-Teams and the battalion I commanded.

Aoresteen · 08-05-2006, 19:05

Burst requires too clear of a channel. A crackle of interference wipes out a page.
__________________
Terry D.

Terry,

That's true if you are using the the old GRA-71 burst technology. But with today's technology you could use a narrower slice of bandwidth and digital processing to reduce losses significantly. Think voice DSP processors optimized for CW with steep filtering. It would be a LOT better than what we were using 30 years ago.

QRQ 30 · 08-05-2006, 19:09

You don't even need to know code. Most carried a card with IMC on it as well as a tri-graph.

Quote:

That wouldn't hurt. But just having the code is good. I had non-05B's send and receive by writing down the dots and dashes

QRQ 30 · 08-05-2006, 19:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aoresteen

Burst requires too clear of a channel. A crackle of interference wipes out a page.
__________________
Terry D.

Terry,

That's true if you are using the the old GRA-71 burst technology. But with today's technology you could use a narrower slice of bandwidth and digital processing to reduce losses significantly. Think voice DSP processors optimized for CW with steep filtering. It would be a LOT better than what we were using 30 years ago.

Ibeg your pardon -- 29 years ago.

I got out in 1977.