Hello, Len

It just might be what a particular operator is familiar with. Back when
(in
the 60s) the military used a lot of HF point to point communications, they
(the radiomen) were familiar with having to change frequencies, how to set
crypto gear, and many other things. One thing they were *not* familiar
with
was how to handle a strong signal.

When the communications station attempted to re-establish communications
with Saipan, Hans, K0HB, was sent to Saipan. The communications station
kept telling him he was "loud, but garbled". Big hint - too much signal
for
the local oscillator injection to properly demodulate the ssb. I called
Hans from the hamshack (KG6AAY) and we (the hams) ended up not only
establishing communications but got orders to pass traffic from Saipan to
Commander, Naval Forces Marianas directly.

I also recall whilst aboard ship we lost the "broadcast" - multiplex
signals
for many channels of teletypes. The problem was that we were getting to
close to the station and we were in a skip zone. I suggested to the chief
that we try LF (low frequency). He didn't think it would work, but said
to
give it a try as everything else was out. On LF, the signal was
overpowering. In a few minutes, the broadcast was back up and running.

In both of these instances, it was the hams that had the proper
experience.

I shan't go much further than to say that one day whilst aboard ship, we
received an SOS on 500 KHz. It turns out that only *two* of us could
actually copy Morse at any reasonable speed. I don't know about the other
guy, but I was an amateur extra and also had a commercial telegraph
license.
The military radioman were *supposed* to be able to copy 16 words per
minute
to graduate from A school.

Sorry to shoot your "professional" theory down. You aren't totally wrong,
of course; it is what happens when the *unexpected* happens.


73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA



My gosh, I never knew. It is nothing short of a miracle that the today's
active military forces can still attain any level of readiness, with you and
Hans no longer on active duty.

73,

Sparky