endure
GCM
GPS and ECDIS for day to day stuff but a sextant when you're deeply deeply in the sh*t nowadays. It's the same reason there's still a magnetic compass on the monkey island.
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Crystal sets, POW radios, spy sets & radio related thread
- Thread starter Electromagnetic
- Start date
GCM
GPS and ECDIS for day to day stuff but a sextant when you're deeply deeply in the sh*t nowadays. It's the same reason there's still a magnetic compass on the monkey island.
BopBopBop
War Hero
A long, long, time ago.
Police surveillance operations were being compromised by the increasing use of scanners by the criminals.
We had to talk in code on the radio before it was decided we would get encrypted comms.
In preparation, new radios, on a new frequency were installed.
To maintain operational capability the cars had old and new radio's until the whole fleet was kitted out.
We were still talking in code until the encryption was activated.
I thought at least we would have a bit of an advantage until our enemy forces worked out we had moved frequency.
Our car to car radios were dedicated for covert surveillance.
Prepping the car at the start of an operation I decided to turn the old radio on to see if anyone was still using it.
I heard a recorded message being repeated over and over.
"This channel is no longer in use. Retune to ###.##mhz"
Those fecking bleeps!
Police surveillance operations were being compromised by the increasing use of scanners by the criminals.
We had to talk in code on the radio before it was decided we would get encrypted comms.
In preparation, new radios, on a new frequency were installed.
To maintain operational capability the cars had old and new radio's until the whole fleet was kitted out.
We were still talking in code until the encryption was activated.
I thought at least we would have a bit of an advantage until our enemy forces worked out we had moved frequency.
Our car to car radios were dedicated for covert surveillance.
Prepping the car at the start of an operation I decided to turn the old radio on to see if anyone was still using it.
I heard a recorded message being repeated over and over.
"This channel is no longer in use. Retune to ###.##mhz"
Those fecking bleeps!
I obviously never listened to cop radio but perhaps putting it at the top end of Band 2 VHF, just above the broadcast frequencies, wasn't the best place for it... Hmm, what's this new programme? Z-Cars?
BopBopBop
War Hero
I obviously never listened to cop radio but perhaps putting it at the top end of Band 2 VHF, just above the broadcast frequencies, wasn't the best place for it... Hmm, what's this new programme? Z-Cars?
I can't remember what the channel we moved to but the recorded message gave the exact freqency.
The old radios were probably from the z-cars era.
BopBopBop
War Hero
Had those in the army with a black telephone handset on a curly wire on a battery pack frame.
Pye Westminster?
Police car had blue boxes that size in the boot with a remote head for channel, volume and power in the glove box and had covert microphone and PTT for the driver.
HF DF is notoriously difficult due to a host of unpredictable propagation factors, but with fast processing (And a multitude of sensor types) has become much more accurate. It has had loads of money thrown at it by various commercial and military interests, as cracking that to within a few Km (Long range) is a strategic holy grail. However, once you have a reasonable orthogonal cardioid, there are other non-electronic methods of refining the result.
As for keeping your transmissions short, if you can keep them below about 25mS you might well be on to something. Good luck with that!
Our Local police force got very fed up with people using scanners
one night a load of horses were wandering on the local roads
they belonged to a well known local criminal , the head of the clan so to speak
one of the coppers put out a call saying could Jimmy come and get his horses back in the field
and a few minutes later he turned up , denying any knowledge and saying he was passing !!
they did mount a few sting operations, fed up with being listened in on and finding various idiots arriving in cars and getting in the way, a few messages were broadcast of an unusual nature
and those stupid enough to drive along a particular road found themselves stopped, the vehicle searched and equipment removed pending a court appearance
one chap we knew called sillybollocks ( we used his nickname for obvious reasons)
used to drive around late at night listening in to police broadcasts then turning up for a nosey
never sure why as he had a very sexy shapely wife
he was driving about in the early hours listening in, and heard a call, so decided to go and nose
as he went along a narrow road blue light behind him
he had also been smoking waccky baccy
he was cycling for the next 12 months
I think that they were beaten by South Yorkshire Police though
back in the early 90s they broadcast a fake UFO message, then arrested the various idiots who turned up
one night a load of horses were wandering on the local roads
they belonged to a well known local criminal , the head of the clan so to speak
one of the coppers put out a call saying could Jimmy come and get his horses back in the field
and a few minutes later he turned up , denying any knowledge and saying he was passing !!
they did mount a few sting operations, fed up with being listened in on and finding various idiots arriving in cars and getting in the way, a few messages were broadcast of an unusual nature
and those stupid enough to drive along a particular road found themselves stopped, the vehicle searched and equipment removed pending a court appearance
one chap we knew called sillybollocks ( we used his nickname for obvious reasons)
used to drive around late at night listening in to police broadcasts then turning up for a nosey
never sure why as he had a very sexy shapely wife
he was driving about in the early hours listening in, and heard a call, so decided to go and nose
as he went along a narrow road blue light behind him
he had also been smoking waccky baccy
he was cycling for the next 12 months
I think that they were beaten by South Yorkshire Police though
back in the early 90s they broadcast a fake UFO message, then arrested the various idiots who turned up
itchy300
Old-Salt
There was nothing more satisfying than watching a gaggle of deck cadets being shouted at by the Mate because they'd buggered their noon sights up
Im Spartacus!! The cadet unfortunately. I keep meaning to make a note of the sunrise/set bearing to check my Silva compass' on exercise then remember I'm not that keen and shuffle back down into my maggot
kelvin_273
LE
Yep. Pye whisky 15. I used to fix them in Omagh for the local RUC guys. Those and Pye Pocket Phones.
itchy300
Old-Salt
Managed to watch 1/2 of this last night. I'm not sure what year this came out but I will say it holds up very well as a program interms of its content and formatting etc.. and all I could think while watching is modern 'documentaries' are absolutely terrible in comparison
Border_Reiver
ADC
The one I posted is from a series by the BBC " The Secret War " made late 1970's ... IIRC there were seven episodes and some if not all are available on YouTube ... they are all excellent ... well worth a watch and some have tenuous links to this thread .
My bold ... I too have pointed that out on this forum on many occasions .... in the style of Uncle Albert in Only Fools and Horses .... " I was born during the Wooooar " .... thus saw many such programmes when they were first broadcast ... very well researched , involved people who took part at the time , very well presented and they treated viewers as adults .
ETA ..... and this linky which I first posted in 2017 just confirms the above comments about programme quality ...
Last edited:
itchy300
Old-Salt
I'll have a try and dig the rest out, very interesting stuff. The guys in the first link really hammered home what a difference radar made in the North Atlantic.
Obviously the decline in the quality has been noticed
endure
GCM
Just bought a couple of books from Amazon. If there are any ex R/Os on here you might want to have a look at the Portishead Radio book.
Interesting smidgin.
NASA set up an HF circuit through Rugby Radio to communicate with the astronauts during the Mercury and Gemini programmes.
Concorde flew too high and too fast to use satellite comms so after she was out of VHF range she used her own Speedbird HF circuit through Rugby Radio back to BA headquarters.
Interesting smidgin.
NASA set up an HF circuit through Rugby Radio to communicate with the astronauts during the Mercury and Gemini programmes.
Concorde flew too high and too fast to use satellite comms so after she was out of VHF range she used her own Speedbird HF circuit through Rugby Radio back to BA headquarters.
I thought HF was the default outside of VHV/UHF line of sight range for marine and air traffic until the like of Inmarsat became commonplace?
endure
GCM
I'm just quoting from the book. In the merch we had MF (500kHz etc) and HF but I'm not sure how air traffic worked.
This may help HF Air Traffic Control And VOLMET
Roadster280
LE
The Crabs used to (still do?) have their Flight Watch service, c/s ARCHITECT. This was an HF flight watch service, the various ASCOT call signs would call in with position reports, requests, etc. No idea if (say) FJ aircraft even have HF sets, but the truckies on C-130s in my time would use it all the time. Same for VC10s and T*s.
supermatelot
LE
Dunno whether it involved HF voice freqs as well but we often had units up on datalink that could not tx/rx HF so an able unit such as a seaking or P3 would simulcast.
Architect rings a bell on the JAAWSC net. Joint anti air warfare shore coordination. Totally different voice procedures and grid reporting. Can’t remember the details. Neatishead was one of the reporting centres I recall.
supermatelot
LE
@Roadster280 , some porn for you
mt-milcom.blogspot.com
HF Milcom Frequencies - 3/25/2007
Here is a compiled list of HF Milcom frequencies monitored at the Btown Monitoring Post , sent to this reporter, or reported on the various...
mt-milcom.blogspot.com
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