Mike Coslo" wrote in message
Dan/W4NTI wrote:
"an old friend" wrote in message
Dan/W4NTI wrote:



That is my point Mike. Just because it is old....does not make it useless.
I believe in the KISS method. And CW, in emergencies, is the easiest and
simplest thing to get running.

No modems, no regulated power supplies, no computers. Just the basic stuff.

I was asked once by my Battalion commander while in the field in Germany.
( I was talking to the Feldburg 2m ham repeater while standing on top of the
Command track). He asked how I could communicate with Frankfurt, and all of
his radios could not......I said...."Well Sir, it takes two things to
communicate.....an operator on both ends"

He ordered me to take my H/T every time we went to the field from then on.

Tsk, tsk, highly UNlikely story for the 1972 times.

You'll have to be more clear on that location. "Feldburg" could
be 'Feldberg' or even 'Frieberg' or 'Freiberg.' Was that in
Bavaria or elsewhere? In 1980s, Feldberg-Schwarzwald was a
troposcatter station from the north-central part of West
Germany with relay to Italy; before that it was part of the LOS
microwave multi-channel relay system.

Frankfurt was, may still be, USAEUR-Germany Hq and would be
roughly 150 miles north of Feldberg-Schwarzwald (I don't have a
good map of the FRG at the moment). Bavaria borders Austria
and Switzerland as well as part of East Germany; in 1972 the
German unification was still distant in time. It is HIGHLY
DOUBTFUL that there would be: 1. Ham HTs good enough or
inexpensive enough for a GI to get (even with NCO and overseas
pay) in 1972; 2. Permission to USE one IN THE FIELD, certainly
on a "command track" (field Hq vehicle) that close to
unfriendly territory.

"Command tracks" (field Hq-Commo vehicles), presumably the
kind with all tracks and not wheels, but the name applies
to the fitted Bradleys of the 80s and 90s...all had lots
of radios...and antennas, that making them easier for
"other-side" recon units to spot. In 1972 the radios
normally in such field Hq-Commo vehicles could hack
up to 300 miles on NVIS cloud-burner bounce; the technique
was already known then (Rommel's Afrika Corps knew about
it in 1942 and that is documented). I can't believe an
armor unit has been rendered as radio-SILENT as you say,
not even with 1972-era radios in the U.S. Army.

Sorry, but use of REPEATER techniques, particularly UN-
manned repeaters, was pioneered by the U.S. Army in Italy
in late 1943, then used in France and Germany 1944-1945,
starting with the SCR-300, the VHF FM Voice manpack called
the "Walkie-Talkie." There's a specific repeater
connector on the front panel of every BC-1000 ever made
just for that purpose...designed-in by Signal Corps
request when the contract was signed with Motorola. With
REPEATERS, those can very easily operate WOTHOUT operators
"operating" things (taking any active part in the repeating
process of the radios). Repeaters are DESIGNED to operate
unattended.

1972 was THIRTY THREE years ago. By all appearances you've
done considerable "editing" of the ACTUAL FACTS surrounding
your field commo adventure. MANUFACTURING the story is more
likely.

nah non