Subject: Cell phone woes
From: "Jim Hampton"
Date: 4/23/2004 6:30 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id:
Steve,
Hans was involved in emergencies. He can tell you the story about getting
comms back up to Guam from Saipan (did I get the right island that time,
Hans? 
I know he was, Jim. It still doesn't negate the fact that there are
numerous MARS BST's (Base Support Teams) that are part-and-parcel of base
disaster relief programs. Hans would have us believe that this is not true at
ALL. He is in error.
What everyone seems to forget here is that a considerable amount of military
traffic just might be classified. Also, do you want anyone knowing what the
ratio of classified to unclassified traffic is? If only some traffic were
encrypted, if that ratio changed to much more encrypted, people might be
able to draw some guesses as to "something is either happening or about to
happen".
Of course. And base commanders know what's "classified" and what's not.
A MARS BST would nhever even hear about "classified" traffic being passed, let
alone be handed something to pass.
The military has their way of doing things, and, quite frankly, I think they
do it very well indeed. No slam on amateur radio, but this is a very
different situation. Even military radios have mil-spec components and can
operate in conditions that our radios could not stand up to. You might be
in the Middle East in a desert in summer with sandstorms or in Korea in the
wintertime. You might be in a jungle with extensive rain and 100% humidity.
You might be in mountains.
Absolutely. And no one here (except those who keep trying to justify
thier rants by insinuating it's an "only-Amateur" scenario) is suggesting that
such is the case.
This is a forum relative to Amateur Radio. Most of the participants are
in the contiguous 48 United States, and I am going to "assume" that we are
discussing disaster situations involving the civilian populous in general.
In these specific exchanges we have included MARS as a resource for
"disaster communications" at those DoD facilities that have opted to implement
those programs, and certainly thos are facilities located within the United
States' jurisdiction.
Not all (certainly a few rather than a lot) have done so.
I know it's really rhetorical to do so, but since Hans has made a point of
misrepresenting the nature and composition of the MARS programs, I have taken
the stance of disagreeing with him. A L L of the MARS programs are made of
of licensed Amateurs. No Amateur Radio operators, no MARS.
Why would they try to include an unsecure (as opposed to encrypted - which,
by our laws, cannot be encrypted) service with gear that may perform well -
so long as the temperature is between 40 and 90 degrees farenheit with a
relative humidity between 30 and 90 percent and at an altitude not to exceed
10,000 feet?
I don't think JJ was making ANY suggestion of MILOPS in enviromental
extremes, nor was he suggesting any interoperabilty where COMSEC was of
concern.
MARS IS used in many instances for "disaster communications".
MARS is populated by civilian Amateur Radio operators. No...MARS is not
"Amateur Radio", nor is Amateur Radio MARS...However, No Amateur Radio, No
MARS.
My point here has been that Hans is belching out "absolutes" that are
anything BUT absolute, and he has been, in some significant margin, in error in
his representations of the MARS programs as they pertain to "disaster
communications".
73
Steve, K4YZ