I am late to the Comms game. I learn fast, usually.
Here's what I know: OpFor owns the radio and digital battlespace. Period. Full f'n stop.
Sure, you may know how to sidestep a few landmines, you may even know a few loopholes and hidey-holes. But I'd venture to say anyone actively out of the game for 6-12 months has obsolete comprehension of the subject matter. And if obsolete is too strong of a word, then I'll just go with way behind the curve. This is one aspect where .gov has a lot of talent, a lot of resources, and holds the high ground.
People who know have warned us all: If the big boys are looking for you, do not even crack the mic.
That is because OpFor has the widgets and gizmos to identify you, DF you, and put a bomb on that location pretty darned quickly.
We've been warned that every single digital transmission ever sent, can be retrieved, if .gov wants to go find it.
And if you think you can pass messages in any digital format because you have found a way to outwit .mil - ok. You may even be correct, for about 5 minutes. But if you keep believing your own PR that there is a way to safely conduct secure Comms by passing thumbdrives to one another or encrypting in this or that format - you will lose. Maybe not today. But someone, somewhere in that chain of Comms is going to screw up and compromise everything. It takes just one idiot who has a secure communication on his tablet (you know, the one he only ever uses for secret-squirrel comms and never even hooks up to the net...) - at some point he'll trip into a wifi signal that starts pinging until some Human in some dark room filled with up-to-speed Comms guys decide to turn him inside out - and not in the fun way.
Old-school is the way to go, or will be the way to go, as the hand of .gov grows heavier on your shoulder. Learn morse code so you can tap-tap-tap a message to an ally who has one of your One Time Pads, so you can talk. Done properly, the OTP is unbreakable. Unless they catch you or your ally - you and he will break.
Anyway, enough preaching about a topic of which I know little.
I found an app for my Android so I can learn my morse code. If you care, here it is...
Good luck, Patriots.
Kerodin
III
Sam, first off, Merry Christmas to you and Holly.
ReplyDeleteNow then, this is off topic but it is something that has been bugging me for a while now and it has to do with the formatting of this blog.
When you put up a link, there is no contrast to the print.
I have to mouse over everything looking for it.
When my mouse finally finds it, THEN there is an underlined link that lights up.
I think it has to do with the formatting and that you can choose the way they appear.
Trivial, I know but it does get to be a guessing game as to where the links are at times and flailing around with my mouse looking for them can get irritating.
Just my .02.
Phil
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Phil!
DeleteI've experimented with the link problem until I finally settled on the current solution. Usually links turn blue, but on a black background that just didn't work. So I chose a different shade from the white text for links - it is about 2 shades more gray.
Blogger is finicky at times - I have it set to underline links, but it simply refuses to do it.
What I usually do is clue the reader by saying "Here's the link to Brock's place" or something to that effect so people know that with the slightly different text color and "link is here" language, people can navigate.
I've also found that the links can look different based on the readers computer. On my computer it looks exactly as I explained above, but on my wife's laptop, she get's the underline.
I've fiddled with getting away from the black theme, but I have never found a color scheme that fits. Most of my other blogs use different colors as the primary background, making it easier. I know you can also affect how links look in your browser, somewhere in the "Internet Options" drop-down menu. You may be able to tell your machine to handle links differently.
Have a great holiday, and stay safe.
K
IMO Morse Code doesn't change anything about the underlying problem(s) that you correctly note in this post. There's such a thing as secure comms at any moment in time, but the problem is what you say---for about 5 minutes. Though granted, tactically speaking, sometimes that's enough.
ReplyDeleteStrategically, the challenge is coming up with a power that can overcome effectively infinite resources. That takes thinking outside of the box. Personally I think that power is transparency, at least as a broad principle.
Out-good them. They'll never see it coming, cuz they don't know what it looks like.
If you are serious about wanting to learn Morse and use it under "real-world" conditions, consider the free tutorial software for Windows offered by Ray Goff (British amateur radio operator G4FON).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.g4fon.net/CW%20Trainer.htm
Once you have mastered the basic alphabet, this software enables you to simulate reception with background noise, interference, and irregularities in the "fist" of the operator and his/her transmitter.
Be diligent in your training and be patient ... proficiency takes time.
Hans ... speaking from 47 years of radio telegraphy
(in the NC woods)
I would like to recommend the link below for consideration on com's. I learned this a long time ago during survival escape resistance & evasion training. I was told a story that before the message people would use the "shave and a haircut, 2 bits" knock to throw off anyone listening. Just a thought.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/honor/sfeature/sf_tap.html