Communications, generally

This is a huge subject, and one I've only hit lightly so far in this blog. After considering some new equipment, and getting bedazzled by what's out there, I decided that the slow, easy approach would be my best hope for getting this material out.

This post will look at some simple communications strategy, and some classes of communications equipment. It will look at what you DO with comm equipment, and how to get the best use out of it in the field.

In following posts, I will take each class of equipment and look at examples of it, with some comparison of features.

Communications is simply the act of exchanging information. That's all it was ever meant to be. If the information to be exchanged can be put into spoken words, it may be exchanged by wired or wireless systems.

For our purposes, all information that is exchanged is assumed to be exchanged in the open. You and I do not have much access to equipment that can scramble and unscramble voice communications, and it (encryption) adds an unreliable layer of complexity anyway. I'm sure some comm freak will shit in my mess kit over this, but I do not presume I'm smarter than the average military commo NCO, and wouldn't try to outsmart anyone's ability to de-crypt my comm.

I will be happy if my comm bridges whatever gap of distance and intervening terrain and is understood by the recipient. I will be happy if my comm equipment holds up in the field, and if the batteries last long enough for a mission (or are easy to replace without having to re-program the equipment each time).

First, we have a comm plan. It starts with the simple: if you are close enough, I will call you over and we will talk face-to-face. If we are not close enough, I will send a comm alert signal, which will alert you to the coming message. I will transmit the message, and you will transmit back that you copied it. Even the old-day CB freaks did this: "You got your ears on Rubberduck?" That's the alert signal. Then a message, "Rubberduck, this is BullPusher, meet me on 21." That means shift to channel 21. Then Rubberduck and BullPusher ratchetjaw (basically BS with no attempt to be brief), then Bullpusher ends by saying "That's a 10-4 (agreed to), Rubberduck." The conversation ends. Not very military, but it worked. That's a comm plan. You learned it in the first half-hour after you first turned on your CB.

Military and police dispatching is much the same, in that they both use a standard comm plan, or "radio etiquette". In police comm, the dispatcher calls the unit: 'Four Adam Twelve?" (Fourth Precinct, Adam shift, twelve-district) The unit answers, "Four Adam Twelve". The dispatcher gives the dispatch, then the unit says, "Four Adam Twelve, copy." Military dispatch (control) is a bit different, but still follows a specific plan. The controller calls, "Birdman one-two, birdman one-two, birdman control, over." Note that military dispatchers end with "over", to specifically indicate that their call is done. The unit answers, "Birdman one-two, over".  The controller dispatches, "Birdman one-two, your target is two o'clock, six zero (miles out), five-five-zero (550 knots) at two five thousand (25,000 feet altitude), turn right two six zero". You notice that the controller requires the interceptor pilot to know the order of the information figures, but spells out the numbers in units of less than ten. This is done for clarity's sake.

In the field, we will use either the police or the military system, but we will use a system. The field commander briefs that and makes sure that all the radio-bearing troops use the system correctly.

The next comm plan would use wired communications, i.e. phone and internet. The security is only moderate, but the plain old wired phone has some security, if used properly. The internet has some, but can be traced later if the receiving computer is seized. A cell phone should never be used, as the cell system could be programmed to alert a watcher that it is being used, and what's more, your position can be tracked by a GPS chip in the new phones (close enough to call an airstrike on you), or with an older phone, at least as close as the cell tower nearest to you. If one of your troops has a cell phone and it would be mighty tempting to have, to stay in touch with loved ones, then your mission HAS been compromised. You need a plan for that.

Wired comm is your best bet for longer distances. Buy up some long-distance cards and put them in your kit. Buy the kind that are over the counter and you don't need to give a name. Make sure that they don't expire AND THAT THERE IS NO MONTHLY CHARGE TO PAY. To make communications, send a comm runner well off your route of march to find a phone and use it, BRIEFLY, then return to the unit. Your wired comm plan should be to tell those expecting calls when to expect them, AND THAT THERE WILL BE NO CALLS FROM YOU EXCEPT AT THOSE TIMES. Actually, this plan works well for radios in enemy country as well.

If the unit you're operating has more than four troops, one will be the designated base station operator, and will stay with the equipment, monitoring as many different modes of comm that you have. In wartime, these might include CB and FRS/GMRS radio, VHF Marine radio and shortwave. If you have police scanners, those will be monitored as well. The dispatcher will have firm instructions who to contact and who not to. The dispatcher will have the understanding that one, single, unnecessary transmission might be the one that gives the position of the unit away and leads to combat or capture or death.

In peacetime (disaster response), the comm is the same, but cell phones and satellite phones may be added, as well as Internet if available. Marine Single-Sideband may also be used (more on this later). Partnering with a ham radio operator might bring the availability of phone-patch via VHF-network to the wired phone system, even if cell phones are down. In peacetime, the CDMA-based data networks are available. These are low speed (the "1X" system, at 40-60 Kbps), and the newer "3G" system (or EV-DO) that Verizon pioneered and now several cell companies operate for a fee. It is 300-600 Kbps, almost DSL-speed), and it operates either a CDMA-based PDA-phone (smartphone) or as a wireless card for your laptop. I have a smartphone, the Samsung SCH-I730, which runs Windows Mobile, has Wi-Fi AND 3G access, and will do 95% of the things that a laptop will (except it has only a 2"X3" screen).

The key in peacetime disaster comm is networking partnerships, partnering with those (in advance of the disaster, preferably) who will have the comm, so that between the partners, all the comm is there and all the comm needs satisfied.

In wartime, the key is communications security, and after that, sufficient comm to accomplish the mission, AND THAT IS ALL.

Napoleon said that an army travels on it's stomach, a reference to the logistics of supplying the food an army lives on. Today's army travels on it's communications gear, because multi-role missions and combined arms offensives are more dependent on comm than anything else. I don't care how many good snipers you have in your unit, one radio or cell-phone blabbermouth can get all of them, and you, killed before you reach your first objective.

Loose lips STILL sink ships, and field units as well.