Pathfinder III
- 1,876
- First Name
- Kyle
- Last Name
- Betts
- Member #
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13310
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KF0AWV
For your consideration and discussion, I was looking for info on antennas and found this, freshly published back in February.
TECHNIQUES FOR TACTICAL RADIO OPERATIONS
- Thread starter DzrtShamrock
- Start date
Advocate III
- 5,584
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Rose
- Member #
-
20990
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- W7FSB
- Service Branch
- US ARMY Retired
So... BIG Question... what was in the “Coms Bible” that pertains to Overlanding? Even though this publication is new this year, nothing has changed since the introduction of the SINGAR, other than BFTI and BFTII... now people want to get on me because they say APRS has no use for Overlanders... I have to disagree the largest group of organized overlanders is our US military. And they have been using BFTI and BFTII for decades...the information the command truck can relay to the Lead and Tail trucks is beyond awesome.
So real life senerio in civilian world:
I wanted to meet some friends on the trail. They were travel through the area on a much larger adventure. They were supposed to get to our predetermined meeting spot at a designated time frame. They weren’t there. Tried calling, got the “your party is out of service or their phone is turned off message”. I waited around for a whole day and they never showed. So I went home... my email box was full from their family members telling me the at they had broken down about 400 miles from where we were supposed to meet.
Fast forward several years.... same situation, but I was the one who was stranded... I put out a beacon to my party on the APRS net and my party was able to come and assist me in getting back on the trail...
Pathfinder III
- 1,876
- First Name
- Kyle
- Last Name
- Betts
- Member #
-
13310
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KF0AWV
Honestly what I find most interesting is that while the civilian world is moving more and more towards APRS utilization, the military is moving away from that equivalent. You mentioned BFT, which is actually a satellite communications system. The predecessor to the BFT utilized EPLRS technology - Electronic Position Location Reporting System - a line-of-sight system closer to an APRS/wireless mesh network. The powers that be keep pushing for more investment in the BFT system without regard to the inherent shortfalls of that technology - namely the limitation of GEO satellite coverage outside of 70N to 70S. With advances in wireless mesh, digital radio, and software defined radios I think a move back towards APRS-type systems is called for.
To your question, I'd highlight the dependence on repeaters/gateways (or retrans in military jargon) for both civilian and military use of APRS. For overlanding use, there's already established repeater stations and gateways that we don't have to worry about establishing, maintaining, or protecting. On the other hand, the portions of chapter 3 discussing planning for retrans stations I found pertinent. There's also a lot more information in there than I expected - such as discussion of HF, SSB, and antenna techniques. I also found chapters 4 and 5 to be good reference information as it pertains to application of VHF, UHF, etc. Having just got done studying for the exam, it would have been a helpful tool if I'd have known about it.
Advocate III
- 5,584
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Rose
- Member #
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20990
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- W7FSB
- Service Branch
- US ARMY Retired
I guess I just take for granite that I went through the commo classes back in 2000 when the SINGAR was getting a complete update. Also the manual you referenced was written prior to 1999, just got declassified this year because the military has gone to other means of encryption and deception... they found a vulnerability in the frequency hopping... well the vulnerability is actually not a vulnerability as much as our secrets were sold by a certain individual to ISIS, Talliban, and other terrorist factions... yet this same person is demean a Hero....
Unless I'm think of another ham I thought aprs was developed way back in the 80s ish by the fellow that helped develope the navy equivalent back the 70s. I might have my lineage confused. I'd have to refresh myself. I remember in 89 when we got those damn singers at camp casey korea. I hated them. Lol
As far as aprs and overlanding Its a hit or miss thing in my opinion during group runs or localized events I think it would be a good tool.
Not being as well versed on the technical side during a localized event a couple of well positioned static i-gates would do the trick. But mobile with out a cell data signal would populating the map with the locations of the group be possible in a kind of intra- group network either radio to radio or as a mobile mesh network?
As far as aprs and overlanding Its a hit or miss thing in my opinion during group runs or localized events I think it would be a good tool.
Not being as well versed on the technical side during a localized event a couple of well positioned static i-gates would do the trick. But mobile with out a cell data signal would populating the map with the locations of the group be possible in a kind of intra- group network either radio to radio or as a mobile mesh network?
Advocate III
- 5,584
- First Name
- Michael
- Last Name
- Rose
- Member #
-
20990
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- W7FSB
- Service Branch
- US ARMY Retired
The SINGARS I was referring to earlier was version Delta or Echo, by the time I got out in ‘13 SINGAR system was completely updated with satellite capabilities... I was coordinating from Afghanistan back to the Pentagon using VHF and satellites.
intra-grouping of APRS is possible I think, I haven’t left a digipeter yet.... we have great coverage here.
Member III
You are correct, Bob Bruninga WB4APR.
Absolutely, it very much depends on the local infrastructure. Some places are just better than others.
Mobile APRS is typically done without cell connectivity so all packets are radio to radio and can be viewed on map on a mobile device connected to the radio. An individual using cell connection only to report APRS via an app on their phone will not appear on the maps of those using RF and those using RF will only appear on the cell users map if they reach an i-gate.
