Posted on Jan 10, 2020
Does anyone have any good information on how to effectively use Harris 150 HF Radios at NTC?
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any links, smartbooks, lessons learned would be greatly appreciated
Posted in these groups: NTC
25U: Signal Support Systems Specialist
25A: Signal Officer
Signal CorpsSquadron S6
25U: Signal Support Systems Specialist 25A: Signal Officer Signal CorpsSquadron S6
Posted 5 y ago
Responses: 9
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Oh brother good luck with this one. You, me and every other Squadron S6 has wanted to deploy HF and for good reason because of the terrain and every Troop commander wants to hide in a hole making SINCGARS next to worthless without LOS.
Here are my Tips/Suggestions.
1. Work with your Brigade S6 and his/her staff directly on this one. A large portion of the problem is going to be ensuring that the Spectrum Analysis and request with NTC has been put in to make sure you have the necessary Feqs to talk all hours of the day and a robust RPA program distributed to all radios before head head into the box. I would suggest priority is your Scouts so they can talk to the bde cell for voice fires. Followed by Command Node..they will almost always use Upper TI followed by JBCP/BFT before they move to SINCGAR/HF as a primary communications method. Your scouts can take huge advantage of HF if trained, your fires guys in your Brigade should be jumping all over this.
2. Make sure your radio mounts/antennas for your tracks are tested before rolling out to the field. If your heavy (making an assumption) your 1068s should have full mast kits, make sure you have all of the elements and that units are trained on how to deploy these antennas for BLOS. For your dismounts I recommend man packs with NVIS kits and lots of batteries.
3. Training is key at home station before showing up to NTC. During RSOI you will have ZERO time to get this done and whatever training you get done will be rushed.
4. I hope you have better success they my last two rotation at NTC deploying this. 1. Planning, 2. Prior Training, 3. Getting units to actually turn on and listen to the HF radio is the key to success. Make sure the speaker systems are hooked up for your 150 mounts or the whole thing is pointless because Joe will not listen to the radio. Lastly, don't get your feelings hurt when HF is bypassed by every other communications method to include getting in a HUMVEE and driving to a location for a face to face. The US Army as a whole is really doing a bad job with our usage and training of HF. Good luck with helping us fix this.
-Dodge
Here are my Tips/Suggestions.
1. Work with your Brigade S6 and his/her staff directly on this one. A large portion of the problem is going to be ensuring that the Spectrum Analysis and request with NTC has been put in to make sure you have the necessary Feqs to talk all hours of the day and a robust RPA program distributed to all radios before head head into the box. I would suggest priority is your Scouts so they can talk to the bde cell for voice fires. Followed by Command Node..they will almost always use Upper TI followed by JBCP/BFT before they move to SINCGAR/HF as a primary communications method. Your scouts can take huge advantage of HF if trained, your fires guys in your Brigade should be jumping all over this.
2. Make sure your radio mounts/antennas for your tracks are tested before rolling out to the field. If your heavy (making an assumption) your 1068s should have full mast kits, make sure you have all of the elements and that units are trained on how to deploy these antennas for BLOS. For your dismounts I recommend man packs with NVIS kits and lots of batteries.
3. Training is key at home station before showing up to NTC. During RSOI you will have ZERO time to get this done and whatever training you get done will be rushed.
4. I hope you have better success they my last two rotation at NTC deploying this. 1. Planning, 2. Prior Training, 3. Getting units to actually turn on and listen to the HF radio is the key to success. Make sure the speaker systems are hooked up for your 150 mounts or the whole thing is pointless because Joe will not listen to the radio. Lastly, don't get your feelings hurt when HF is bypassed by every other communications method to include getting in a HUMVEE and driving to a location for a face to face. The US Army as a whole is really doing a bad job with our usage and training of HF. Good luck with helping us fix this.
-Dodge
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Great answer, I have done 3 WFXs, but not fortunate to do a rotation in the box. I would also add get the latest version of SPEED from Fort Gordon, do the analysis, and then screenshot that and include it in your next brief to the BDE/BN Commander and SHOW them why you need to use HF out there. When they see it in black and white (well PPT anyway) you will hopefully get an "Oh sh*t," from the Commander and they will likely make it a priority, which will make your life a lot easier. Also, make it priority for you, if at all possible, do a PDSS and meet with the folks out there. As well as attending the MPC or any planning conferences and get linked in to the TWIGs. They will usually have weekly/bi-weekly/monthly meetings depending on the size of elements involved and you should be able to get dialed in that way. So, do the telecons and tell them what you want to do, ask them what works best and what they've seen other units do and most of all be humble. There's a lot of former Signal people working those contract jobs with decades of experience and it's their sandbox after all. Good luck LT!
Edited: Also update your TAC/TOC SOPs, get your TOC layout set and approved (yes there will be 20 million changes after you get there) do your wiring beforehand and label the cables then throw them in a box and try to get some of your best people on ADVON/TORCH party to get your setup going before you get there. Ideally, you will be one of them. If you have strong senior enlisted or Warrants they can get that going for you if you can't be there yourself. Biggest thing for you is frontload everything you can so when you get there, you just pull it out of box and it's plug and play. Again, good luck!
Edited: Also update your TAC/TOC SOPs, get your TOC layout set and approved (yes there will be 20 million changes after you get there) do your wiring beforehand and label the cables then throw them in a box and try to get some of your best people on ADVON/TORCH party to get your setup going before you get there. Ideally, you will be one of them. If you have strong senior enlisted or Warrants they can get that going for you if you can't be there yourself. Biggest thing for you is frontload everything you can so when you get there, you just pull it out of box and it's plug and play. Again, good luck!
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Sir,
Ops Group at NTC periodically publishes lessons learned on the Center For Army Lessons Learned (CALL) site, I have no idea if this subject has been covered, but it may be a start.
Ops Group at NTC periodically publishes lessons learned on the Center For Army Lessons Learned (CALL) site, I have no idea if this subject has been covered, but it may be a start.
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Try this PDF file: https://tinyurl.com/v2lpqhk
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