Previous message:
"Details on bin Laden's radio communications system"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02932.html
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Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 14:07:09 -0500
To: declan_at_well.com
From: e cummings <bernies_at_netaxs.com>
Subject: Re: FC: Details on bin Laden's radio communications system
In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20011216130939.00a83a30_at_mail.well.com>
declan,
there are several technical inaccuracies and no real information about "
bin Laden's radio communications system" in the information you were sent
and forwarded to the list. in the interest of promulgating accurate
information, please note the following:
there is no such thing as a "high power HF SSB handset." any handheld unit
would necessarily be low power (5 Watts or less) or it would drain the
batteries in a few seconds or minutes.
CODAN HF radios are not addressable, although they can be optionally
equipped to be and used in that manner a user-selectable basis. in nearly
all cases, HF (high-frequency, 3-30mhz) radios are not like cellular phones
or network interface cards which do transmit unique identifiers along with
their signals.
it is laughable to assume that afghans, taleban, or others using radios
stolen from UN personnel would use UN callsigns, or bother with using
callsigns at all. they might use some code names to differentiate
themselves, but certainly not UN callsigns. if they wanted to try to
confuse listeners, they could use any two-way radios and callsigns they
wanted to.
HF radios with voice encryption are readily available on the commercial
market from two-way companies like motorola, racal, etc. it's a question
of bandwidth: if you're only using a 5khz voice channel it's not possible,
but if you're using wider bandwidth spread-spectrum HF, then it is possible
and often used by US military. it's not likely the taleban uses these, but
it's a certainty the u.s. military there is.
5-bit "Baudot" code (more properly called Moore coding) was once popular
for low data rate radioteletype (RTTY) data over HF channels, but it's
rarely used anymore.
the two-way radio held by usama bin laden (seen in that frequently
rebroadcast archive video) is a VHF transceiver that operates somewhere in
the 30-300mhz range. other handheld radios used by the taleban and
"northern alliance" include those that operate somewhere in the 300-500mhz
UHF spectrum.
it's certainty that u.s. forces have sophisticated radio direction-finding
equipment in several locations in afghanistan that scan and record all
radio activity in the region, including bearing (direction) data. this
gathered data is shared and triangulated for intelligence and targeting
purposes: http://www.washtimes.com/national/20011215-68264047.htm
in addition to SIGINT from radio transmissions, US military has probably
dropped thousands of small, ground-based sensors that detect and transmit
vibration, noise, temperature and other data. some of these are very
sophisticated and network with each other. some even use small lasers to
transmit signals between each other and to ground, air, or space-based
collection stations: http://cipherwar.com/news/00/smart_dust.htm
-ed
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Received on Dec 17 2001
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