Enemies of Liberty are ruthless. To own your Liberty, you'd better come harder than your enemies..

Enemies of Liberty are ruthless. To own your Liberty, you'd better come harder than your enemies..

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Questions for Comms Guys


2.5 questions, actually.

1) How long does it take for modern Direction Finding teams (based in USA) to find a transmitter?  (How long do you have to be on-air before they can find you) - and is this a passive technology on their part?   Or do they have to be actively looking for transmissions?

2) What is the answer for the Team that wants all bands/all modes as well as encryption, Frequency Hopping, and burst transmission capability?

I am looking at the unit above as outlined at Signal Corps (here) for my personal rig, as I want optimum capability and mobility.  I know burst/encryption/hopping are all verboten, but what should a man buy today for the moment WROL arrives and he wants those capabilities?

Hmm...3.5 questions: How much are you professional Comms Guys concerned that Motorola is now owned by Google, a company that has proven to be willing to help .gov when asked - are you moving away from Motorola equipment because of potential back doors?

K
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 1, 2013 at 6:32 PM

    Re: Direction finding.If they want you and you use vhf or uhf stuff they can tell where you are from space.Quickly.With HF equipment if you keep the power low and use NVIS antennas they will have to be closer...and it will be slower.It is still fast enough to be a problem is they are in your area.

    Minutes from space, a few hours for HF.

    They have really good equipment...and airplanes with terrifying capabilities.Drones hurt you here as well.If you emit RF, they can find you.

    I don't want to discourage you.I think radios are vital gear...but they will be dangerous to use until their RDF capabilities become degraded.

    Use the lowest power you can to do the job.Keep transmissions short.Move the station frequently.Spread spectrum is good too.

    I can cover most of the eastern seaboard very reliably every night with 100 watts on 80 meters...but I am an Amateur Extra...and they know EXACTLY where I am.

    Good luck!


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    Replies
    1. KDecember 1, 2013 at 7:21 PM

      Thanks, Anon. What do you think about the above unit? 10 watts by itself, 100 watts if you add the amplifier. Is this a good choice for a Patriot who expects WROL, considerable travel across CONUS, with contacts also spread around CONUS who will need to be contacted from time to time?

      Also: How about the special widgets for freq hopping, burst transmission, and encryption - are such widgets even legal for sale in America, or are they like cell jammers, verboten?

      K

      Delete
    2. AnonymousDecember 2, 2013 at 9:55 AM

      I am a different anon, also Am Extra, usually think you are a jerk, but want to add some more info.
      RE: the great power debate. I regularly use Morse Code at 1.5 watts to work the world on 40m, or the Southeast on 80m at night. Later in the winter, I will work the world on 80m with 250 Milliwatts. Low Power is Every Day Life for me. People say "You can turn the power down on a 100w radio..."blah blah blah, and that is true. One point often neglected though, is that the KX3 (and other lower power operations radios) are specifically designed to operate at low power. in WROL, PAW, REVWAR3, pockylips or whatever may be the future, energy budget rapidly becomes important. A higher power radio operating at less than full power is scads less efficient than a dedicated CW rig, digitally keyed by a low power laptop running open source operating systems to transmit highspeed morse code bursts (like they did in WW2).
      Anon @1:37AM's note on antennas is especially important to consider.
      There are digital solutions to your frequency hopping and encryption questions that are not gear specific. Look hard into software defined radio. Personally, I'd rather trust a one time pad with messages exchanged in five letter morse code groups sent at burst speed. It's pretty easy for stuff like that to get mixed into the hocus pocus that already is happening on the HF bands, and there's it's doable without shady middlemen dealing in strange warez in fleamarkets (not that there's anything wrong with that)
      My opsec rule number one when it comes to radio coms is

      DONT POKE THE BEAR.

      Delete
    3. KDecember 2, 2013 at 11:23 AM

      Thanks for the info, Am Extra.

      You and my mother would agree about the jerk part. ;)

      K

      Delete
  2. AnonymousDecember 1, 2013 at 10:37 PM

    The elecraft gear is excellent...but it may not be as rugged(waterproofness/drop/shock) as you would like.I like Icom7200 rig but it is heavy and power hungry compared to the elecraft.

    I recommend 100 watts in a rugged package.You can always turn the power down to be stealthy.

    In a WROL situation any mode is legal!You can buy anything.

    You may have to be less than forthright in what your stated use will be however!

    All the modern stuff runs fine off a 12v car battery...so it can be vehicle powered.I recommend a big optima AGM battery and some form of solar panel for true SHTF use off grid.You can go nuts trying to decide the best portable system...but buy an antenna tuner as well as spools of wire.No radio is any better than it's antenna system.Small tiny antennas look cool....but it is hard to see a piece of magnet wire in the trees...and it will get the job done.

    ReplyDelete

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