The longest EAM ever, according to people who would know, is much longer. It is at least 515 characters. This one was "only" 270.
While it is plausible that a fair number of US military assets required new instructions regarding the security of US diplomatic personnel overseas, any such connection would be sheer speculation. There is no evidence connecting these special multi-block EAMs with anything extraordinary at all. We'll probably never know.
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Longest USAF EAM Ever?
EAM stands for Emergency Action Message. They aren't really only for dire national emergencies like nuclear war or terrorism, though they are definitely another way the command structure of the US military would get essential orders out in either of these.
It used to be thought in the more conspiratorially minded parts of the Internet that very long ones would mean a lot of orders going out at once, and indicate that something very large is up. This has not been shown as the case. The really long ones come in sections, and in the past they've been related to exercises or unknown situations.
With this, let's note that tonight they sent just possibly the longest one ever. It was 270 characters long. (Normal is around 35.) It took the poor operator at Andrews HF-GCS 23 minutes to get through the required two broadcasts. He barely made it. You could hear him trying to catch his breath.
The loudest frequency heard in California was 6739 kHz USB. The broadcast was parallel on other HFGCS channels. The ones heard here were 8992 and 11175.
Here is the (offline encrypted) text of the EAM Note the sections delimited by 4 repetitions of a letter, which is typical of this particular extended message type:
It used to be thought in the more conspiratorially minded parts of the Internet that very long ones would mean a lot of orders going out at once, and indicate that something very large is up. This has not been shown as the case. The really long ones come in sections, and in the past they've been related to exercises or unknown situations.
With this, let's note that tonight they sent just possibly the longest one ever. It was 270 characters long. (Normal is around 35.) It took the poor operator at Andrews HF-GCS 23 minutes to get through the required two broadcasts. He barely made it. You could hear him trying to catch his breath.
The loudest frequency heard in California was 6739 kHz USB. The broadcast was parallel on other HFGCS channels. The ones heard here were 8992 and 11175.
Here is the (offline encrypted) text of the EAM Note the sections delimited by 4 repetitions of a letter, which is typical of this particular extended message type:
VXNN7UBAZ5HDGTF2YZLLVJWO QVURW4KHSX3PW7O5ASOCUS7DVJPYRANKR5GGVTVTAXOANKKEEEEBPC5F3ZCACCCX2OX22Y HHHH4XOIIWRBP2WHIPZIIPK CCCC7NBNVFAA5F3YCMLLXEN QQQQ4VFCBEXHQIZORDIZNHPHMU3425PMZKPCFSS2LIJEDKTJ AAAA3P5RJTQ77UD2I46VS4D CCCCBUYNM4LJO3LNM3FVMUY JJJJ3HXRRHWVJWWEBDYYDYG HHHHJDIB2DL6UM
Saturday, December 26, 2009
MARS Gets New Name As It Fine-Tunes Mission
MARS has changed its name slightly to "Military Auxiliary Radio System." Also, the US Navy/Marine Corps MARS will not be closing down.
From ARRL:
On Wednesday, December 23, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued an Instruction concerning MARS, effective immediately. This Instruction gives the three MARS services -- Army, Air Force and Navy/Marine Corps -- a new focus on homeland security and a new name: Military Auxiliary Radio System. The Instruction is the first major revision to MARS since January 26, 1988 -- as such, the first revision since the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, two major events that changed the way Amateur Radio dealt with emergency communications.
...
In the past, MARS had focused primarily on emergency communications and health and welfare support. The DoD's Instruction now directs the three MARS services to provide "contingency radio communications" to support US government operations, DoD components and "civil authorities at all levels," providing for national security and emergency preparedness events. MARS units will still continue to provide health and welfare communications support "to military members, civilian employees and contractors of DoD Components, and civil agency employees and contractors, when in remote or isolated areas, in contingencies or whenever appropriate." MARS must also be capable of operation in "radio only" modes -- without landlines or the Internet -- and sustainable on emergency power (when public utility power has failed); some MARS stations must be transportable for timely deployment.
...
This revision -- which was years in the making -- keeps the Navy/Marine Corps MARS intact; until now, members of this MARS service were concerned that their part of MARS might be terminated by Navy commanders.
Full story is here.
From ARRL:
On Wednesday, December 23, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued an Instruction concerning MARS, effective immediately. This Instruction gives the three MARS services -- Army, Air Force and Navy/Marine Corps -- a new focus on homeland security and a new name: Military Auxiliary Radio System. The Instruction is the first major revision to MARS since January 26, 1988 -- as such, the first revision since the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, two major events that changed the way Amateur Radio dealt with emergency communications.
...
In the past, MARS had focused primarily on emergency communications and health and welfare support. The DoD's Instruction now directs the three MARS services to provide "contingency radio communications" to support US government operations, DoD components and "civil authorities at all levels," providing for national security and emergency preparedness events. MARS units will still continue to provide health and welfare communications support "to military members, civilian employees and contractors of DoD Components, and civil agency employees and contractors, when in remote or isolated areas, in contingencies or whenever appropriate." MARS must also be capable of operation in "radio only" modes -- without landlines or the Internet -- and sustainable on emergency power (when public utility power has failed); some MARS stations must be transportable for timely deployment.
...
This revision -- which was years in the making -- keeps the Navy/Marine Corps MARS intact; until now, members of this MARS service were concerned that their part of MARS might be terminated by Navy commanders.
Full story is here.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
National Public Health Radio Network Activates
Sporadic US East Coast ALE activity is being reported on the US Federal interagency National Public Health Radio Network (NPHRN). So far nothing has been heard in the West.
Participants include Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), possibly US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), and many state and local public health departments.
Frequencies are 4442.0, 4757.0 (possible), 4780.0 (possible), 8023.0, 9414.5, 10202.0, 12164.0, and 13488.0 kHz USB.
Participants include Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), possibly US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), and many state and local public health departments.
Frequencies are 4442.0, 4757.0 (possible), 4780.0 (possible), 8023.0, 9414.5, 10202.0, 12164.0, and 13488.0 kHz USB.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Interesting RTTY Message from KSM 24 May 08
KSM is the commercial station at the Maritime Radio Historical Society, Pt. Reyes, CA (at the old RCA/MCI maritime and point to point site). In cooperation with the Comm Center group on Yahoo!, which is comprised of former or retired military communicators, it broadcast several RTTY/RATT messages in standard military form.
Here's one of the most interesting ones. All net discipline is exactly as received. The "?" character was used in the message to replace ones that aren't in ITA2. Any format changes, such as stripping leading blanks, were done by Blogger, not me:
VV HNA033
RR RUWMKSM
DE RUMLNHA 0033 1410200
ZNR UUUUU
R 200131Z MAY 08
FM COMMCENTER AT YAHOOGROUPS.COM //NNN7DXB//
TO KSM MARINE RADIO SAN FRANCISCO CA //KSM BCST//
BT
UNCLAS
SUBJ: ACP-127 FORMATTED MESSAGE
REF: ACP-127 TAPE RELAY INSTRUCTIONS ( )
1. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A MILITARY MESSAGE FORMATTED IN
THE ACP-127 TELETYPE TAPE RELAY FORMAT THAT WAS IN USE
IN THE US MILITARY PRIOR TO THE MID-1970S. DURING THE 1970S,
THE MILITARY TELETYPE TAPE RELAY SYSTEM, ALSO KNOWN AS
THE ?TORN TAPE RELAY SYSTEM? WAS SLOWLY REPLACED BY THE NEWER
AND FASTER AUTOMATIC DIGITIAL NETWORK, OR ?AUTODIN?.
2. AUTODIN WAS A HIGH-SPEED, HIGH CAPACITY, COMPUTER CONTROLLED
?SUPER TELETYPE? SYSTEM THAT WAS ALSO CAPABLE OF HANDLING
DATA TRAFFIC IN IBM PUNCHED CARD FORM (HOLLERITH CODE), AND
MAGNETIC MEDIA. IT RELIED ON SERVOS AND TAPE DRIVES, AND LATER,
WAS UPGRADED WITH WHAT WE NOW REFER TO AS HARD DRIVES
THAT WERE ABOUT THE SIZE OF WASHING MACHINES. SOME OF
THE MAIN BRAINS IN THE AUTODIN SYSTEM WERE RCA SPECTRE 70
PAGE 2 RUMLNHA0033 UNCLAS
MAIN FRAME COMPUTERS. MOST ARMY AUTODIN FACILITIES WERE
MAINTAINED BY EITHER PHILCO-FORD OR WESTERN UNION UNDER
DOD CONTRACT. AUTODIN ITSELF WAS FINALLY REPLACED ON
SEPTEMBER 30, 2003 BY A NEW MEDIUM CALLED THE DEFENSE
MESSAGING SYSTEM, OR ?DMS?. DMS OFFERS MORE CAPACITY THAN
DID AUTODIN. IT PERMITS ATTACHMENTS, GRAPHICS, MAPS, MAP
OVERLAYS, LETTERS AND NON-MESSAGE CORRESPONDENCE, FILES,
AND EMAIL TRAFFIC TO BE TRANSMITTED IN A SINGLE SECURE SYSTEM
THAT IS WORLDWIDE IN SCOPE AND OPERATION.
3. ACP-127 PROCEDURES HOWEVER, DIDN"T GO AWAY. MOST US
MILITARY TACTICAL CIRCUITS STILL USED ACP-127 FORMATS UNTIL
THE LATE 1980S, UNTIL THE AUTODIN SYSTEM WAS FINALLY
INTEGRATED IN THE FIELD UNITS. NATO UNITS CONTINUED TO USE
ACP-127 FORMATS, SINCE NONE OF THEIR EQUIPMENTS OR SYSTEMS
WERE COMPATIBLE WITH THE US COMPUTERIZED FORMAT. SYSTEM
COMPATIBILITY IN THOSE DAYS WAS CALLED ?INTEROPERABILITY?.
EVEN TODAY, ACP-127 FORMATS CAN STILL BE FOUND IN SOME
NATO COUNTRIES WHERE INTEROPERABILITY ISSUES CONTINUE
TO PERSIST.
4. TRANSMITTED AS AN INFORMATIONAL SERVICE BY THE
PAGE 3 RUMLNHA0033 UNCLAS
COMMCENTER AT YAHOOGROUPS.COM GROUP. ALL MATERIAL
APPEARING HEREIN IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
5. SERVICE AND SUPPORT TO THE TROOPS FROM ONE OF THE
US ARMY"S FINEST COMMUNICATIONS OPERATIONS CHIEFS OF
THE 1ST INFANTRY DIVISION (FORWARD), FORMERLY LOCATED
A COOKE BARRACKS, GOEPPINGEN, NEAR STUTTGART, GERMANY.
BT
0033
NNNN
Here's one of the most interesting ones. All net discipline is exactly as received. The "?" character was used in the message to replace ones that aren't in ITA2. Any format changes, such as stripping leading blanks, were done by Blogger, not me:
VV HNA033
RR RUWMKSM
DE RUMLNHA 0033 1410200
ZNR UUUUU
R 200131Z MAY 08
FM COMMCENTER AT YAHOOGROUPS.COM //NNN7DXB//
TO KSM MARINE RADIO SAN FRANCISCO CA //KSM BCST//
BT
UNCLAS
SUBJ: ACP-127 FORMATTED MESSAGE
REF: ACP-127 TAPE RELAY INSTRUCTIONS ( )
1. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A MILITARY MESSAGE FORMATTED IN
THE ACP-127 TELETYPE TAPE RELAY FORMAT THAT WAS IN USE
IN THE US MILITARY PRIOR TO THE MID-1970S. DURING THE 1970S,
THE MILITARY TELETYPE TAPE RELAY SYSTEM, ALSO KNOWN AS
THE ?TORN TAPE RELAY SYSTEM? WAS SLOWLY REPLACED BY THE NEWER
AND FASTER AUTOMATIC DIGITIAL NETWORK, OR ?AUTODIN?.
2. AUTODIN WAS A HIGH-SPEED, HIGH CAPACITY, COMPUTER CONTROLLED
?SUPER TELETYPE? SYSTEM THAT WAS ALSO CAPABLE OF HANDLING
DATA TRAFFIC IN IBM PUNCHED CARD FORM (HOLLERITH CODE), AND
MAGNETIC MEDIA. IT RELIED ON SERVOS AND TAPE DRIVES, AND LATER,
WAS UPGRADED WITH WHAT WE NOW REFER TO AS HARD DRIVES
THAT WERE ABOUT THE SIZE OF WASHING MACHINES. SOME OF
THE MAIN BRAINS IN THE AUTODIN SYSTEM WERE RCA SPECTRE 70
PAGE 2 RUMLNHA0033 UNCLAS
MAIN FRAME COMPUTERS. MOST ARMY AUTODIN FACILITIES WERE
MAINTAINED BY EITHER PHILCO-FORD OR WESTERN UNION UNDER
DOD CONTRACT. AUTODIN ITSELF WAS FINALLY REPLACED ON
SEPTEMBER 30, 2003 BY A NEW MEDIUM CALLED THE DEFENSE
MESSAGING SYSTEM, OR ?DMS?. DMS OFFERS MORE CAPACITY THAN
DID AUTODIN. IT PERMITS ATTACHMENTS, GRAPHICS, MAPS, MAP
OVERLAYS, LETTERS AND NON-MESSAGE CORRESPONDENCE, FILES,
AND EMAIL TRAFFIC TO BE TRANSMITTED IN A SINGLE SECURE SYSTEM
THAT IS WORLDWIDE IN SCOPE AND OPERATION.
3. ACP-127 PROCEDURES HOWEVER, DIDN"T GO AWAY. MOST US
MILITARY TACTICAL CIRCUITS STILL USED ACP-127 FORMATS UNTIL
THE LATE 1980S, UNTIL THE AUTODIN SYSTEM WAS FINALLY
INTEGRATED IN THE FIELD UNITS. NATO UNITS CONTINUED TO USE
ACP-127 FORMATS, SINCE NONE OF THEIR EQUIPMENTS OR SYSTEMS
WERE COMPATIBLE WITH THE US COMPUTERIZED FORMAT. SYSTEM
COMPATIBILITY IN THOSE DAYS WAS CALLED ?INTEROPERABILITY?.
EVEN TODAY, ACP-127 FORMATS CAN STILL BE FOUND IN SOME
NATO COUNTRIES WHERE INTEROPERABILITY ISSUES CONTINUE
TO PERSIST.
4. TRANSMITTED AS AN INFORMATIONAL SERVICE BY THE
PAGE 3 RUMLNHA0033 UNCLAS
COMMCENTER AT YAHOOGROUPS.COM GROUP. ALL MATERIAL
APPEARING HEREIN IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
5. SERVICE AND SUPPORT TO THE TROOPS FROM ONE OF THE
US ARMY"S FINEST COMMUNICATIONS OPERATIONS CHIEFS OF
THE 1ST INFANTRY DIVISION (FORWARD), FORMERLY LOCATED
A COOKE BARRACKS, GOEPPINGEN, NEAR STUTTGART, GERMANY.
BT
0033
NNNN
Friday, May 02, 2008
US/NATO Joint Exercise On Until May 14
From Combinedendeavor.net
What this means in standard English is that this annual communication/ interoperability exercise always brings out some good (often unencrypted) digital military exercise traffic in Europe.
Welcome to Combined Endeavor 2008!
This annual, United States European Command (USEUCOM)-sponsored exercise is “in the spirit of” the Partnership for Peace (PfP) C4 Integration and Interoperability Exercise. CE enables interoperability between U.S. and NATO / PfP military C4 equipment by documenting and exercising technical and procedural solutions.
What this means in standard English is that this annual communication/ interoperability exercise always brings out some good (often unencrypted) digital military exercise traffic in Europe.
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