Military experts say radio amateurs "highly knowledgeable asset in HF communication"

I think 2017 was the x7 that missed us. Just launched after it passed us. If it hit we would have been in a world of hurt. Not many understand how much our magnetosphere has weakened recently so smaller x class storms will effect us as much as larger ones used to.
When it does happen the main effect will be loss of timing. Near everything now relies on timing from GPS. It's crazy how people become so dependent on systems that can go away in the blink of an eye. It will be deer in the headlights for the vast majority.

 

Just a few opinions - NOT meant to diss anyone...

"In my humble opinion, most of us, as "ham" operators, are not "amateurs"; we are more like unpaid professionals."

Ahhhh... no. I disagree. That's more of a "Grand Aspiration" . Most hams are either inactive or have barely enough knowledge to operate in the modes they use. The vast majority will be of no use in a real emergency. But with 750,000+ registered, even a 1% success rate will yield 7,500 people that MAY be helpful if they are in the right place at the right time. Not too bad. Oddly enough this happened to me. Once.

"I think 2017 was the x7 that missed us. Just launched after it passed us. If it hit we would have been in a world of hurt."

Amazing how many people "Live for the days of mass destruction" of some sort rather than seizing the upside opportunities available today (that takes a LOT of work, it doesn't just fall into your hands). Hey, you've got your wish, though. COVID19. World wide disaster can come in so many forms - and with 7.8 BILLION people living on this planet, we're just a little top heavy. So... It's nice to keep your eyes open for the errant comet or ion jet. But much more relevant to get your work, business, family and financial act together to minimize harm when the economic impact of ANY calamity, local, national or global hits. Because, frankly, that happens ALL THE TIME. Plenty of victims of commonplace problems.

Where YOU can make a difference by: 1. Being secure yourself and not ADDING to the problem, 2. Being a "Good Neighbor" and helping out others who ARE affected, and are willing to help themselves as well. Fortunately, despite all of the political vile of the past few years, many still have the good will to do this in the USA.

Waiting by a 1963 Collins tube set for a "Covington Event" is going to miss most of the opportunities to live, make a difference to the world AND to help. And BTW - you can "Make a difference" simply by doing your job well, no matter what that job is, and treating others well, too. I sincerely hope we get back into that "normal".

Brian - K6BRN

 

Cela sera plus un rôle de résistance dans l'ombre, faut pas rêver !

 

As an Army radio op in 'West Germany' from 1980-82 under NATO, we used some good acronyms.. USCINCEUR, SACEUR, SHAPE and others I can't remember now 73,n6spp-cm98

 

My "take" on this, coming from about 50 years as a radio amateur and almost 40 years as a professional in civilian and military HF radio circles is in summary that radio amateurs have outlived their usefulness in "first-world" militaries.

Modern HF military communications are specifically designed to be done by crew without any special training or radio skills.
This has been accomplished by building the systems around automation, with various forms of ALE as the foremost examples.

One or two generations ago, there were a lot of conceptual similarities between amateur radio and military/professional radio, the traffic methods and patterns, modulation modes and equipment employed were quite similar.

This meant that radio amateurs could be used in productive operational and technical roles with only a small amount of supplemental training, and that they preserved their competence through "self-training".

A lot of the support for amateur radio from the Authorities in the 1940s-1970s time frame was derived from such observations.

Today, the situation is very different.
Traditional manual communications modes such as Morse and AM/FM/SSB telephony now take the "back-seat" to automated digital modes and message forwarding, at the same time as the requirements for bandwidth have increased and the tolerance for network latencies has decreased.

This is very much reflected in the views about HF that are current from both civilian and military users or decision-makers. HF is considered a "slow, cumbersome and noisy" way of communication that is frowned at, particularly by younger staff.

Understanding or lack of understanding of HF and its fundamental properties and limitations has very much become a generational matter.

As a consultant in these matters for quite a long time, I have discussed the question with a sample of my clients and sometimes raised the question when teaching younger staff, both civilian (aircrew) and military (junior officers and technical staff).

Their views are mostly that HF indeed is a component in the overall system, but that it spends far too much time in getting a message through.

Radio amateurs, if ever mentioned, are mostly regarded as old, grumpy and somewhat backwards people living in the past, who "plan for the previous war".

Also, the "team player aspects" of radio amateurs are seen as lacking, as amateurs tend to do things their own way.

In my opinion, the only thing radio amateurs could contribute in military HF communications would be an understanding of the limitations of HF, and the importance of adapting the user expectations to what actually can be delivered by especially tactical HF.

This is most important when dealing with systems integrators who contemplate the inclusion of HF in their overall systems.
Some of them regard HF as some form of "magic bullet", without understanding fundamental limitations of the medium.

Too many do not grasp the fact that even on a "sunny day" the bandwidths possible on HF are orders of magnitude lower than, say, mobile broadband. Message prioritisation and formatting have a profound importance if HF should be a viable component at all.

Already in the 90s, there was a joke around about "Nintendo Generals" who expected everything communications or operational related to be as responsive as a video game.

Looking at the qualifications of the average radio amateur of today, they are very much lacking to act as some form of "communications expert" in the military context.
Very few radio amateurs have the necessary systems knowledge and experience to successfully manually operate or configure a current HF system, if such operations were to be allowed at all.

In third-world countries, however, amateur radio may still have a role if the operational expectations are set at a realistic level.

73/
Karl-Arne
SM0AOM

 

...

I'm a new ham with no military experience, and I feel like these statements perfectly encapsulate what I have (until now) privately suspected about amateur radio in relation to emergency military communication.

Once upon a time our military and our civil society needed the same things, whether it was pallets and trucks for cargo handling or radios for communication. Now these needs have drifted, grown and specialized. Better hope they can win with what they've already got, because civilian stuff is all different.

It's pretty easy to see this from the outside; hope they appreciate it on the inside.

 

Think about electrostatic explosions in the atmosphere. Would that knock out 80 meter NVIS ???

 

It will have an anti American slant when he does.

 

The software issues he refers to center around the use of ALE and the required encryption.

 

No, marshal law. I think the plan is to bring in marshal Dillon.

 

Karl-Arne:

Wow. That's rather bizarre. Pretty much ANYBODY with some background in communications understands the relationship between frequency and available user bandwidth. Even the investors, in my business. How could a ... "Systems Integrator" ... not know that? You have some very odd customers!

Brian - K6BRN

 

The comment comes out of a phone call I got one morning about 15 years ago, from a guy at a Government agency who had read about HF and wanted to use it in a mission coordination and planning system.

It turned out that the system was built on a Windows platform which generated tremendous amounts of overhead. When the "usual channels" (ADSL modems, 3G and similar) were used it went unnoticed, but when the HF channel with perhaps 2000 bps throughput became considered things turned out very unfavourably.

After making a few questions about the message structure,
I finally asked:
"Are you able to wait half an hour for a message exchange?". The questioner was never heard of again.

73/
Karl-Arne
SM0AOM

 

This ^^^^

As the government users I deal with appear to renew interest in HF, hams in the technical rank and file that are active in HF help keep expectations aligned with radio circuit reality. Many of these folks just want the letters "HF" in a bullet in their power point to "answer the mail" so to speak. That's fine, but an asterisk to further information is important before pipe dreams turn into prototype nightmares.

 

HJ time?

 

QM Rate are still using Flashing Lights (IMC) on Navy Ships.
Manning the rails during a Foreign Port Event, it was always fun reading the mail (Flashing Lights). The SM were very busy using Semaphore Communications including flashing lights during the event, the Rate SM was merged with the QM rate 2003.
https://www.cool.navy.mil/usn/enlisted/rating_info_cards/qm.pdf