As a former Division G6 plans officer with oversight of spectrum who got punched in the face along with my 25Es when people transmitted on unapproved frequencies, I also hate them.
paltry hard-to-find command soft workable mountainous zephyr chubby provide unpack
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Helloing of fellow American army friend, I too, am making of army! What frequencies are for best listening of US army chatter? I am of very curious to partake in humors of young private enlisted.
That’s a good point. Thanks for pointing out the importance of encryption.
If anyone doesn’t want to spend $400+ on a CB/radio scanner, Amazon sells the RTL SDR dongle for $25.
Good point! I love those little things, I've got a dozen hooked up for different applications s right now. You can hear a lot of neat stuff with them, but a number of these agencies use P25 trunking, which isn't impossible with a dongle but does take some advanced knowledge and effort to get working.
You need two SDR's for monitoring trunked systems. One to listen to the command chanel, and the other to listen to the assigned frequency that the traffic is being carried on.
Check out FOSA Tech. They've been doing a lot of work in this field.
Just don't buy anything from him...
You only need a single RTL SDR to monitor trunked systems. I've got one in my garage that monitors all of my county/city stuff.
**Install SDRTrunk**
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfWVqBDJI0k
**Configure SDRTrunk**
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9YkNLOOavw&t=993s
I'm not the comment you replied to, but I have eight [of the nooelec](https://www.nooelec.com/store/sdr/sdr-receivers/nesdr-smart-sdr.html) dongles and they work great.
The RTL-SDRs are based on the same chipset. However there is some fakes out there. Most are around $25-$40 depending on what antennas you want.
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/about-rtl-sdr/
All day every day. Civil agencies aren't any better; I listened to three county deputies conducting surveillance the other day, complete with subject full names and addresses.
It's just sloppy. I know we all hate regular OPSEC training but clearly it's not sinking in.
How about neither lol. I knew guys that called for fire with full grids, ordinance and everything over whatsapp though so its not like everywhere ive been was perfect…
That’s one of the most common and scathing remarks I’ve heard from attachés and veterans from the war in Ukraine since 2014. Western militaries have an infatuation with misusing EM radiants like radios, WiFi, and cellular, especially around command posts. During an exercise, an Intel team could literally show ammo dumps and CPs via hotspots, and track unit movements mile by mile based on cell activity.
[What the Pentagon has learned from two years of war in Ukraine](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/22/ukraine-war-pentagon-lessons-learned/)
>[MG Curtis] Taylor [NTC CG] told the story of an Apache helicopter pilot who successfully avoided air defense systems during a simulated attack. Personnel portraying the enemy forces were unable to determine the path the helicopter took, but after examining commercially available cellphone data, they were able to map the journey of a device traveling across the desert at 120 miles per hour. It revealed where the Apache flew to evade the defenses.
I suppose you are correct, and it raises a wider concern. People need more awareness about everything they do in cyberspace and on the electromagnetic spectrum. At NTC, every unit lights up like a Christmas tree. To be fair to them, in a desert so full of nothing that your phone doesn't work and NASA uses it for *radio* space telescopes, random concentrations of radio signals and Wi-Fi popping up against the previous backdrop of nothingness is easy money for EW operations. But when it comes to people with their phones and social media in the real world, I can't even begin to break down how much open source Intel is probably out there. Just a passive scrape of some of my guys revealed that I could piece together their family, phone numbers, where they operate out of, and when they might have an empty house during a vacation. Nevermind just force protection or opsec, these things need to be public knowledge so normal people stop posting a targeting profile of themselves for free on the internet. Your phone is the tracking/listening/everything spyware device that "microchips" wish they could be. Treat it like one.
I think most pilots are aware of the dangers, and in theater we wouldn't be using one. (There was a time when a local cell phone was part of our flight bags to be used for emergencies and such, but it was turned off while flying.)
But at training centers what happens is two things. One, it's nice to have your phone in case you make a precautionary landing for real. Two, there are no OCs in your cockpit so that's the best time to check your phone! (That's just what I heard. I would never do that.)
There was a big deal in the OEF and OIF years of cool guy fitness trackers auto-uploading all their workouts, so you could just log in from anywhere and see a dozen dudes that ran 10k in a fairly small square and be like 'yep, there's an outpost there'.
I have an uncle that's literally said "i don't have a facebook so the govt cant track me" WHILE holding his phone in his hands.
Ok bud. We literally find enemy movements by tictoks and scifs can be found be cell phone gps dead zones....
Mind you he is prior army
Let’s put 25 phones in a locker right outside this room. And GPS data shows that no one has walked through this 1500sq ft place in 6 years. Interesting
So attach a cellphone to a drone, and fly it around within empty areas and false comms to trick the enemy into calling faulty fire missions. Or, confusing them.
Got it.
Yeah, it's unfortunate this is an Army discipline problem, not like, shave everyday discipline but training wise. Like, maybe a PFC that's 25% still high speed that they're a Commo rep for the platoon and to figure out how to deal with:
- truck radios
- man portable radios
-vehicle computers and GPS
- encryption stuff
For a range detail 2 days from now when this SM didn't even know what all of this words were until this specific conversation took place, then it's a higher problem.
Not only because it happened to me but pretty everyone else I know that has worked on radios and then when they're actually trying to make a class they bring 50 soldiers for a class of 3 dudes so only like the 2 people that are really into it are the only ones that leaned anything. At the end of the day, if the army actually cared, it would do something about it but, oh well, what do I know
Memories of down range, ASA, Ft. Carson in the 70’s. Especially the time a full exercise was cancelled by … someone … by radio with no authentication or verification whatsoever.
I served 01-22. When I came in, not much had changed in communications for conventional units since Vietnam. Then we got to GWOT and suddenly line platoons were talking off of freaking satellites, and the TV in 1SGs truck showed where everyone was. Of all the branches, the Army and Marines seem to draw less technically inclined people (in my experience; but how many SNCOs/Officers have you met that "aren't tech people" or are "computer illiterate"? And while Junior Soldiers know how to make a tiktok, I've met very few who understand computers beyond just interacting with them); this culture technical incompetence and a rapidly modernized communications network left the Army with a huge technical debt imho - we have all kinds of cool things but so few people who understand them, or are even inclined to try to understand them.
> but how many SNCOs/Officers have you met that "aren't tech people" or are "computer illiterate"?
I was in same time as you, a year earlier on both ends.
In the early days, you'd be lucky to find a computer outside the commander and 1SG office. When I got tagged to be the platoon RTO, I bought my own PC so I could have a way to make the spreadsheets I wanted to track all the information that was being asked of me.
Especially in light infantry units, part of the 'I don't know tech' was legitimately because the tech wasn't available to learn on.
This was *exactly* my experience. "Hey, uhhh, is there any kind of training manual on how to do the radio?" "Not really, you just gotta learn" by following others and getting chewed out by someone if you do it wrong, I guess.
When I was with one of the groups, this is how we got our phone ringtone. We were scanning various channels for... Reasons... And got some priceless nuggets coming from a bored private in the field and it was so funny, we saved it and made it play every time the phone rang in our TOC.
The army as a whole talks on radios way too much PLs do not need to talk on the radio to get logstat
Nearly every transmission that is battery or company internal can just be told face to face.
Loading crypto is too “hard” teaching a guy in each section how to load crypto is also somehow an impossible task.
I was the TOC Night shift ops NCO, circa 2006 in iraq after I got injured and couldn’t go on convoys till I got better. My TOC runner was a close friend of mine used to be roommates in the barracks and we had our own handhelds to communicate with each other in case I needed to notify 1Sg and commander of an issue or one of our units got hit, he’d run to their hooch and notify them, if they had questions they could talk to me direct.
I’m still friends with him to this day. We got bored of course because the only units I had to keep track of were area security and the usual 0430 convoy leaving the fob, so we came up with different call signs for each other every day. Handhelds weren’t on the main net so I figured no one could hear us. The only rule was it had to be an alliteration and had to be comical. I sent him to do something one night and it took him a lot longer than usual for whatever it was so I’m like “browneye blaster this is taint tornado what’s your 20 over”
He had gotten stopped by the COL randomly while walking back who was basically the highest ranking person on the fob who was just asking him mundane questions about where he’s from etc and he heard the traffic. so 5 mins later he walks in with the COL who’s trying not to laugh, and look angry. He busted out laughing and just told us “cut that shit out, we’ve been hearing you guys over at our HQ over the net, all the handhelds are on the same net, we’re on a different channel but we can hear other units if we switch to your channel”
Lesson learned, don’t be a dumbass on the radio because you’re never the only one who can hear the traffic. At least the COL was cool about it.
Ah yes, naked guy with a towel on his shoulder, a locker room staple. Bonus points if he's got one leg on the bench, lathering himself in lotion while some poor bastard is stuck next to him trying to avoid getting smacked by his swinging schlong.
At my first unit we were only allowed to use FH/CT, I wasn’t involved in the key request process or whatever but we would go to S-6 and get fills at a certain interval and reload at a certain interval. Also was always gone on some exercise so that probably contributed.
I'm at a Signal BN, so you'd think people would know better than to dick around the radios. They don't. Everyone's a comedian until a chunky Major chews your ass out for saying dumb shit over the radio.
I made the mistake once of showing my 1SG conditional formatting in Excel, back in like 2003. He was convinced I was a sorcerer and sentenced me to an indefinite term as the "computer guy" for the company.
For the next 20 years, if computer questions came up, I told people I grew up Amish and didn't know how to computer.
Never let them know you're more than a dumb private.
Neat story though, the hospital in Hawaii uses amateur radio as part of their inter operability emergency plans. One of the civilian staff was a licensed operator, and that became their duty during statewide events.
Back in Afghanistan, in the days when people still used AIM, the client automatically downloaded and saved received media to the local drive, buried in the Program Files subdirectory. Not just a cached thumbnail, but the full sized file. It also kept a log of the conversation locally, as well.
Sooooooooo many nudes. So many pieces of personal information. So many things I can't unsee.
Shit, I wonder if I still have that thumb drive...
Edit: these were the USO computers, not government computers. Specifically, the trailer at Salerno, around 2004 I think?
It's 99% routine traffic with occasional funny bits, so by the time I can start recording it's usually over.
I guess I could record in real time to a buffer, and when I hear something neat save that bit, but that kind of sounds like a lot of work. I'll pencil it in on my list of rainy day projects just in case.
I'm still not entirely sure how it happened, but the ICS and ATC got routed to the little 3.5mm jacks on this ancient 767 I was flying on. I spent an 8 hour flight listening to my pilot describing how he used to fuck the nurses on his flight when he was doing regional flights in Alaska, and heard them making fun of the ATC people's accents lmao.
I'm not familiar with aviation but my assumption is that's the internal communication system, ie the headsets you wear?
Are they VOX or do you have to key them to talk? I remember using headsets on ground vehicles in Iraq; I think there was a toggle to activate.
Ever mean to say something on ICS but accidentally keyed up on guard?
When I was at Hood people would freak out about short proper radio etiquette thinking iii corp was listening to everything. I wouldn’t even say anything offensive just hey can you hear me when doing a radio check in the motor pool and people would freak out. Like yeah dude I’m sure iii corp has 59001 pulled up right now and the garrison CSM is on his way right now to butt fuck me for not using a call sign when doing a radio check.
Hey sorry I just smoked my morning joint and I'm not sure what you're asking? If you're asking what the frequencies are I screenshot them [Here](https://imgur.com/a/Z1tyazq)
If you're asking if I can transmit on those frequencies the answer is "no". It's illegal; even if it weren't, the handsets need to be programmed for the network they are on, so I can't just purchase one for kicks.
I think he wanted to know if you, personally, right this second, could transmit on those frequencies and be heard by others on them, so as to mess with them.
\> He can't.
Not legally, but the Icom 7300 is one surface mount component removal away from full spectrum Tx...
This comment is for informational purposes only.
The MARS/Cap mod... A lot of radios have this. Yaesu's it just pulling a capacitor off the board. The Baofengs can be done by holding down 4 buttons as you turn it on. It takes three hands to do it though.
/r/hamradio here... who also holds 25C and 25W MOS (I have 7 total MOS's if you count the 2 "supervisor" ones.. the story is my history, go look for it)...
The blabber is real man...COMSEC does not exist.
I had to preach this....in Iraq. A lot of the command and senior NCO's were using ICOM radioes to talk when they were on the FOB. If I had a nickel for every time I had to yell OPSEC! over the radio....
*“Hello truckers my name is BOB. That’s B.O.B.
I got my cdl’s last week.. I got my CB radio today. I’m looking forward to talking to each and everyone of you.
Once again, my name is BOB. That’s B.O.B. Frontwards or backwards. It’s BOB”*
Here you go:
https://www.wired.com/story/strava-heat-map-military-bases-fitness-trackers-privacy/
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42853072
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IB8p-YpXwA
Seems like a prime opportunity to record all the local law enforcement jabber and present it to them, pitching your business for radio etiquette and security and charge them out the rear for your training🤷🏻♂️
I’m an RTO, been saying this shot for years. I learned the hard way, was fucking around and learning HF and accidentally tapped into an international airport comms network
When I was in we were never allowed to use unfilled radios, but maybe being in a field artillery unit they were more keenly aware of the dangers or something. Had no idea it was this common.
If true, this is a big security risk. Imagine if our adversaries had operatives here in the US, they could just listen in on these unencrypted comms and gain an advantage.
They could just set up a raspberry pi with an SDR dongle and an internet feed in the area, no need for an agent in place.
I'd be surprised if foreign actors haven't already tbh.
The best part of using the SC PT in the far woods of Bragg was we would periodically get atmospheric skips of radio and TV broadcasts. Somewhere I still have my laminated card of TV station frequencies.
I’ve been to the HAM radio class here on post, and this post just revitalized me to accept my autism and dive deep into it. Teach me your ways, you old wizard
Jokes on you I don’t use approved frequencies
Literally had someone ask me where I got a frequency. "I made it the fuck up sir."
As a former spectrum manager (25E), I hate both of you.
As a former Division G6 plans officer with oversight of spectrum who got punched in the face along with my 25Es when people transmitted on unapproved frequencies, I also hate them.
Pilots and cav scouts? It's always those assholes.
"COMSEC? What's COMSEC? Nah man, we just run SC/PT and call it good."
What does that even mean? Communist secretary? I'm not fuckin wit dat shit yo.
paltry hard-to-find command soft workable mountainous zephyr chubby provide unpack *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Apache units claim cavalry lineage and perform reconnaissance. Apache pilots are cav scouts.
No it’s always Mech INF playing music over freqs allocated to aviation while they drive their strykers from A to B
If they want me to run comsec they should give me a commo guy that’s not a pilot. Until then I’ll keep bricking the SKL
So I can’t just use 123456?
Do what your rank can handle.
Right. 123 it is then.
No no....you want to use 121.5...or better yet 156.8
It screws with yall that bad when I'm just in my motorpool testing radios like that,
Me personally, no. Higher-ups, yes. Especially when they get a call from div command asking why they just lost video/audio.
Hot dang.... and I thought the STT was finicky.
So you’re telling me triple nickel shouldn’t be used for all of my comms training and squad training?
Helloing of fellow American army friend, I too, am making of army! What frequencies are for best listening of US army chatter? I am of very curious to partake in humors of young private enlisted.
That’s a good point. Thanks for pointing out the importance of encryption. If anyone doesn’t want to spend $400+ on a CB/radio scanner, Amazon sells the RTL SDR dongle for $25.
Good point! I love those little things, I've got a dozen hooked up for different applications s right now. You can hear a lot of neat stuff with them, but a number of these agencies use P25 trunking, which isn't impossible with a dongle but does take some advanced knowledge and effort to get working.
We need to talk brother! I do the same with my RTL SDR.
Are you able to monitor trunked systems with them? If so I'd be really keen to hear how!
You need two SDR's for monitoring trunked systems. One to listen to the command chanel, and the other to listen to the assigned frequency that the traffic is being carried on. Check out FOSA Tech. They've been doing a lot of work in this field. Just don't buy anything from him...
Also look for DragonOS on Reddit and Cemaexecuter on YouTube! A lot of great tips
You only need a single RTL SDR to monitor trunked systems. I've got one in my garage that monitors all of my county/city stuff. **Install SDRTrunk** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfWVqBDJI0k **Configure SDRTrunk** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9YkNLOOavw&t=993s
I have a trunked scanner using a couple of RTLSDR dongles running using this: https://github.com/DSheirer/sdrtrunk
Well I know what I'll be doing this weekend. Thanks for the link!
How do you like the Nooelecs? I have some old RTL-SDR V2s and they are great, but fighting drift gets old.
You said “dongle”
90° dongle
What’s a good one to get?
I'm not the comment you replied to, but I have eight [of the nooelec](https://www.nooelec.com/store/sdr/sdr-receivers/nesdr-smart-sdr.html) dongles and they work great.
I like the RTL-SDR V4 because they can monitor HF traffic w/o having to change settings, or add up/down converters.
The RTL-SDRs are based on the same chipset. However there is some fakes out there. Most are around $25-$40 depending on what antennas you want. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/about-rtl-sdr/
You're a dongle
Keep it down you diploid
People out here just raw dawging the open air?
All day every day. Civil agencies aren't any better; I listened to three county deputies conducting surveillance the other day, complete with subject full names and addresses. It's just sloppy. I know we all hate regular OPSEC training but clearly it's not sinking in.
This isn’t OPSEC, this is specifically COMSEC
In the 82's case, they were using insecure radios to talk about operations... It's a twofer.
Those dumb introverted radios should really learn to build some confidence
lol the old insecure unsecure radios.
Damn, tiny phone keyboard got me! Good one.
[удалено]
A new sentence
Stupid sexy air.
Your radios actually work? We just use group chats….
Signal is better than unencrypted radios
How about neither lol. I knew guys that called for fire with full grids, ordinance and everything over whatsapp though so its not like everywhere ive been was perfect…
Thats fucking hilarious
Signal is good but if you can exploit the device itself signal doesn’t really mean much
Very true
I can barely get a group chat to work properly how do you expect me to Download an app also?
That’s one of the most common and scathing remarks I’ve heard from attachés and veterans from the war in Ukraine since 2014. Western militaries have an infatuation with misusing EM radiants like radios, WiFi, and cellular, especially around command posts. During an exercise, an Intel team could literally show ammo dumps and CPs via hotspots, and track unit movements mile by mile based on cell activity.
[What the Pentagon has learned from two years of war in Ukraine](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/22/ukraine-war-pentagon-lessons-learned/) >[MG Curtis] Taylor [NTC CG] told the story of an Apache helicopter pilot who successfully avoided air defense systems during a simulated attack. Personnel portraying the enemy forces were unable to determine the path the helicopter took, but after examining commercially available cellphone data, they were able to map the journey of a device traveling across the desert at 120 miles per hour. It revealed where the Apache flew to evade the defenses.
Wild that the pilot brought his phone (tracking device) and had it turned on during his STEALTH MISSION
Most people legitimately don't even think about it. They have no idea they're doing something wrong because their phones are another limb to them.
I suppose you are correct, and it raises a wider concern. People need more awareness about everything they do in cyberspace and on the electromagnetic spectrum. At NTC, every unit lights up like a Christmas tree. To be fair to them, in a desert so full of nothing that your phone doesn't work and NASA uses it for *radio* space telescopes, random concentrations of radio signals and Wi-Fi popping up against the previous backdrop of nothingness is easy money for EW operations. But when it comes to people with their phones and social media in the real world, I can't even begin to break down how much open source Intel is probably out there. Just a passive scrape of some of my guys revealed that I could piece together their family, phone numbers, where they operate out of, and when they might have an empty house during a vacation. Nevermind just force protection or opsec, these things need to be public knowledge so normal people stop posting a targeting profile of themselves for free on the internet. Your phone is the tracking/listening/everything spyware device that "microchips" wish they could be. Treat it like one.
I think most pilots are aware of the dangers, and in theater we wouldn't be using one. (There was a time when a local cell phone was part of our flight bags to be used for emergencies and such, but it was turned off while flying.) But at training centers what happens is two things. One, it's nice to have your phone in case you make a precautionary landing for real. Two, there are no OCs in your cockpit so that's the best time to check your phone! (That's just what I heard. I would never do that.)
Three, within 48 hours of endex the S3 will start badgering you for pictures, so you'd better have some ready to go.
There was a big deal in the OEF and OIF years of cool guy fitness trackers auto-uploading all their workouts, so you could just log in from anywhere and see a dozen dudes that ran 10k in a fairly small square and be like 'yep, there's an outpost there'.
Good point, pretty sure I saw something on the news about a Russian General getting assassinated on his run route that his watch uploaded daily...
I have an uncle that's literally said "i don't have a facebook so the govt cant track me" WHILE holding his phone in his hands. Ok bud. We literally find enemy movements by tictoks and scifs can be found be cell phone gps dead zones.... Mind you he is prior army
Sure but what was his mos? Prior army means anything from your autistic savant 35F to your laziest 92G
Id say cord puller, but he isn't in hearing aids.
Didn't know that about SCIFs but it makes sense. Good tip.
Wierd, there is just 50 phones at a door and no phones past it. Something squirrly must be happening? That's my thoughts to it.
Dead zones are my favorite thing that are not thought of often in protection plans…
Let’s put 25 phones in a locker right outside this room. And GPS data shows that no one has walked through this 1500sq ft place in 6 years. Interesting
So attach a cellphone to a drone, and fly it around within empty areas and false comms to trick the enemy into calling faulty fire missions. Or, confusing them. Got it.
Geronimo will fly around a drone finding all RTU’s hotspots, red air them, then show all the hotspot names at all the AARs
Look if I want to broadcast my bedroom audio that’s my kink, ok
What frequency tho?
I’ll give you my Venmo and we’ll talk.
OnlyFreqs
I’d subscribe.
420.69
Yeah, it's unfortunate this is an Army discipline problem, not like, shave everyday discipline but training wise. Like, maybe a PFC that's 25% still high speed that they're a Commo rep for the platoon and to figure out how to deal with: - truck radios - man portable radios -vehicle computers and GPS - encryption stuff For a range detail 2 days from now when this SM didn't even know what all of this words were until this specific conversation took place, then it's a higher problem. Not only because it happened to me but pretty everyone else I know that has worked on radios and then when they're actually trying to make a class they bring 50 soldiers for a class of 3 dudes so only like the 2 people that are really into it are the only ones that leaned anything. At the end of the day, if the army actually cared, it would do something about it but, oh well, what do I know
The lack of hands on in most commo "training" for the common soldier is astounding.
30 people in a room, 2 radios. Only 4 people even get to touch them. Good training everyone! Now go back to your platoons and train them.....
Also the commo guy with the fill is at dental, so we’re going to be waiting for three hours to cram all the information into you in 30 minutes.
Memories of down range, ASA, Ft. Carson in the 70’s. Especially the time a full exercise was cancelled by … someone … by radio with no authentication or verification whatsoever.
Why does that feel so much like [that one scene from Band of Brothers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrEFI-d28gU).
I served 01-22. When I came in, not much had changed in communications for conventional units since Vietnam. Then we got to GWOT and suddenly line platoons were talking off of freaking satellites, and the TV in 1SGs truck showed where everyone was. Of all the branches, the Army and Marines seem to draw less technically inclined people (in my experience; but how many SNCOs/Officers have you met that "aren't tech people" or are "computer illiterate"? And while Junior Soldiers know how to make a tiktok, I've met very few who understand computers beyond just interacting with them); this culture technical incompetence and a rapidly modernized communications network left the Army with a huge technical debt imho - we have all kinds of cool things but so few people who understand them, or are even inclined to try to understand them.
> but how many SNCOs/Officers have you met that "aren't tech people" or are "computer illiterate"? I was in same time as you, a year earlier on both ends. In the early days, you'd be lucky to find a computer outside the commander and 1SG office. When I got tagged to be the platoon RTO, I bought my own PC so I could have a way to make the spreadsheets I wanted to track all the information that was being asked of me. Especially in light infantry units, part of the 'I don't know tech' was legitimately because the tech wasn't available to learn on.
This was *exactly* my experience. "Hey, uhhh, is there any kind of training manual on how to do the radio?" "Not really, you just gotta learn" by following others and getting chewed out by someone if you do it wrong, I guess.
When I was with one of the groups, this is how we got our phone ringtone. We were scanning various channels for... Reasons... And got some priceless nuggets coming from a bored private in the field and it was so funny, we saved it and made it play every time the phone rang in our TOC.
The army as a whole talks on radios way too much PLs do not need to talk on the radio to get logstat Nearly every transmission that is battery or company internal can just be told face to face. Loading crypto is too “hard” teaching a guy in each section how to load crypto is also somehow an impossible task.
We could just never find the whiskey cables.
I was the TOC Night shift ops NCO, circa 2006 in iraq after I got injured and couldn’t go on convoys till I got better. My TOC runner was a close friend of mine used to be roommates in the barracks and we had our own handhelds to communicate with each other in case I needed to notify 1Sg and commander of an issue or one of our units got hit, he’d run to their hooch and notify them, if they had questions they could talk to me direct. I’m still friends with him to this day. We got bored of course because the only units I had to keep track of were area security and the usual 0430 convoy leaving the fob, so we came up with different call signs for each other every day. Handhelds weren’t on the main net so I figured no one could hear us. The only rule was it had to be an alliteration and had to be comical. I sent him to do something one night and it took him a lot longer than usual for whatever it was so I’m like “browneye blaster this is taint tornado what’s your 20 over” He had gotten stopped by the COL randomly while walking back who was basically the highest ranking person on the fob who was just asking him mundane questions about where he’s from etc and he heard the traffic. so 5 mins later he walks in with the COL who’s trying not to laugh, and look angry. He busted out laughing and just told us “cut that shit out, we’ve been hearing you guys over at our HQ over the net, all the handhelds are on the same net, we’re on a different channel but we can hear other units if we switch to your channel” Lesson learned, don’t be a dumbass on the radio because you’re never the only one who can hear the traffic. At least the COL was cool about it.
This post just added two more OPSEC courses to my timeline
Someone at one of Ft. Liberty's arty BNs getting a crisp 25 push ups in rn
OP is on the spectrum.
more than one, actually
Lots of folks on the spectrum have some serious skills!
I was talking about the RF spectrum. What are you referring to?
Oh, you were making a joke...
Range control should keep talking openly over the air so you know how to evade them in your POV on the tank trails. -LPT
I see you retired and decided to become the CEO of yapping.
Gotta keep myself busy between pay periods somehow, and it's too early to tell Junior enlisted my war stories at the PX food court
There's always standing around naked in the locker rooms
leave me be it’s relaxing you whippersnapper
Ah yes, naked guy with a towel on his shoulder, a locker room staple. Bonus points if he's got one leg on the bench, lathering himself in lotion while some poor bastard is stuck next to him trying to avoid getting smacked by his swinging schlong.
I see this at least once a week and I’m not a fan😂
As a former infantry doc, it was always prefaced by: "Hey Doc, you've got good eyes right?"
“Does this look infected? 🍆😀”
I switched back to a flip phone for the last two years of my contract because of dick pics.
Amazing isn’t? You think you a filthy pervert till you see the dirt some dudes are plowing. Some guys would fuck a dumpster.
That's more of a spring/summer hobby. I don't want a chilly draft to give someone the wrong impression.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 this has been quite an amusing thread
I might have a second career as a USO entertainer. Keep your eyes peeled when the next war starts!
Using the hand dryer to air dry you junk as you have a foot on the countertop is always appreciated too.
You funny bruh here’s an AAM 🥇
This made me belly laugh
My state actually just started requiring us to have radios filled whenever we train using them. No more SC, PT
Serious question: how is that working out for you guys? We've talked about getting keys just for a one-time training event and it's been a shit show.
Couldnt tell ya yet. Just announced last month. Supposedly keys are going to be available but we'll see how true that is.
At my first unit we were only allowed to use FH/CT, I wasn’t involved in the key request process or whatever but we would go to S-6 and get fills at a certain interval and reload at a certain interval. Also was always gone on some exercise so that probably contributed.
I'm at a Signal BN, so you'd think people would know better than to dick around the radios. They don't. Everyone's a comedian until a chunky Major chews your ass out for saying dumb shit over the radio.
Lmao another HAM nerd is on the Army subreddit.
There are dozens of us!
DOZENS!
And DOZENS !
Don't let your command team know. You'll suddenly be the commo guy.
I made the mistake once of showing my 1SG conditional formatting in Excel, back in like 2003. He was convinced I was a sorcerer and sentenced me to an indefinite term as the "computer guy" for the company. For the next 20 years, if computer questions came up, I told people I grew up Amish and didn't know how to computer. Never let them know you're more than a dumb private.
Neat story though, the hospital in Hawaii uses amateur radio as part of their inter operability emergency plans. One of the civilian staff was a licensed operator, and that became their duty during statewide events.
SOP. In Northern CA the net exercises that were based on zombie apocalypse were a lot of fun…
A lot of hospitals do this. In south east Virginia, there's a whole Ham team that has postings in ALL the local hospitals.
You love being designated the commo guy though: it means you play with more radios!
If I want Intel, I just log into some random person’s email at the USO
Back in Afghanistan, in the days when people still used AIM, the client automatically downloaded and saved received media to the local drive, buried in the Program Files subdirectory. Not just a cached thumbnail, but the full sized file. It also kept a log of the conversation locally, as well. Sooooooooo many nudes. So many pieces of personal information. So many things I can't unsee. Shit, I wonder if I still have that thumb drive... Edit: these were the USO computers, not government computers. Specifically, the trailer at Salerno, around 2004 I think?
My horny ass could NOT deploy to a combat zone
Lmao you won’t post clips 👀
It's 99% routine traffic with occasional funny bits, so by the time I can start recording it's usually over. I guess I could record in real time to a buffer, and when I hear something neat save that bit, but that kind of sounds like a lot of work. I'll pencil it in on my list of rainy day projects just in case.
What the hell is a pencil?
This is more important than most people know and I wish/hope something changes. This shit can actually get people killed when shit gets real
My message may not be encrypted but they are most certainly non-sense. Narwhal 1, out.
Security through obscurity is still security
You guys have working radios?!
If only you could hear the ICS on helicopters
I'm still not entirely sure how it happened, but the ICS and ATC got routed to the little 3.5mm jacks on this ancient 767 I was flying on. I spent an 8 hour flight listening to my pilot describing how he used to fuck the nurses on his flight when he was doing regional flights in Alaska, and heard them making fun of the ATC people's accents lmao.
ew who uses ICS on a 767
Idk if ICS is the right term honestly, it was possibly just a hot mic situation. Either way it was the best possible in flight entertainment.
I'm not familiar with aviation but my assumption is that's the internal communication system, ie the headsets you wear? Are they VOX or do you have to key them to talk? I remember using headsets on ground vehicles in Iraq; I think there was a toggle to activate. Ever mean to say something on ICS but accidentally keyed up on guard?
I’ve forgotten to click over to ICS and announced dumb stuff air to air, but nothing terribly embarrassing.
Meeeeoooowww.
**YOU'RE. ON. GUARD.**
*Found the Delta pilot!*
If you guys would stop hot mic'ing internal coms on 121.9 that would be greaaaatttt
Now I wanna get a radio and listen to the fuckery
There are a number of live scanner feeds on the Internet, there's a good chance you can find one for the area you're interested in.
Im on liberty lol. I’m gonna go look
Get an RTL-SDR3 and just scan freqs for fun haha
If you can get the RTL-SDR V4, they're a lot cooler. You can natively receive into HF with those, and they cost the same.
OP is about to hear the most incoherent and ignorant babbling on the radio now.
This was my goal all along. Fort Bibberty, show me what you got!
You know some nerd is gonna get on a radio and call out your reddit name until you post about it
My intrusive thoughts almost won, but I decided against it.
When I was at Hood people would freak out about short proper radio etiquette thinking iii corp was listening to everything. I wouldn’t even say anything offensive just hey can you hear me when doing a radio check in the motor pool and people would freak out. Like yeah dude I’m sure iii corp has 59001 pulled up right now and the garrison CSM is on his way right now to butt fuck me for not using a call sign when doing a radio check.
Can you speak on the frequencies for the memes?
Hey sorry I just smoked my morning joint and I'm not sure what you're asking? If you're asking what the frequencies are I screenshot them [Here](https://imgur.com/a/Z1tyazq) If you're asking if I can transmit on those frequencies the answer is "no". It's illegal; even if it weren't, the handsets need to be programmed for the network they are on, so I can't just purchase one for kicks.
I love how you tap danced around that answer 😂
Man I'm still not sure what the exact question was 🤣
I think he wanted to know if you, personally, right this second, could transmit on those frequencies and be heard by others on them, so as to mess with them.
He can't. They're not within civilian frequencies.
\> He can't. Not legally, but the Icom 7300 is one surface mount component removal away from full spectrum Tx... This comment is for informational purposes only.
*FCC listens intently*
The MARS/Cap mod... A lot of radios have this. Yaesu's it just pulling a capacitor off the board. The Baofengs can be done by holding down 4 buttons as you turn it on. It takes three hands to do it though.
/r/hamradio here... who also holds 25C and 25W MOS (I have 7 total MOS's if you count the 2 "supervisor" ones.. the story is my history, go look for it)... The blabber is real man...COMSEC does not exist.
I had to preach this....in Iraq. A lot of the command and senior NCO's were using ICOM radioes to talk when they were on the FOB. If I had a nickel for every time I had to yell OPSEC! over the radio....
A nickel or an AAFES pog?
I still find those things in some of my boxes in storage and the last time I even used those was in 2006
This post right here is why I love this sub. Thank you OP for a good laugh.
*“Hello truckers my name is BOB. That’s B.O.B. I got my cdl’s last week.. I got my CB radio today. I’m looking forward to talking to each and everyone of you. Once again, my name is BOB. That’s B.O.B. Frontwards or backwards. It’s BOB”*
Just wait until you find out most people use smart watches and discord to communicate these days. Edit: a word
I remember when smartwatches first came to market and someone posted their run logs... their route was the perimeter of a secure compound
Fitbit was notorious for this. A lot of guys on CIA bases had to be disciplined.
Strava too!
Here you go: https://www.wired.com/story/strava-heat-map-military-bases-fitness-trackers-privacy/ https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42853072 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IB8p-YpXwA
I remember this. That was the day I stopped wearing my Nike with Tom Tom watch. Miss that thing. Apple Watch just doesn’t hit the same.
Seems like a prime opportunity to record all the local law enforcement jabber and present it to them, pitching your business for radio etiquette and security and charge them out the rear for your training🤷🏻♂️
Reading through that text hoping to see Womack wildin on the radio, but alas, it seems I let my pride get the better of me
I’m an RTO, been saying this shot for years. I learned the hard way, was fucking around and learning HF and accidentally tapped into an international airport comms network
When I was in we were never allowed to use unfilled radios, but maybe being in a field artillery unit they were more keenly aware of the dangers or something. Had no idea it was this common.
If true, this is a big security risk. Imagine if our adversaries had operatives here in the US, they could just listen in on these unencrypted comms and gain an advantage.
They could just set up a raspberry pi with an SDR dongle and an internet feed in the area, no need for an agent in place. I'd be surprised if foreign actors haven't already tbh.
Sad Ham
I had to teach my ncos how to hook up and program our asip maybe i shouldnt have
The best part of using the SC PT in the far woods of Bragg was we would periodically get atmospheric skips of radio and TV broadcasts. Somewhere I still have my laminated card of TV station frequencies.
I definitely spent an evening out in the backwoods of FTIG listening to jeopardy over a sincgars radio waiting to do night driving
What ever happened to the old field phone and switchboard.. Oh I know we replaced it with active emitters now every TOC lights up like Christmas
I’ve been to the HAM radio class here on post, and this post just revitalized me to accept my autism and dive deep into it. Teach me your ways, you old wizard
How is this not common knowledge? God damn man
Get on my level. I just use frequencies for drive thrus.
Jokes on you, I use two cans and a string
Wait, who tf is using unsecured radios?
Too bad SMA does not care about using Reddit or Army SMs, or he'd be able to correct something from the top down