Showing posts with label radios. Show all posts
Showing posts with label radios. Show all posts

October 12, 2009

Secure Communications


Today we use quiet a lot of two way radio communication mediums to share personal and business details. Are you sure this data or information shared is secure? Who can guarantee the security of the systems we use in our day to day lives? How can we secure our communication systems from possible hackers or virtual thieves? The answers to these questions depends upon the type of communication system we use, its purpose in our lives and the role it plays to help us do the work we intent to do using them.

Communication is imperative among humans and so it is among other living beings too. So man developed a language through which he started sharing his thoughts. Initially it was commuted through hand signals or actions. Then words, sentences and finally a proper fully fledged language were formed for communication purpose. This differed from region to region and from country to country. Still a limitation was existent as all people couldn't understand other languages and only the people nearby were able to commute. This started off the fire of communication which later evolved and is finally in a state today where even the remotest person living in Antarctica can call Japan in few seconds.

Coming back to secured two way radio communication, the more man depended on communication the need for its security also became imperative. When two people shared something important they expect their messages to be private and safe. So they started using security devices to safeguard the communication systems from being hacked by third parties. Normal everyday communication has some security and we do trust that no one is tapping our calls. When communication is done for more serious matters then special care should be taken to increase the security mode of the device that we use. Mostly commercial and military operations need secured two way radio communication systems. In recent years we hear so much about top secret messages from government or military sources being intercepted by terrorists. The same happens the other way too wherein the military or police intercept the enemy connections.

During the Second World War a highly effective secured communication was used between Winston Churchill and US President Roosevelt. This secured communication was called Green Hornet. Initially they were talking through radio phones which were easily overheard by the Nazis. It was then that the Green Hornet was introduced. Whoever tried to intercept would just hear white voices. The clear original message was heard only by the two users. Different types of security are, coded, encryption, steganography etc. other security threats include Trojan horses, spy ware and viruses. These can be easily taken care of by antivirus software, registry checkers and firewalls. These are generally termed as computer security. A well protected two way radio communication is stress free and the large institution and research centers can relax due to their safe communication network. Today virus attacks are common even in mobile phones. They are transmitted through Bluetooth file transfer facilities. Secure communication is no doubt imperative for all communication needs.

October 7, 2009

Military Radio Aerials

Military radio aerials are transducers designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic waves which are converted into electrical currents and vice versa. These Military radio aerials are used in point-to-point radio communication, radars, wireless LAN and even in space exploration. These can be used in air, underwater, underground and even outer space. Satellites are used to send and receive data to facilitate this mode of communication.

Military radio aerials are wire of structure arranged such that it generates and radiates the electromagnetic waves when an alternating current is applied. Their size too differs according to the type of system being used; they are even mounted on bionic bugs to spy on enemies. Most military radio systems and military radio aerials give undeterred comm-links.

Usually amateur radios are used in military comms – these are mostly used for emergency needs. Amateur radio is not dependent on the local or terrestrial facilities as they sometimes fail. The military radio aerials improvise a signal which ensures a regular dependable performance and all times from any place on the earth as long as the frequency is known. This makes them ideal for use during disaster relief and other remote operations.

These can be used at the time of active war & terrorist attacks; they ensure safety from commercial and industrial espionage and safe communication to research institutions, etc. Military radio aerials are very powerful and can meet the diverse needs of the military forces and other institutions.

Military radio aerials are secure to use because as soon as war breaks out the enemies first target is to cripple the communication system as a part of the strategy to isolate the enemy. Aerials are stand-alone, light and portable. The difference between an antenna and an aerial is that an antenna is a large metallic structure, known as a transceiver as opposed to an aerial which is a wire which can be held in any direction to facilitate communication – in fact it can be adjusted to transmit and receive radio frequencies just like it elder larger cousin. There are different kinds of aerials – a single vertical aerial that transmits signals at 360 degrees or in the form of a sphere. There are mobile aerials on cars, truck, cell phones and radio aerials which transmit in different patterns due to which the different radio channels at different frequencies are possible.

Military radio aerials have different frequency receptions and capacities depending upon the type of communication system installed. The best communication system is when the signals are sent and received in an uninterrupted manner even in places like underground bunkers, through thick rocks and caves or other remote locations like the tops of mountains and deep cervices in the hills, on the high and deep seas in the submarines.

Generally huge reception antennas are used for the base stations but the military radio aerials are ideal for the operations on temporary or mobile bases as they are light weight, easy to carry and setup, thus very crucial for military ops.

May 19, 2008

What is HF SSB?

Do you require Long Range Communications?

HF SSB is the answer

HF means High Frequency whereas SSB means Single Sideband

HF & SSB radios are capable of providing communication over hundreds to thousands of Kilometres.

Buy our high frequency Codan Products at Comm Spec

HF provides communication beyond the range that is possible with conventional VHF/UHF systems, which rely on the line-of sight between communicating parties. HF on the other hand, achieves long distance communication by bouncing its signal off the ionosphere (sky waves) as shown in the Diagram below. Until recently there had always been a dead space of roughly 70 -220 Km between the point where the ground wave terminated and the point where the first sky wave returned to earth.

Standard Base Station Antenna Propagation

This operational shortcoming is unacceptable and a solution has been found by using the NVIS System. Under this system, the antenna radiates a signal near vertically up to bounce down off the ionosphere, thus providing an uninterrupted footprint from ground "0" to a radius of 6,000 Km or more.



NVIS Base Station Antenna Propagation

This operational shortcoming is unacceptable and a solution has been found by using the NVIS System. Under this system, the antenna radiates a signal near vertically up to bounce down off the ionosphere, thus providing an uninterrupted footprint from ground "0" to a radius of 6,000 Km or more.

March 10, 2008

Tour of Britain


Communication Specialists provide two way radio for the Tour of Britain



The Tour of Britain is a blue riband cycling event that returned to the British cycling calendar in 2004 after an absence of five years. Cycling is a hugely popular sport and British cyclists are among the best in the world, winning five gold medals in the 2004 Olympics and Paralympics.

The Tour of Britain has formerly been known as the Milk Race, the Kellogg's Tour and the Pru Tour of Britain. The aspiration of the Tour of Britain was to re-launch the event along the lines of the Tour de France, which has no title sponsor but a spectrum of public and private sector support.

The Tour of Britain has placed itself on a global platform alongside major races such as The Tour de France and Giro d'Italia by attracting a combination of national and international teams. Teams which are attracted to racing the Tour of Britain include Pro Tour Teams such as T-Mobile, Quickstep, Phonak and CSC.

The world governing body the UCI (the Union Cyclisme Internationale) granted the 2004Tour of Britain world championship ranking status. The Tour of Britain is determined in the future to become part of the UCI's elite Pro Tour calendar.

The Tour of Britain has four founding directors: Chief Executive, Hugh Roberts who also heads sporting marketing and events company Sweetspot Tony Doyle MBE, twice world pursuit champion Mick Bennett, double Olympic medallist Peter Moore OBE, former Managing Director of Center Parc.

The Tour of Britain is a not for profit organisation governed by a Board of Trustees with representatives from the sport of cycling, trade and industry and politics.

Communication Specialists are sponsors of the Tour of Britain and installed their radio equipment, their engineers Slawosz Uznanski, Raymoond Brooks and Maciej Korneluk were there that day to help install the required equipment on Thursday 6 September 2007.

For the Tour of Britain Communication Specialists supplied the following equipment:

  • 60 + 6 car/mobile Motorola GM900 and CM140 radio units complete with fist mics, power leads and UHF 3dB collinear mag mounting antennas, installed in over 20 brand new 2007
  • Vauxhall Astra and Vectra cars
  • 4 mobile units GM950 for motorcycles with autocom headset systems
  • 80 + 30 hand portable Motorola radios with spare batteries and chargers

All systems work with 2 independent repeaters, located in the organisers cars, one in front of the cyclists group other one in the middle, to provide maximum coverage for all radio users.

All equipment was prepared in our workshop (programming, testing, charging batteries) one week before installation. Installation of car/mobile units was made on Thursday 6 September and Friday 7 September (motorcycles on Saturday). Giving out all hand portable radio equipment to the users was made on Saturday and Sunday.

Instructions on how to operate channels was given to all users.

So far all equipment and system works well. Comm-spec Team (Kervin Labrosse, Raymond Brooks and Slawosz Uznanski) is following the race in Tour Of Britain as a technical support for two way radio equipment and all communication system.

Stage 1: Reading to Southampton - Monday 10 September
Stage 2: Yeovilton to Taunton - Tuesday 11 September
Stage 3: Worcester to Wolverhampton - Wednesday 12 September
Stage 4: Rother Valley Country Park to Bradford - Thursday 13 September
Stage 5: Liverpool to Kendall - Friday 14 September
Stage 6: Dumfries to Glasgow - Saturday 15 September