Life rarely goes as planned. Plan accordingly. Sometimes everything goes south. Sometimes just nothing works. SGT Murphy showed up just to tell you you suck. HF conditions are bad. Batteries go dead unexpectedly. Your Baofeng got wet in the river you just crossed and crapped the bed or maybe just melted on its own. Your …
Near Vertical Incidence Skywave- Simplified
I've brought this up enough times already; let's de-mystify this beast. Communications fall into one of two categories: Line of Sight(LOS) and Beyond Line of Sight. LOS If you can see it, in theory at least, you should be able to communicate with it. Low-band VHF(10M/11M/CB) and above(UHF, Microwave) works in this manner. VHF can …
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An AAR on NVIS from an EMCOMM group in Kentucky
Recently in the Grid Down Communications FB Group, an editorial/AAR was posted pointing out certain failures or inadequacies of NVIS. Aside from the "complaints with no solution" attitude exhibited, there's some key takeaways. Read for yourself: https://kypn.wordpress.com/2015/10/10/a-year-of-hard-lessons-for-the-hf-nvis-crowd/?utm_source=amateur-radio-weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter First things first, the author lists three faults as he sees it: Over dependence upon and improper application …
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HOME WORK TIME
Source: HOME WORK TIME
A project for the KX3 users.
A neat project to make the KX3 a bit more field survivable. http://www.oe2atn.at/tom/gobox/ Make this: Look like this: No doubt something similar can be done with the 817, FX4, etc.
The Jungle Antenna
The Jungle Antenna AKA 292 Antenna AKA Quarterwave Groundplane is a groundplane antenna made of just a few common parts. As the nickname implies it's designed to work in rural, woodland areas but as anyone whose played with an OE-254 can tell you, they work well almost anywhere. They're easy to make and very effective; …
SIGINT for the Small Unit
SIGINT: SIGnals INTelligence The ability to listen to what's going on around you. It's a crucial skill on a number of levels, and can answer a number of questions based upon what you hear, such as: 1. How close is my OPFOR? 2. Are they OPFOR? 3. What is their level of Experience? 4. Do …
On the Marksman
Snipers seem to get a lot of attention; be it the "lone gunman" fantasy, media concoctions capitalizing on this, or on a more professional level, the fear that the trained marksman can instil in an opponent. Frequently among "other" circles, it creates a highly Walter Mitty-ish atmosphere and chatter. Such talk is annoying and silly. …
An OSINT primer
Much of what will appear on the battlefield-to-be is currently on display for anyone paying attention. Are you? If not; you should be. We call this Open Source INTelligence. It used to be common occurrence that everyone watched the local news at 5 or 6, followed by the national news. You got a version of …
Planning your Footprint
Your "footprint" is simply your area of operations/influence/control/ability to react, etc. In short, an area where you can do something directly about things that are happening. There are many layers to this cake; it's three dimensional just like everything. H/T to JJS/AMRRON for posting this tool: http://obeattie.github.io/gmaps-radius/?radiusInput=125&unitSelector=mi I'll expound a bit to it's uses. Communications …