ConSigCor Company Commander Moderator Member # 7 posted 05-31-2002 19:24 Communications is equally as important to your survival as planning and organization. During a disaster all forms of communications in current use may fail or be shut down by the government. Every group must set up a reliable means of commo in advance that is totally independent of outside control or power sources. Commanders who fail to implement tactical networks and comm plans will be unable to command, control or coordinate thier forces. They will be deaf, dumb and blind during a crisis. Tactical Comm. Defined: Tactical communications are short range, ground-wave (line of sight) commo used in your Area of Operations between team members, teams, squads and thier firebase or command center. Tac Com also includes the Local and Regional networks. Local is for the Rapid Alert System within your county. Regional is the counties surrounding your A/O. Range of Operations: Normal range may be considered .5-5 miles for team to team commo, 5-15 miles for team to base communications and up to 50+ miles for base to base commo. Purpose: Area Commanders use Tactical Communication to direct fire and movement, call for resupply, reinforcement, medevac etc., operate the local Rapid Alert System and to maintain contact with other units in surrounding counties. Tactical Networks: Consist of 3 base radio stations per county, equiped for SSB/Encrypted PSK-31 operation; plus mobile radios in EVERY vehicle. These base stations provide commo between the base of operations and the teams deployed in the field. They will also act as relay stations between the differant A/Os within the region. They will remain operational on a 24 hour basis during a crisis or when the teams are deployed. They will monitor all unit freqs and gather SigInt from enemy communications. They must be able to receive and transmit over long distance using self contained power sources. C.E.O.I. Communications Equipment Operating Instructions- C.E.O.I-are contained in a small laminated notebook and are to be carried by all comm personnel. Every tactical network and team must have this to avod confusion and to maintain OPSEC. The CEOI contains: 7 split-frequency pairs to be used on a rotational basis, net/tac callsigns with an autheticator keyset, codes in use for the net and units during an activity, operation or period of time, and other instructions as needed. Codes are randomely chosen letter number groups of varying length (may resemble the 10-code) Different codes are used for the same thing. All codes and frequencys must be changed often, even daily. *NOTE* For detailed information about Communication Security procedures study: CommSec http://155.217.58.58/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/24-12/Ch7.htm Equipment: Tactical comm equipment must be lightwieght, portable and have sufficient range to maintain contact with all team members and the base of operations. It must also be compatable with the base station equipment in use. Band and Equipment Overview: Several bands and modes are available that will meet the above criteria. UHF-High Band / VHF-Low Band and the Freeband. UHF-HIGH BAND: UHF is strictly limited range, line of sight communications better suited for the urban environment. UHF signals penetrate buildings and metal clutter well, but the signal is attenuated or absorbed by dense folliage and heavy terrain. FRS: Most groups are familiar with or use Family Radio Service equipment. FRS has 14 UHF channels, a maximum output of .5 watt, a fixed (non-removeable antenna) and a very limited real world range of about 1.5 miles. FRS radios only use is for clear, simple to use communications within a team. They have very limted range, No privacy and being FM are very easily DF-ed. The so called "privacy codes" aren't. All they do is limit YOUR ability to hear others on the same freq. near you. Also, don't waste your money on encrypted units. Most use simple speech inversion circuitry which will confuse the basic moron; but wont slow down a smart 12 year old with access to common gear laying around the house. If "da man" is within range...encryption ain't gonna help you anyway. GMRS: A better UHF solution for urban ops is the General Mobile Radio Service. GMRS has 23 FM channels (7 of which are compatable with FRS). The first 8 channels are for base/mobile/HT simplex use: 462.550, .575, .600, .625, .650, .675 (Emergency Channel), .700, and .725. There are 8 freqs. in the 467.000 mhz band that are for repeater input use only. Next, there are 7 interstitial channels located between the regular GMRS freqs. that are compatable with the first 7 FRS freqs. These are: 462.5625, .5875, 6125, .6375, .6625, .6875 and .7125. Equipment is available with up to 50 watts output for up to 25 mile range. Most HT's have 15 channels with a 2 watt output. Range is approximately 5 miles. Midland currently offers a mil. spec. HT with all 23 channels and 2 watts erp. Other companies are offering HTs with up to 5 watts erp, 15 channels plus NOAA weather scan. Prices are around $150. For increased range, All of these HT's can be upgraded with 1/2 wave 2.5 db gain whip antennas. For mobile operation, mag mount antennas are available with up to 5 db gain. To set up a GMRS network for your AO that has approx. 6-15 mile coverage; take a 5 watt HT with a speaker mike and connect it to an outdoor antenna mounted 20-30 feet high. Use the best low loss 50 ohm coax you can find such as LMR-400. Keep the cable run 50 feet or less. For general coverage in all directions use a omnidirectional vertical such as a J-pole or one of the readily available commercial antennas. To increase your range further, and for a little more comsec, take a 10db gain 440mhz 4-element beam, cut it down for 1.1 swr on the GMRS band and turn it with a tv rotor. You could also build this antenna out of rigid copper pipe for almost nothing. *NOTE* The FCC demands that you pay a $75 tax (liscense) to operate on GMRS. They readily admit that the purpose of the tax is to "catch scofflaws" who owe child support or the IRS. Due to the short range nature of GMRS, enforcement of the rules has been rather lax. Anyone can buy a GMRS rig and most are tossing the paperwork in the trash. No one will check to see if you have a liscense unless you interfer with another liscensed operator. So, NEVER interfer with a frequency when it is in use or another operator. Also, the FCC issues a callsign with each new liscense. It is a 3 by 4 call that should be very familiar to the old Class D CB operators. A GMRS call will look like this: KFW-1234. So, if you don't have a call...make one up. BE aware that the FRS/GMRS frequencys are in the same band used by local, State and Federal law enforement agencys and that they can monitor your commo in split second. VHF-LOW BAND: Heres where it starts to get interesting. VHF Low Band is preferred in rugged terrain beause LB signals are much less affected by hills or dense folliage than VHF (2-meter) or UHF. This is probably the reason why the military uses tac comm radios that operate from 30.000-87.975mhz. 6-Meter Low Band (50.-54.000mhz) is well suited for tac com operations at the local and regional level. In most areas of the country this band sees little use and has been all but forgotten by the Tech class hams who think that 2 meters is the only band. There is little interferance or overcrowding. Typical mobile range is 40-50 miles. During years of high sun spot activity, occasional band openings allow base stations running beam antennas and power to reach out several hundred miles. HT's for this band operate in the FM mode with an output of 5 watts. This is plenty of power for 5-15 mile range. Field expediant antennas for 6 meters are small, easily made and will increase the range even further. Mobile rigs such as the Ranger 5054 will operate CW, SSB or FM with 25 watts output. Most of the 6 meter HT's and mobile rigs can be broadbanded to cover the military frequencys which has many advantages. Quarter wave mobile whip antennas are approx. 4.5 feet tall and cost about $25. ARRL 6-Meter (50-54mhz) Bandplan: 50.000-50.100 CW, beacons 50.100-50.300 SSB, CW 50.100-50.125 DX suband 50.125 Old DX SSB Call 50.200 New DX SSB Call 50.300-50.600 All Modes 50.400 AM Call 50.600-50.800 Digital 50.620 Packett Call 51.000-51.100 West Coast DX *NOTE* All freq.s above 51.10 are spaced 20 kHz apart on "even" channels. 51.500-51.600 Simplex (6 channels) 51.120-51.480 Repeater Input (19 channels) 51.620-51.980 Repeater Output (19 channels) 52.000-52.480 Repeater Input (23 channels except...) 52.0 -52.04 FM SIMPLEX 52.500-52.980 Repeater Output (23 channels except) 52.525 PRIMARY FM SIMPLEX 52.540 SECONDARY FM SIMPLEX 53.000-53.480 Repeater Input (19 channels) 53.000 BASE FM SIMPLEX 53.020 Simplex 53.520-53.980 FM Simplex UPPER HF 12-11-10 Meters: Being at the upper end of the High Freq. scale; these bands offer long range nationwide commo during daytime band openings and have excellant propagation in hilly, forrested terrain. Groundwave signals will cover 60+ miles base to base, 24 hours a day. During band opening ranges of thousands of miles are possible. First Europe and the North will come in then as the day advances, Latin America, the Pacific West and Austailia. These bands usually open about 1 hour after sunrise and stay up until around 9 pm local at night. A 25 watt, broadbanded mobile rig, such as the Ranger 2950DX or the old Uniden HR-2510 coupled to a 102 inch steel whip will have a range of approx. 35-40 miles. The mobile rig will work well for a 40-60 mile coverage base station with a power supply, set of meters/tuner and a vertical 5/8's wave antenna mounted 36' high. For a little more stealth and increased range, use a 3 element horizontal beam, a tv rotor and 40' mast. Most hams operate in USB mode on these bands while the freebanders tend to use LSB. ARRL 10-Meter Bandplan: 28.000-28.070-CW 28.070-28.150-CW/Data 28.120-28.189-Packett/Data/CW 28.190-28.300-CW/Beacons 28.300-28.500-Most SSB activity 28.500-29.699-SSB and FM 28.590-ARRL Emergency Net 28.680-SSTV 29.300-29.510-Satellites 29.510-29.590-Repeater Inputs 29.600-National FM Simplex Freq. 29.610-29.690-Repeater Output (Base) Freeband-27.405-27.995 (Upper Band) 27.500 National MilComm Monitor 27.555 National DX Call Freq. 11-Meter-26.965-27.405 (CB) 27.385LSB-Ch.38-National Contact Freq. Freeband-25.000-26.960 (Low Band) 12 Meter-24.890-24.990 24.890-24.930-CW/Data 24.930-24.990-USB Militia Signal Corps Tactical Bandplan: The following simplex frequencies are for Initial Contact only. Use them to contact friendly forces when you are out of your area of operations. Do not use these freq's for any mission critical information. When calling for a militia contact on these freqs: Call "CQ for the MSC DX group". All groups nationwide are urged to monitor these freq.s 24/7. Tac1 27.325 AM/LSB-Alternate Call (Channel 32) Tac2 27.385 LSB-Primary Local Call (Channel 38) Tac3 27.555 LSB-Primary DX Call Tac4 29.600 FM Simplex Call Tac5 52.525 FM Simplex Primary Call Tac6 52.040 FM Simplex Alternate Call Tac7 146.485 FM Simplex Call Tac8 146.520 FM Simplex Call Tac9 462.6125 FM (channel 3 FRS) Minimum Required Equipment: 1 FRS radio and spare batteries per team member. Team Radio Operators Field Gear: *1 Gear bag *1 GMRS Radio with hi-gain whip antenna per team, 2 per squad *1 200 channel scanner; *NOTE-Option* The Yaesu VX-5r HT can replace all squad radios as well as do double duty as a scanner. It will give you the ability to TRX on 6 & 2 meter, 70cm (440) FRS/GMRS, MURS and many other freq's. It can also monitor HF shortwave as well as military, aircraft and all local, State and Federal agency freq.s *1 Headset w/boom mike for radios *2 Red light sticks and/or mag-lite with red filter *1 C.E.O.I on laminated 3"X5" cards *1 Notepad w/pencil *1 Topo map of teams Area of Operation *1 Mini-binoculars 12X25 *1 Manpack rechargeable battery system (7ah with various connectors to adopt to all squad equipment) For further information study: Tactical Single Channel Radio Comm Techniques study: http://155.217.58.58/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/24-18.htm Also, study the Milcomm Organization, and Rapid Alert System threads in the comm forum. For those who know nothing about tactical communications; read: Basic Tac-Comm [URL=http://www.netside.com/~lcoble/dir9/commo.htm][/URL]