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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 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”

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. Yesterday, we looked as some definitions and began defining our own communications requirements. With that in mind, let’s move forward.

Options

Now that you’ve (hopefully) thought a little bit about what your communications requirements might be, let’s take a look at some possible options for the various elements.

Sender/Recipient

As I mentioned earlier, the best starting point for figuring out a communications strategy is by making a list of everyone it will need to support. For a smaller group, like a family, this may simply involve a list of all of the people in the family. However, what if an emergency arises that requires you to call for help from your neighbors? Make the list as complete as possible, and allow for potential future additions. When the group starts getting larger, like a compound or a small town, you’re better off defining communications in terms of roles. For example, anyone involved with security should probably learn how to use tactical hand signals.Someone who never leaves the vicinity of the compound probably doesn’t need to know how to use a long-distance signal lamp.

Continue reading“Preventing Failure to Communicate- Part 2, by JMD”