Originally Posted by army-hopeful

Uh... Royal Engineers in partnership with the Sigs! Ah-HA! Engineers erect the damned things, so they go in front with a couple of sigs and infantry, and establish the things.

Im thinking fast here, people...

Or not thinking at all....

Whats your idea, Bronzeman?

If bowman was any good, it woudnt be in service, remember, our equipment is brought to us by the lowest tendering bidder! Challie 1 so fcuking good that had to make a Challie 2. Nuff said, Endex!

Originally Posted by army-hopeful

Whats your idea, Bronzeman?

Its practically the same as the system the yanks have. Its a good radio system and i would say that the issue is understanding it and is compounded by training issues.

I would suggest that those who profess to be far superior communicators on this forum should stop bitching and actually learn how to use the radio.....


.....OUT!

We are using Bowman in Iraq at the moment and it is utterly bonk. Firstly, we had the “Bowman Lite” training package which was equivalent to no training at all. Secondly, it is far too complex. We have grafted to learn how to use it, but there comes a point where you can do no more. Frequency isn’t good? The f*cking Yeoman of Signals at Bde has to sort it. We’ve had 10 second delays on HF. How in the name of God can that happen in the 21st century? If the batteries run flat they are f*cked, but the LEDs that tell you how charged it is lie. Furthermore, we haven’t been issued the full kit; no FFR kit, no speakers etc. I now run Coy ops on PRR, with my RSDC out of my top cover hatch with a Harris set trying to talk to the Ops Rm. It is only a matter of time before we have a contact with no comms.

People talk of teething problems. Not good enough. We should, must, receive finished kit. Why am I involved in what is to all intents and purposes a fielding trial in a dangerous theatre?

I pine for PRC. The WRs out here can’t be fitted for Bowman (brilliant) and so use PRC 353. Strangely, this works.

Secure? I’ll say. Even my Ops Rm don’t know what I’m doing. We actually use HF on insecure because on secure it doesn’t work.

I passionately hate Bowman because it puts the lives of my soldiers at risk. Any muppet who tries to tell me it is good is a filthy REMF buffoon. We had a Sigs Bowman expert out with one of my patrols. He had been telling us how fantastic Bowman was. It may be on staged trials on Salisbury Plain. However, after a day grafting to get comms he was at a total loss and now hates it as much as we do. Our Signals Pl hate it as well.

We work with Iraqi Security Forces who have secure, working VHF. We don’t. Please don’t talk to me about all the amazing functions that Bowman has. HCDR? It hasn’t worked yet. Situational Awareness? Please – we can’t even talk. I’d rather have a system that worked and that I could send LOCSTATs on than one which theoretically gives my location but in practice just clutters my vehicle.

The best way to get comms with Bowman? Stand on it to get some elevation to try and get comms with your PMR.

I genuinely think that someone should go to prison for what has happened out here. In a rush to field an uncompleted piece of kit men’s’ lives have been put at risk.

And if anyone takes issue with me, they had better have deployed on ops with this piece of junk.

Furthermore - you may well talk of training issues. We are the Infantry, not NASA. Clansman? Set the frequency, turn it on. Bowman? Christ knows. Scroll through a few menus, set the f*cking date, on HF decide what voice setting you want to use. If it is too hard to use or training becomes too much of a burden THEN THE KIT IS NO GOOD.

And whilst I'm on it; Man Of Bronze - quantify how it is a good system. I tend to judge radios on how well I can talk on them. I can't on Bowman. It is sh^t.

BedIn your comments are Top. Ive just done the shite week long package learning about this BLOWMAN kit. I was totally head FUC@@D and that was sat in a classroom god knows what im gonna be like when we deploy on telic 9. Its too complicated..... too much to take on board and too technical.

Well – as predicted it happened. The whole battle group in a contact and the Bowman BG net fails. I had the pleasure of lying in a dip, rounds whacking about me, being thrown PMR handsets by my commanders until, on the third attempt, I got some comms. Before then we communicated through runners; I wish Man of Bronze had been with me as I sprinted for my face-to-face with my CO. As the contact started the CO’s Harris set told him it had a “type 40 fault”. The stack in the ops room then packed in. Why? Quote “it isn’t meant to be left on permanently”. Great. That fits very well with round the clock ops.

As a direct result of the total lack of situational awareness my Coy stayed on the ground, in contact, whilst BG attempted to account for another sub-unit. It eventually transpired that they had got home. This then freed me up to break contact.

Coy comms? Not enough HF sets for one per team and they are hardly handy. VHF? Doesn’t work with our other electrical gubbins. I did it on PRR, shouting, link men and a few mad dashes by people. The Warriors supporting me were on Clansman VHF as 20 Bde haven’t “Bowmanised”. I therefore couldn’t speak to them.

To recap – no working BG HF net, patchy PMR, the only dismountable comms are PRR and not able to talk to attached armour. Peachy.

I reiterate what I said before – someone should go to prison for this. Luck alone stopped people dying.

Supporters of BOWMAN, please comment.

Originally Posted by Incognito

Fallschirm - do tell ? WORSE than a 320 ?!

PRC320 is awesome in the right hands! We got Seattle to Colchester on voice no problem. It really pissed off the Scaleys :D