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We’re continuing to evaluate how to prevent a failure to communicate when we do not have wireless electronic communications available to us. We’ve been exploring our options. Yesterday, I wrote about the different types of communications and types of interference to communication. I wrapped up yesterday’s part of the article by introducing what you should do to prepare. The first part, of course, was plan. Let’s take a look at the second part and conclude the article with the subsequent steps to prepare.

Document

Once you’ve got a good handle on your requirements and solutions, you should create a couple of important documents. The first is referred to by the military as a “Standing Operating Procedure” (SOP). This will be the “bible” for all of your communications. It should cover all of the elements for your communications, such as types, encodings, handshakes, feedback, watches, et cetera. This will probably change as you practice, learn, and evolve, so make sure you keep it up to date. You should print off multiple hardcopies of the document and keep them in separate safe locations. Note that this doesn’t have to be (and probably shouldn’t be) a huge hundred-plus page document. Just cover the areas that are most relevant to you. You may want to make the document modular and keep it in a three-ring binder. Then you only need to replace the pages that change.

The next potential document is a training plan. You probably want to avoid just handing the SOP to people and saying, “Read and learn this”, especially to kids. Put together a realistic plan for getting everyone involved. (See the “Practice” section for more details.)

Continue reading“Preventing Failure to Communicate- Part 5, by JMD”

We’re continuing to evaluate how to prevent a failure to communicate when we do not have wireless electronic communications available to us. We’ve been exploring our options. Yesterday, I wrote about various channels of communications. Today, we’ll move into various forms of communications to consider.

Electronic

In the beginning of this article, I mentioned that it was about alternatives to wireless electronic communications. However, that doesn’t rule out wired forms of electronic communication. Wired communications tend to be point-to-point, are very hard for anyone to intercept, and can send large amounts of information. The biggest disadvantages are that they require electricity and they are both relatively complex equipment to function (complex relative to a fire or whistle) and generally limited to certain locations and distances (the maximum length of your wire).

• Telephone – You can set up a relatively simple point-to-point telephone system using some used military field phones.  You can buy these at a military surplus store, and some commo wire. You can even build one yourself using some old wired telephones, a battery, and a few electronic parts. One advantage to this type of channel is that it allows you to use plain language and exchange a lot of information quickly.
• Telegraph – A telegraph is similar to a telephone, except that it only allows simple dots and dashes to be transmitted (which is what Morse code was invented for). The telegraph can be considered the distant forerunner of the Internet. It allowed a lot of information to be exchanged over very long distances. One advantage to the telegraph is that it is much simpler than telephones, and you can build an entire system from parts you probably have laying around your house.

Continue reading“Preventing Failure to Communicate- Part 4, by JMD”

We’re continuing to evaluate how to prevent a failure to communicate in the event that our normal, electronic communications equipment are not available to us. We are exploring our options. Yesterday, I wrote about common content items and encoding. Let’s continue.

Medium

The medium defines what carries the communication through the channel. For written communication, the medium will usually be paper. For most signal-based communications, the medium will be inseparable from the channel. In the case where communications is sent by a flashing light, light is the medium.

Channel

The channel is critical to all communications. It determines how the message is actually transferred to the receiver. Thus, how much bandwidth is available and how noise may impact the communication. It also tells us likely it is the communication will be noticed/intercepted by someone other than the intended recipient. Channels can also be mixed to improve the overall communications process. For example, say you’re out on a roving patrol and need to use semaphore flags to send a message to someone. How do you know they’ll be watching and see your message?

One option would be to send up from your location a certain color flare. This would alert the receiver that a communication will be coming. They should grab their binoculars and look for flags in the area the flare came from. The receiver can then send up a different color flare when they’re ready to receive communications. (This would be a “handshake” using an alternate channel.) The following sections highlight some potential communications channels along with their pros and cons.

Visual Communications Channels

Visual communications channels are one of the most common forms of communications channels. Human beings tend to be heavily driven by visual influences. Their biggest advantages are that they can typically be seen over long distances by anyone with reasonable vision or binoculars. They tend to be easy to transport and use. Their biggest disadvantages can be that their effectiveness is subject to environmental conditions. Particularly the amount of available light. They can be difficult to restrict to just the desired recipient. A good example of the latter is when you shine a flashlight in the fog. Another example is when there are a lot of suspended particles in the air (pollen, dust, et cetera). The beam of light becomes very visible to everyone around.

Continue reading“Preventing Failure to Communicate- Part 3, by JMD”