Most preppers are like, I got some guns and ammo, some food and survival gear, maybe a radio or 2. Bro ready to do nation state level administrative warfare. You a scary man my friend.
Nerds with a tactical mindset are the most dangerous animals alive when given the right resources. A red team guy that can shoot, move an communicate is the tip of the spear in this new digital world.
This is actually SUPER basic bare bones tactical level intel and operations…. But an amazingly efficient setup. The stuff for state-level is super scary.
Hey man.. Does anyone have a book or reference material they can suggest to get me caught up on some of this stuff... I'm trying to get more prepped.. and I have that other stuff.. but coms are super important.. how can I learn all of this
@@maceoperson2622 ham radio crash course on here is the #1 way. There’s an ARRL handbook that’s the best printed media I’d argue. Most hams you’ll interact with don’t have this mindset BUT the stuff you learn about ham radio will translate to this kind of kit.
Love it. We have something not to far off for fire brigade operations, quite a bit bigger, but the same idea. The one thing missing is the coffee machine, no operations without coffee. As a friends back in my military days once said, the only thing that differentiates us from animals is the fact that we are able to make coffee in the field
IT nerd here. I dabble with this stuff. I like it. Offload processes to a low powered arm server. Option to add others to your network. Throw an ethernet cable and an ethernet-to-usb adapter in your case, and you just cut off your wifi transmission. I assume that you have at least one usb port on the Surface. Then you can turn off your meshtastic and no transmission setup. You gave me some ideas.
One thing to always note, is open frame PD65-PD100w (so 20v 5A) power banks are very cheep now and the 18650 cells they use are very easy to pilfer out of outher kit from vapes to laptops and tesla cars the standard 18650 is a very nice battery to be based around for any kit, or power cell packs avoiding extra DC to DC buck converters saves power and heat. The Pi5 is pretty powerful now, but the Apple M2/M3 chips are insanely powerful now for how much power draw they have. The RTLSDR can be swapped with hardware like the RSP1 clones that have a lot more bandwith (10mhz 8-bit) and filtering range control at the 20USD mark with USB-C ready to plug into a phone for example same level of software support with its I/Q sampling mode. The Cyberdeck community has made some really cool command and control cases/backpacks. Some MG Chem silicone conformal coating goes a very long way in weatherproofing kit.
Great video, please keep this kind of content coming. I’ve learned a lot from your videos especially those about the „nerdy and boring“ things. I’m a humanitarian volunteer in eastern Ukraine and stuff like this is exactly what keeps me and my team alive. Thank you!
I really enjoyed your technical discussion of your TOC in a Box concept. Your use of integrated signals intelligence with active capture scanning capability, really is interesting. I am a Ham radio guy, but am intriguied. I can't help but imagine that with some clever programming an intercept, store and forward concept could be developed for even a cached or "left behind" intel sensor node. I think with a bit of work a weather tight, autonomous passive node/listening post could be created. I have once speculated about doing the reverse: creating a small computer running multiple scripts to create a "Chatterbox" with multiple transmitters spread over a reasonable area to spoof an enemy into doing active fox hunting, or evening diverting forces or creating the impression of a much larger, well equipped force. Lot's of fun could be had! 😉
Almost forgot: Take a look at the Inovato Quatra for a Raspberry Pi alternative. The current version comes with HamPi installed. Costs about $50. Tiny PCs: the original GMK NUC box, a cube that'll easily fail to cover the palm of your hand. Takes the 12V USB power. Runs windows 10 quite nicely. Get a little 12" or so monitor to fit in the top of your box, you're good. The PC should be around $150, monitor under a hundred. GMK sells little 14" touch screens for a couple hundred, I THINK. Have fun!
Dude bring on the nerd Warfare I love this stuff. I am very much behind the curve on understanding how to implement radio and I'm not even licensed or up-to-date on radio stuff yet unfortunately, having been trying to spend the last 2 years to recover from the economic disaster that the event that took place in 2020 caused to my personal finances in my family, however I am completely on board with all the stuff you guys are doing here as well as the guys over at Forward Observer. I love all of this. Please keep up the nerd stuff or even a lot of your videos where you're doing tactical or operational explanations of skill sets and training involving just general whatever because all this information is extremely useful and needed by people like myself and others who are find themselves in a position where they are or I am the only one that's going to stand up in the group of people I know with my friends and family and actually try to buckle down and learn this stuff. I basically got a lot of family and friends around me who think that you can just stockpile food hold up in your basement with a bunch of guns and ammo if she goes weird and that's going to be the solution basically the bunker Barbarian ideology as I call it. Obviously that's just not going to work. We need to be out front engaged and understanding what's happening with our surroundings before during and after any kind of civil Calamity or governmental craziness or a war or another pandemic real or imagined or whatever it is we can think of. Thank you again so much you here as well as the other channel I mentioned you guys are great resources I don't look at the two sources I mentioned here this Channel and forward Observer as necessarily competitors I see you guys doing different things but both of those channels and both of the people involved that put this information out, as well as some others such as the guy over at MonkeyWerx, this stuff is really really needed by us in the civilian world who do not have military background per se and just do not know what to do. I should revise that a little bit and say that I've been in pretty avid and long wargamer over the years with friends of mine who have since moved away and don't really talk much anymore but I'm not unfamiliar with military science from a civilian perspective being involved in really nerded out wargaming be a strategic operational or tactical but I obviously have a lot to learn because I didn't know any of the stuff that you and these other channels were putting out until I started watching it a few years ago.
Been using a raspberry pi 5 tablet that I made. I get 100+ miles range on ADS-B in perfect conditions. Also using GQRX and getting good range on HF and other bands. Still figuring out time sync for running JS8call etc.
Ok, now we can definitely be friends! This dude is so legit. I love it... lol. Appreciate the scrubbed daily briefs and updates broski. It feeds my operator syndrome, and makes my morning coffee and honey more... complete.
Had issues with the surface pro and LI-ION batteries charging in 100+ degree temps. Could only recharge over night from primary power (LI-PO/Solar) after the temps dropped. LOL, should have watched the whole video first. Great setup.
Great rundown. Ironically I've been thinking about putting together a waterproof grab-and-go repeater box that uses a couple Baofengs to create a remote repeater wherever I need one and this has me thinking about space and gear needed in that box.
I think trying to make a toc smaller as a means to be concealable is an interesting challenge. Of course building a toc in the back seat of a truck or van gives a lot of mobility and saves weight and space issues. If you’re trying to make a more man portable toc (that can be placed in less obvious/ off grid locations) I feel like a one box solution may not be the most practical. Having 3 boxes for example (like separate power, radio, and network boxes) that can either be carried in a single man’s ruck or split among a group. Ideally the toc isn’t one man hiding in a tent surrounded by radios. If the toc can be broken up it can be partially carried by a member who will be pulling security for example.
Honestly from a security perspective wifi is not only safer when compared to things like gmrs but is harder to discern in a world full of radio frequencies and given the short reach of wifi when compared to gmrs anyone hunting you down has to get closer to you potentially compromising themselves.
I was thinking the same. As long as you are near some level of civilization there will be WiFi signals and 900MHz just about everywhere. So overt its covert
Meshtastic or RAK world be perfect for this system. I'm not sure about wifi but it might be available. You rock brother and I appreciate everything you create. You'll never know how many lives you have impacted, but you will brother...
Deuce, good info. I recommend aTrusdx with a k6ark endfed since it is less than 1/4 the weight of the 705. Trusdx is now cat controlled on a windows device. For solar I recommend a roll-up 80W P3 and small mppt controller. Greater power density than powerfilm.
So cool! Maybe you could preposition solar panels along with your prepositioned antenna for your remote operation use? Optimize what’s inside the box to be able to receive power from as many sources as possible. Be able to charge whatever battery you have in there from the wall, a 12 V source, and some kind of solar. You’re right. Every piece of kit is a compromise.
Nice setup. I have ADS setup on a cheap amazon fire tablet (reformatted for android OS) in a small pelican case that houses/mounts the antenna. The RTL SDR seems to consume ALOT of power for its purpose as a passive receiver. Do you have alot of power consumption issues with the SDR's?
The pi can also function as a router. The catch is you'd have to get a dongle that supports it. The advantage to the laptop is the large screen. I tested my chest rig out during land nav 2 weeks ago and found that manipulating gqrx/sdrangel was troublesome using VNC on my phone (even when not on the move). (Still watching video)
This is really great. I only recently discovered your channel and am binging it. Two comments/questions: -Is there a specific reason why you're running windows for this? Can linux do the trick? Ive been looking at the panasonic toughbooks or toughpads for my own use - I dont feel that all those cables and cordage really "need" to be in the pelican. You could probably fit more equipment including your laptop if you just attached that stuff to the outside of it or carried it seperately
The biggest issue with most reasonably priced Panasonic toughbooks is compute power. Semi-rugged solutions like the 5420 and 5430 from Dell are worth considering.
I would add a network tap between the IC-705 and the router and run a Zeek based IDS. This allows you to pick up all spurious probing connection attempts. Just a thought!
I like this whole concept. Thinking about somewhat simplifying it: I'm maybe a little skeptical that the Windows PC is adding much that the Raspberry Pi can't handle, and although I like the idea of the mini wifi router, the Pi and an ethernet switch could provide most of the same functionality (note that it can be a wifi access point to a network that it hosts/routes, and its ethernet port can be connected to a switch for more/non-wifi networked devices). The big difference, I guess, is that the IC-705 needs Windows or some particular software that runs in Windows for some reason (?), whereas (for example) a Yaesu FT-857d connected by, yes, more cables to the RPi could even expand the functionality to VHF/UHF in addition to HF, and wouldn't need anything from Windows. If wifi weren't an absolute dependency, the Pi could be able to kill the wifi network at any time, leaving everything but users' own devices fully operational. Edit: Oh, I almost forgot - this box NEEDS 433mhz LoRa. Whether you're just hosting a Meshtastic node or using a custom protocol of your own, it's an amazing local digital technology that can supplant APRS-type functions, and would make a very strong (and small and light and cheap and low-power) addition to this system. It can be a transciever on the Pi, or its own e.g. ESP32-based device (such as a T-Beam).
This is my main focus with respect to being prepared. I think comms, ISR, and coordination is far more important than split times at ten yards. Having said that, I have some notes. The milatary has distributed assets. Though we as civilians can not cast our net as wide, we can utilize similar tactics. Trying to fit an entire toc in to a man portable box is a good idea, but I think you are limiting your capabilities. What you need at ground level is an interface and the ability to communicate with assets with higher capabilities elsewhere. This is where the concept of an automotive TOC comes into play. This vehicle could have redundant WAN uplinks(SAT and cell with a failover modem) . This vehicle could communicate with ISR assets. It can house much more powerful(and power hungry) computers. Connecting your TOC in a box to this vehicle borne TOC could be done in a few ways like a MANET radio, a cellular connection, or a cheap 1ghz wifi range extending system. Tbis could reduce your TOC to three separate devices. A manet radio and/or some other data uplink, a wifi router, and an end user device like a tablet or laptop.
been watching ringway manchester to get started with meshtastic (usually his stuff is too complicated for me to follow as well but his beginners guide might be useful since i haven't got s2's skill sets - 'right out the box' 😁). could you saw off mk2 power bank handle, hotglue a soft strap on top, maybe drill and run through plastic screws/ziptie anchors if you don't trust the glue - radio i don't know but repackaging, i could give it a go..
That PowerPoint at the 1 minute mark is pretty good, having worked at a TOC before, yeah that is at least the minimum equipment. However better radio equipment is needed, specifically secure communications both at a tactical level and also upwards.
Not sure if you have any experience with lifepo4 batteries, but a Dakota lithium 10ah battery with a hardened power systems BatPac M2 and a mini 14.6v lithium solar charge controller will go a long way in power management. There's pros and cons to li-ion vs lifepo4 concerning capacities, but the lifepo4 battery should be able to charge faster than li-ion batteries.
Nice system you have there. The wireless is nice touch. I’ve found VNC connections to be a little sluggish though. I use a Remote Desktop Connection from iPad to raspberry pi. Works fantastic. YMMV
I ran TOC operations at Battalion, Brigade, and Division level and I would tell you that running Wi-Fi is a security breach if your serious about TOC operations. Anyone with a phone can check for a Wi-Fi signal while walking in the woods or on a road/trail and find your location/Headquarters. Even mobile TOCs need to be hard wired from your main source to your computers and radios. Only signal going out should be radio frequency that can be secure in some way. Your most likely running NIPR and not SIPR as a civilian back yard HQs but your not being stealth or secure with Wi-Fi. Wire management would make your system better and you do not have a large staff so there will be minimum wire laid out. Wire management over head or against the wall is better than along the floor where it is a trip hazard. If your running a mobile TOC use a van or box truck with wires and cables already laid out and fastened down. Then all you have to do is plug in the equipment. If your working out of a tent you can have your cables and wires attached to boards/plywood that just gets hung up in the tent with 550 cord. Set up a table(s) for your equipment and plug in and start running TOC operations. Even the back of a pickup truck with a camper top can be pre set to plug in. Don't forget to get an UPS system so you don't fry your gear during a lightning search/storm.
Last night I watched gopro footage of some American volunteers fighting in Ukraine. They spent most of the time wandering around, cautiously probing and not knowing where the real frontlines were. Half the time their squad leader was missing and they were out of comms. Imagine how much more effective they would have been with a TOC in place.
Would be really cool to get this in a faraday-style case. Not just for protection, but for the ability to truly end your electronic signature by just closing the case in the event of unexpected (or expected) displacement.
Don't run a GWOT-style Bn TOC in a LSCO environment. I was "mid career" in 2001, up for Major the following year, and hence got roughly equal time with both pre and post GWOT methodologies. Anytime you make your EM signature into anything other than a needle in a stack of needles you are asking for trouble. An EM signature, particularly an omni-directional WiFi signature in the forest is on everyone's HPT list, and the top level of their EFSTs. Sure, I've jumped in a GRIP with SATCOM to dole out sexy connectivity to the DCGO under a poncho. But outside of jousting for a top block, it is not a smart thing to do if you are facing any kind of conventional military. From earlier in life our standard for locating those conveniently shortband transmissions with a fix, and initiating a fire mission (using 1980s tech) is 1 minute and 30 seconds. Give the rounds between 30 seconds (mortars) and a few minutes for ATACMs, and that's your lifespan. A Corps Toc needs that stuff because coordinating the stuff it connects with is why a Corps HQ exists. Division much less so. Bde, not so much (but every Bde CO suffers Division bling-envy). Look, REALITY is below Division that stuff is not really necessary, and is security-detrimental. You'd be better using text over burst to get just the highlights. And if your Commander doesn't have the chops to know it, then he's not an asset. If you are fighting an insurgent GWOT-Style then you could wear flourescent Borat-Speedo with great big pheasant feather wings. But just because you can do it, does not mean it is a good idea. Machines constantly transmit. Go onto your "TOC setup" laptop and do a netstat -f, and an arp -a. Every line you see scroll across the screen is another transmission. Computers have no emission control. For the kind of thing you are wanting to do you need to write a link-16 mediator, or BFT JMF mediator and hook it to a recieve-only radio. If you're not a Division you're really not so big that you shouldn't be able to simply show them your screen. If staff-fusion requires more than you can do with burst-able text, then you need to put the staff on a diet. Truly. Those sexy expectations are GWOTisms that would not be survivable vs a competent adversary.
This rather highlights the chasm between the tactical civilian realm and the tactical military realm. I think /s2-actual has highlighted this in previous videos. Yes - air-gapping the set-up presented here would be a rather prudent measure. I think /s2-actual made mention of the fact that wifi isn't the best choice among the available choices, but that's what is presented here. Simple steps like re-formatting every machine with an operating system image that kills wifi and bluetooth would be a good first step. Hard-wiring everything into a network switch with shielded CAT-6 cable would be a good second step. One doesn't necessarily need to set up a tactical SCIF in order to employ the solution presented here, but depending on the environment, it is certainly adaptable to a less-permissive environment. All this being said, I think this is an approachable first step in getting people thinking about the concept and how to implement something like it. But, the other thing one must consider is the environment in which one is operating. I think this is mainly geared toward the preparedness commumity, but...who's on the other side? -- state actors? -- foreign military? -- local authorities? -- SHTF surviving hordes? ...because the relative permissiveness of the environment is going to figure heavily in how something like this is implemented.
@@N0LSD Good comment. And true. My point is that tacticool almost always turns out to be a liability. It's just more stuff to maintain. Less is more. I talked the military angle to highlight that mil-bling and tacticool are things the pros also suffer from...especially without rigorous attention to a pacing threat. My advice is to establish the toughest pacing threat you can build up to, then aim higher. Your mind is your most important equipment. Since pursuing digital TOCs the pros have learned to do less with more. A Corps TOC's primary effort in training is to work tables, cables, tents, and trucks into a tightly defined rigorously packed and inventoried set. Most of the HQ's tactical effort is just to pack, track, and maintain it. And it takes hours, with everyone BG and below pounding stakes and hauling tables. That exact same Corps HQ, with a lot more trucks, tentage, and bodies could be 100% established by a single SFC and a fireteam of Specialists in 2003 in just a couple of hours, and jumped on the same timeline with the same personnel commitments. For almost every echelon and mission, less is more. At any level to fight effectively, you need a map, an SOP, and a means of communication (not necessarily a radio). Get smart with defining what needs to be communicated, and you can literally do everything you need with less gear than you can imagine. Less is more. Travel Light. Break no blade of grass. Make the wildlife not notice you. But do all you need to do. Mastering that is what makes you effective. If you are a prepper with a small team, and you want to know where to start: Learn dead-drops and cache signalling as Primary. Alternate is meeting. Learn anti-surveillance, evasion, and third-party signaling. More CI and Agent-handling tradecraft as commo. Less Q. Contingency is squawk code or burst text. Emergency is voice. You'll spend most of your time in voice, trying to get to squawk or text. But when you've mastered dead-drop commo and anti-surveillance, no potential adversary will be able to find you.
@@gordonjohnson405 Lots to process here - and, a great discussion! I do think you're spot-on with the more tradecraft, less technology notion, to an extent: again, it largely depends upon the environment. In a highly non-permissive environment, I agree totally. If stealth is a high priority, I agree totally. If real-time communications isn't a priority, I agree totally. This last one is a sticking point with many command elements, in my experience. All this being said, much of the technology that *would* enable what you're talking about -- burst transmissions, pseudo-random transmissions, spread-spectrum transmissions that essentially hide traffic in the noise floor....most of this is completely unavailable to civilian preparedness-minded folks. Heck, even Amateur radio operators are prohibited from utilizing encryption, and the FCC only recently changed the rules and allowed symbol rates in excess of 300 baud on HF! Now, this absolutely places a greater emphasis on tradecraft over technology, but communication - even routine communication -- is still necessary. Add to this that most people will never work in what you or I would call a non-permissive environment. I'm not saying don't prepare for it, don't train for it, it ain't ever gonna happen....but the chances are relatively small for the vast majority of people. Last point I'd make is to differentiate between civilian tactical, and what you've (rightly) termed "tacticool." LARPers are *gonna* LARP, and if that's their jam, more power to 'em. That being said, I sort of put those folks to one side. I honestly don't think much of what we're discussing here has much application when it comes to cosplay; but it has a more realistic application for folks that are looking to hone their skills when it comes to communications for emergency / disaster preparedness.
@N0LSD That's very true. But even pros get caught up in tacticool. If you were to walk into the SFD or Ranger Regt, or the Delta compound they would have beach-ball style inflatable satcoms, and a wide range of gear. What distinguishes GWOT style fighting is that the entire enterprise became built around tactical raids and route clearance vs an adversary without technical depth. It means everything you train for is real-time, up-armored, run-and-gun, followed by low threat reset time. The Prophets became so under used that adversaries built permanent LRM links from Makhmur to Kirkuk, Hasakah, Deir-E-Zuar, all the way to Rakka. They were just a series of relay stations consisting of the equivalent of a couple OE-254 or 292 on roofs. At the tactical level real-time necessity is fire mission, SPOT, SALUTE, and medevac. Those are formatted messages explicitly so you dont need to transmit long. All the other things we use real-time for can be bypassed. Signal to lift fire or initiate can be audible. Aborts can be time based. Field expedient burst is what happens when you have a lot of text stored in the queue and then turn on the NIC so it can all be spooled out at once. Real-time comms is mostly a pacifier to satisfy EAC desires for immediate feedback. Or tactical desires for immediate reassurance. Honest and for true, with foresight you do not need the kit. But you do need the standardized messages and SOPs. In the civilian world you don't need HF to talk to Air Support. But you might need it very briefly to transmit LZ Clearance to a medevac bird. What minimizing comms requires, which has fallen out of fashion, is foresight. It is too late to designate Rally Points or Medevac points when you need them. To be deadly silent you have to push all that thinking backwards in time to the orders process. And you have to become expert with a paper map.
@@gordonjohnson405 I'm not disagreeing with you, especially when it comes to a command and other REMF and their "requirement" for "real-time comms." From a command point of view, look: I get it -- the last thing a commander wants is to be uninformed, or to have someone else know something before they do. However, there are few circumstances where a forward-deployed element really needs to do a comms check every hour, right? And yet... As for the notion of the pre-GWOT batallion TOC...oh, absolutely - it's a dated model. Heck, one could argue that it was a poor model during the Vietnam conflict. In terms of this "TOC in a Box" notion, I'd be interested in asking /s2-actual if he really means a TOC in that traditional sense. Where I see the place for a quick-deploy, bare-bones system like this is more of a "Comms at the Halt" scenario, where the requirement is to have a capability to communicating if necessary, but more in order to do some basic SIGINT while pausing and developing the next step. Or maybe for a deployed element, in the team-leader's tent. I notice that there's no email capability here -- even within the group. There's no storage capacity built-in. Both of these would really be necessary in something like a traditional TOC. (This would likely be achievable with a second Raspberry Pi, housed in an Argon One case with an M.2 SSD, running Citadel or Postfix. Perhaps this could be achieved running OMV (Open Media Vault) on a Pi, as OMV has a docker functionality - which would provide a storage server along with email server capability...I donno. OMV easily runs on a Pi4, and I'm pretty sure Citadel can be run in OMV's docker. Might be interesting to see if that works. Again, it's a really bare-bones solution, but highly portable.) This system seems more geared toward, "Even if you manage to find us, we already did out work and sent our traffic, and we're gone by the time you arrive to investigate."
Cool advice about the radio. I don’t know if I would ever use it even if the SHTF. But it is sexy. I haven’t used radios for many year but do civilians use frequently hopping or hiding with noise?
Should we be concerned with some sort of EMF shielding to protect from an EMP? Lots of talk about EMP these days...is it something that we should worry about?
Have you thought about a LiFePo4 battery and a solar charge controller like the West Mountain Radio EpicPWRGate? I use one one my battery box. Takes powerpole connectors for shore power and solar. I use some good sized panels with it. They're RF silent as well. You'd need an output, but they make powerpole to USB adapters and buck converters.
A very long time ago I built something like this for someone. One thing I found better, Than trying to use small embedded systems like the Raspberry Pi. Is to use 2 laptops, one *nix box, one Win box. Then remote into the *nix box from windows. I even removed the screen from the *nix laptop because I was never going to need it. Headless *nix is easy compared to windows. There are lots of mini pc solutions you could use as an alternative to a Pi if you wanted. lots of mini pcs intended for industry use 12v power. If you need more Meshtastic battery life, My testing (YMMV) the rakwireless is better than everything else with power.
I have been working on something similar revolving around the Raspberry Pi. Having trouble getting dump1090 and PlanePlotter talking. Would be interested in information on how to setup the Pi!
The Icom ic705 is a great radio. The only issue you may find is the max output, with an external battery, is 10 watts. Is it enough? Well that is mission specific but at $1400 some may want to find something with more output (or add an amplifier which will double your cost). I suppose a Yaesu 891 would do well if you only wanted HF. You could add an Yaesu FTM-6000R for vhf/uhf I guess but now more radios, more weight but way more power output and still $500 less overall. Choices choices... The ecoflow batteries are good as well. Battery-wise, lifpo batteries are a great option, just be sure to have a mmp that is made for it. Something else to consider, and you see it somewhat in the usb to dc cable he shows, but consider standardizing your connectors as much as possible. Having to find what cable goes with what is a pain and if you lose a cable you are out of luck. In the ham world anderson power connectors are very popular.
The issue with 100w rigs is power consumption. Even on rx the 891 pulls an amp. And RXing is what you're doing the majority of the time. Not to mention that you really don't need pileup busting power when your dealing with directed contacts. The 891 is a great radio for POTA or FD because of the extra power, but the 705 is everything else and more. 10w is enough for NVIS communications, hitting repeaters, running digital modes, and the 705 does that without extra equipment.
Thanks for making this video. I'm getting mine up and running myself. I'm running more powerful hardware tho. My biggest thing is getting IP addresses and firewalls working correctly.
Forgot to get your girl a gift for Valentine's Day? Give her your TOC in a box!
😂😂
its my Tok in a Box!
With a side of raspberry pie ;)
Tears 😅
This may in fact work with the right girl. Someone special in NSA, CIA Operations, or DevGru?
I know this probably puts some people to sleep, but this is my jam.
It's too early when I'm watching it. Sadly can't fall asleep
I’m specifically putting it in to fall asleep
Mine too!
@@delusionalbaritonethought I was the only person who took notes on these videos
Can’t it be both 😅
nope not excessive and not boring. We need more of this.
Most preppers are like, I got some guns and ammo, some food and survival gear, maybe a radio or 2.
Bro ready to do nation state level administrative warfare. You a scary man my friend.
Nerds with a tactical mindset are the most dangerous animals alive when given the right resources. A red team guy that can shoot, move an communicate is the tip of the spear in this new digital world.
@@PacketFPV Just the tip.....
This is actually SUPER basic bare bones tactical level intel and operations…. But an amazingly efficient setup.
The stuff for state-level is super scary.
Hey man.. Does anyone have a book or reference material they can suggest to get me caught up on some of this stuff... I'm trying to get more prepped.. and I have that other stuff.. but coms are super important.. how can I learn all of this
@@maceoperson2622 ham radio crash course on here is the #1 way. There’s an ARRL handbook that’s the best printed media I’d argue. Most hams you’ll interact with don’t have this mindset BUT the stuff you learn about ham radio will translate to this kind of kit.
Love it. We have something not to far off for fire brigade operations, quite a bit bigger, but the same idea. The one thing missing is the coffee machine, no operations without coffee. As a friends back in my military days once said, the only thing that differentiates us from animals is the fact that we are able to make coffee in the field
IT nerd here. I dabble with this stuff. I like it. Offload processes to a low powered arm server. Option to add others to your network. Throw an ethernet cable and an ethernet-to-usb adapter in your case, and you just cut off your wifi transmission. I assume that you have at least one usb port on the Surface. Then you can turn off your meshtastic and no transmission setup. You gave me some ideas.
@S2 Underground A parts list in the description would be GREAT!!!
This... With links for us that are not in the know and learning.
Yes please!
There is a link to a PDF in the description. Might check there.
@@the.hereticThis PDF is for his ghost net radio system.It's not the parts list for this box
You should do a video in which you actually deploy this and utilize the software from the laptop. Awesome stuff!
that be awesome
Not boring man. Your videos are informative and shed light on things that I wouldn't have known or realized without.
Its been a year since we got a long-form TOC video...... All of us radio/logistics geeks appreciate this!
One thing to always note, is open frame PD65-PD100w (so 20v 5A) power banks are very cheep now and the 18650 cells they use are very easy to pilfer out of outher kit from vapes to laptops and tesla cars the standard 18650 is a very nice battery to be based around for any kit, or power cell packs avoiding extra DC to DC buck converters saves power and heat.
The Pi5 is pretty powerful now, but the Apple M2/M3 chips are insanely powerful now for how much power draw they have.
The RTLSDR can be swapped with hardware like the RSP1 clones that have a lot more bandwith (10mhz 8-bit) and filtering range control at the 20USD mark with USB-C ready to plug into a phone for example same level of software support with its I/Q sampling mode.
The Cyberdeck community has made some really cool command and control cases/backpacks.
Some MG Chem silicone conformal coating goes a very long way in weatherproofing kit.
Great video, please keep this kind of content coming. I’ve learned a lot from your videos especially those about the „nerdy and boring“ things.
I’m a humanitarian volunteer in eastern Ukraine and stuff like this is exactly what keeps me and my team alive. Thank you!
If you're going to a bigger box, a portable printer might come in handy for printing maps, SOIs, duty rosters, and quick reports.
Man I love this stuff. Such amazing set up. Please don't stop the kind of videos.
Yup, I nerded out this whole video, and now Ive got some great ideas for my own build. Be safe.
I really enjoyed your technical discussion of your TOC in a Box concept. Your use of integrated signals intelligence with active capture scanning capability, really is interesting. I am a Ham radio guy, but am intriguied. I can't help but imagine that with some clever programming an intercept, store and forward concept could be developed for even a cached or "left behind" intel sensor node.
I think with a bit of work a weather tight, autonomous passive node/listening post could be created.
I have once speculated about doing the reverse: creating a small computer running multiple scripts to create a "Chatterbox" with multiple transmitters spread over a reasonable area to spoof an enemy into doing active fox hunting, or evening diverting forces or creating the impression of a much larger, well equipped force. Lot's of fun could be had! 😉
Almost forgot:
Take a look at the Inovato Quatra for a Raspberry Pi alternative. The current version comes with HamPi installed. Costs about $50.
Tiny PCs: the original GMK NUC box, a cube that'll easily fail to cover the palm of your hand. Takes the 12V USB power. Runs windows 10 quite nicely. Get a little 12" or so monitor to fit in the top of your box, you're good. The PC should be around $150, monitor under a hundred. GMK sells little 14" touch screens for a couple hundred, I THINK.
Have fun!
Looks great to build on
Dude bring on the nerd Warfare I love this stuff. I am very much behind the curve on understanding how to implement radio and I'm not even licensed or up-to-date on radio stuff yet unfortunately, having been trying to spend the last 2 years to recover from the economic disaster that the event that took place in 2020 caused to my personal finances in my family, however I am completely on board with all the stuff you guys are doing here as well as the guys over at Forward Observer. I love all of this. Please keep up the nerd stuff or even a lot of your videos where you're doing tactical or operational explanations of skill sets and training involving just general whatever because all this information is extremely useful and needed by people like myself and others who are find themselves in a position where they are or I am the only one that's going to stand up in the group of people I know with my friends and family and actually try to buckle down and learn this stuff. I basically got a lot of family and friends around me who think that you can just stockpile food hold up in your basement with a bunch of guns and ammo if she goes weird and that's going to be the solution basically the bunker Barbarian ideology as I call it. Obviously that's just not going to work. We need to be out front engaged and understanding what's happening with our surroundings before during and after any kind of civil Calamity or governmental craziness or a war or another pandemic real or imagined or whatever it is we can think of.
Thank you again so much you here as well as the other channel I mentioned you guys are great resources I don't look at the two sources I mentioned here this Channel and forward Observer as necessarily competitors I see you guys doing different things but both of those channels and both of the people involved that put this information out, as well as some others such as the guy over at MonkeyWerx, this stuff is really really needed by us in the civilian world who do not have military background per se and just do not know what to do. I should revise that a little bit and say that I've been in pretty avid and long wargamer over the years with friends of mine who have since moved away and don't really talk much anymore but I'm not unfamiliar with military science from a civilian perspective being involved in really nerded out wargaming be a strategic operational or tactical but I obviously have a lot to learn because I didn't know any of the stuff that you and these other channels were putting out until I started watching it a few years ago.
Been using a raspberry pi 5 tablet that I made. I get 100+ miles range on ADS-B in perfect conditions. Also using GQRX and getting good range on HF and other bands. Still figuring out time sync for running JS8call etc.
I think you can use one of those little USB GPS gadgets to get a time synch.
And the Airspy R2 has a time standard output, I think.
Ok, now we can definitely be friends! This dude is so legit. I love it... lol. Appreciate the scrubbed daily briefs and updates broski. It feeds my operator syndrome, and makes my morning coffee and honey more... complete.
love details, more details more better. this is my jam
Thank you for a Great video, its great
Had issues with the surface pro and LI-ION batteries charging in 100+ degree temps. Could only recharge over night from primary power (LI-PO/Solar) after the temps dropped. LOL, should have watched the whole video first. Great setup.
Great rundown. Ironically I've been thinking about putting together a waterproof grab-and-go repeater box that uses a couple Baofengs to create a remote repeater wherever I need one and this has me thinking about space and gear needed in that box.
It works!
Lightweight repeater attatched to a drone would be pretty cool
Only 1:26 into the video so far and loving. Daily consumer of The Wire, but really love your in-depth videos you do on key topics like this one.
Lab599 teased a manpack version of the TX-500 called the TX-500MP.
Very well done! Great tutorial.
I thoroughly enjoy the amount of quality content S2U has been putting out recently.
My Brother and I were just talking about putting a setup like this together. Great ideas here
Been waiting on this one, thanks for the good worl
Pirate box great thank you for the info I've been looking for the right format
This is a great setup and super simple. We called it ROIP. Radio Over IP.
My brother in Christ, this is an excellent review of a portable TOC option for folks looking for a place to start.
Any consideration for an integrated Faraday cage? Just thinking through the PACE plan. Very thorough and thought out. Thanks!
I think trying to make a toc smaller as a means to be concealable is an interesting challenge. Of course building a toc in the back seat of a truck or van gives a lot of mobility and saves weight and space issues. If you’re trying to make a more man portable toc (that can be placed in less obvious/ off grid locations) I feel like a one box solution may not be the most practical. Having 3 boxes for example (like separate power, radio, and network boxes) that can either be carried in a single man’s ruck or split among a group. Ideally the toc isn’t one man hiding in a tent surrounded by radios. If the toc can be broken up it can be partially carried by a member who will be pulling security for example.
Loved it! Looking forward to more Mega Nerd content.
That's pretty handy, while advanced that is really cool for a setup.
@S2 Underground A parts list in the description would be GREAT!!! With numbers and everythink!!!
Buddypole solar charge controller will give you usb ports and using a bioenno battery with a foldable solar panel might be a better option.
Honestly from a security perspective wifi is not only safer when compared to things like gmrs but is harder to discern in a world full of radio frequencies and given the short reach of wifi when compared to gmrs anyone hunting you down has to get closer to you potentially compromising themselves.
I was thinking the same. As long as you are near some level of civilization there will be WiFi signals and 900MHz just about everywhere. So overt its covert
If they're getting your wifi signal, they are literally close enough to smell you.
Meshtastic or RAK world be perfect for this system. I'm not sure about wifi but it might be available. You rock brother and I appreciate everything you create. You'll never know how many lives you have impacted, but you will brother...
Good information. Why do you have the labels on the mini router and the Meshtastic units grayed out? Thanks.
This looks awesome!!!
Thanks for the upload!
Deuce, good info. I recommend aTrusdx with a k6ark endfed since it is less than 1/4 the weight of the 705. Trusdx is now cat controlled on a windows device.
For solar I recommend a roll-up 80W P3 and small mppt controller. Greater power density than powerfilm.
Yes a parts list with links would be helpful!!!
So cool! Maybe you could preposition solar panels along with your prepositioned antenna for your remote operation use? Optimize what’s inside the box to be able to receive power from as many sources as possible. Be able to charge whatever battery you have in there from the wall, a 12 V source, and some kind of solar. You’re right. Every piece of kit is a compromise.
I’m literally making this kit for a local city EMD department.
Would love to see a little more Linux based computing particularly with toc and server deployments; as per opsec.
P.s. freaking love your channe and all the good info... the wire is my news lol
Once you quarantine the machine from Internet, it's functionally secure
i think planeplotter doesn't work with Linux
@@derstoffausdemderjoghurtisVirtualbox on Linux.
Wifi on power stations are potentially problematic. Seems too easy to remotely disable if not isolated from routers.
I love this concept and you should do a more in depth setup or follow up
Awesome video!!
Nice setup. I have ADS setup on a cheap amazon fire tablet (reformatted for android OS) in a small pelican case that houses/mounts the antenna. The RTL SDR seems to consume ALOT of power for its purpose as a passive receiver. Do you have alot of power consumption issues with the SDR's?
..with Dante-to the seventh level of PPT. Still laughing! This one was AWESOME! Thx!
Awesome video, thank you!
Looks like a tp-link router. Very handy device, has alot of options for use.
More interesting than my microbiology homework
This is extremely helpful in organizing my wish list 😂
Very helpful, thanks!
“This is a little excessive” S2 underground 2024.
The pi can also function as a router. The catch is you'd have to get a dongle that supports it. The advantage to the laptop is the large screen. I tested my chest rig out during land nav 2 weeks ago and found that manipulating gqrx/sdrangel was troublesome using VNC on my phone (even when not on the move).
(Still watching video)
"It's my TOC in a box!"
-The Lonely Island, I think.
This is really great. I only recently discovered your channel and am binging it. Two comments/questions:
-Is there a specific reason why you're running windows for this? Can linux do the trick?
Ive been looking at the panasonic toughbooks or toughpads for my own use
- I dont feel that all those cables and cordage really "need" to be in the pelican. You could probably fit more equipment including your laptop if you just attached that stuff to the outside of it or carried it seperately
nice setup, that setup could also include mesh networking on the wifi, and include a voice over ip over that mesh for more secure comms
The biggest issue with most reasonably priced Panasonic toughbooks is compute power. Semi-rugged solutions like the 5420 and 5430 from Dell are worth considering.
What budget options I could use instead of the Icom radio? Would a UV5R works and what would be the limitation?
I would add a network tap between the IC-705 and the router and run a Zeek based IDS. This allows you to pick up all spurious probing connection attempts. Just a thought!
I do like the pelican 1510, used it for my cameras for years. Fitted one for my fpv drone kit, very versatile rolling case.
Amazing tech you are the man
I would be extremely interested in if you are able to find an effective way to generate scanner traffic to text. Please keep us in the loop on that
I like this whole concept. Thinking about somewhat simplifying it: I'm maybe a little skeptical that the Windows PC is adding much that the Raspberry Pi can't handle, and although I like the idea of the mini wifi router, the Pi and an ethernet switch could provide most of the same functionality (note that it can be a wifi access point to a network that it hosts/routes, and its ethernet port can be connected to a switch for more/non-wifi networked devices). The big difference, I guess, is that the IC-705 needs Windows or some particular software that runs in Windows for some reason (?), whereas (for example) a Yaesu FT-857d connected by, yes, more cables to the RPi could even expand the functionality to VHF/UHF in addition to HF, and wouldn't need anything from Windows. If wifi weren't an absolute dependency, the Pi could be able to kill the wifi network at any time, leaving everything but users' own devices fully operational.
Edit: Oh, I almost forgot - this box NEEDS 433mhz LoRa. Whether you're just hosting a Meshtastic node or using a custom protocol of your own, it's an amazing local digital technology that can supplant APRS-type functions, and would make a very strong (and small and light and cheap and low-power) addition to this system. It can be a transciever on the Pi, or its own e.g. ESP32-based device (such as a T-Beam).
This is my main focus with respect to being prepared. I think comms, ISR, and coordination is far more important than split times at ten yards. Having said that, I have some notes. The milatary has distributed assets. Though we as civilians can not cast our net as wide, we can utilize similar tactics. Trying to fit an entire toc in to a man portable box is a good idea, but I think you are limiting your capabilities. What you need at ground level is an interface and the ability to communicate with assets with higher capabilities elsewhere. This is where the concept of an automotive TOC comes into play. This vehicle could have redundant WAN uplinks(SAT and cell with a failover modem) . This vehicle could communicate with ISR assets. It can house much more powerful(and power hungry) computers. Connecting your TOC in a box to this vehicle borne TOC could be done in a few ways like a MANET radio, a cellular connection, or a cheap 1ghz wifi range extending system. Tbis could reduce your TOC to three separate devices. A manet radio and/or some other data uplink, a wifi router, and an end user device like a tablet or laptop.
Great video!
Looks like something solid snake would need.
Can you link the velcro tape you use for your pelican cases? I often find that adhesive doesnt stay on the plastic very well.
been watching ringway manchester to get started with meshtastic (usually his stuff is too complicated for me to follow as well but his beginners guide might be useful since i haven't got s2's skill sets - 'right out the box' 😁). could you saw off mk2 power bank handle, hotglue a soft strap on top, maybe drill and run through plastic screws/ziptie anchors if you don't trust the glue - radio i don't know but repackaging, i could give it a go..
That PowerPoint at the 1 minute mark is pretty good, having worked at a TOC before, yeah that is at least the minimum equipment. However better radio equipment is needed, specifically secure communications both at a tactical level and also upwards.
Awesome video
Not sure if you have any experience with lifepo4 batteries, but a Dakota lithium 10ah battery with a hardened power systems BatPac M2 and a mini 14.6v lithium solar charge controller will go a long way in power management. There's pros and cons to li-ion vs lifepo4 concerning capacities, but the lifepo4 battery should be able to charge faster than li-ion batteries.
Nice system you have there. The wireless is nice touch. I’ve found VNC connections to be a little sluggish though. I use a Remote Desktop Connection from iPad to raspberry pi. Works fantastic. YMMV
The power point comments are gold
I ran TOC operations at Battalion, Brigade, and Division level and I would tell you that running Wi-Fi is a security breach if your serious about TOC operations. Anyone with a phone can check for a Wi-Fi signal while walking in the woods or on a road/trail and find your location/Headquarters. Even mobile TOCs need to be hard wired from your main source to your computers and radios. Only signal going out should be radio frequency that can be secure in some way. Your most likely running NIPR and not SIPR as a civilian back yard HQs but your not being stealth or secure with Wi-Fi. Wire management would make your system better and you do not have a large staff so there will be minimum wire laid out. Wire management over head or against the wall is better than along the floor where it is a trip hazard. If your running a mobile TOC use a van or box truck with wires and cables already laid out and fastened down. Then all you have to do is plug in the equipment. If your working out of a tent you can have your cables and wires attached to boards/plywood that just gets hung up in the tent with 550 cord. Set up a table(s) for your equipment and plug in and start running TOC operations. Even the back of a pickup truck with a camper top can be pre set to plug in. Don't forget to get an UPS system so you don't fry your gear during a lightning search/storm.
Do you even Bioenno, Bro? The absolute best in batteries. I appreciate the video, keep them coming.
Last night I watched gopro footage of some American volunteers fighting in Ukraine. They spent most of the time wandering around, cautiously probing and not knowing where the real frontlines were. Half the time their squad leader was missing and they were out of comms. Imagine how much more effective they would have been with a TOC in place.
Great video 73
Would be really cool to get this in a faraday-style case. Not just for protection, but for the ability to truly end your electronic signature by just closing the case in the event of unexpected (or expected) displacement.
Don't run a GWOT-style Bn TOC in a LSCO environment.
I was "mid career" in 2001, up for Major the following year, and hence got roughly equal time with both pre and post GWOT methodologies.
Anytime you make your EM signature into anything other than a needle in a stack of needles you are asking for trouble.
An EM signature, particularly an omni-directional WiFi signature in the forest is on everyone's HPT list, and the top level of their EFSTs.
Sure, I've jumped in a GRIP with SATCOM to dole out sexy connectivity to the DCGO under a poncho.
But outside of jousting for a top block, it is not a smart thing to do if you are facing any kind of conventional military.
From earlier in life our standard for locating those conveniently shortband transmissions with a fix, and initiating a fire mission (using 1980s tech) is 1 minute and 30 seconds. Give the rounds between 30 seconds (mortars) and a few minutes for ATACMs, and that's your lifespan.
A Corps Toc needs that stuff because coordinating the stuff it connects with is why a Corps HQ exists. Division much less so. Bde, not so much (but every Bde CO suffers Division bling-envy).
Look, REALITY is below Division that stuff is not really necessary, and is security-detrimental. You'd be better using text over burst to get just the highlights. And if your Commander doesn't have the chops to know it, then he's not an asset. If you are fighting an insurgent GWOT-Style then you could wear flourescent Borat-Speedo with great big pheasant feather wings. But just because you can do it, does not mean it is a good idea.
Machines constantly transmit. Go onto your "TOC setup" laptop and do a netstat -f, and an arp -a.
Every line you see scroll across the screen is another transmission.
Computers have no emission control.
For the kind of thing you are wanting to do you need to write a link-16 mediator, or BFT JMF mediator and hook it to a recieve-only radio. If you're not a Division you're really not so big that you shouldn't be able to simply show them your screen.
If staff-fusion requires more than you can do with burst-able text, then you need to put the staff on a diet. Truly. Those sexy expectations are GWOTisms that would not be survivable vs a competent adversary.
This rather highlights the chasm between the tactical civilian realm and the tactical military realm. I think /s2-actual has highlighted this in previous videos.
Yes - air-gapping the set-up presented here would be a rather prudent measure. I think /s2-actual made mention of the fact that wifi isn't the best choice among the available choices, but that's what is presented here. Simple steps like re-formatting every machine with an operating system image that kills wifi and bluetooth would be a good first step. Hard-wiring everything into a network switch with shielded CAT-6 cable would be a good second step. One doesn't necessarily need to set up a tactical SCIF in order to employ the solution presented here, but depending on the environment, it is certainly adaptable to a less-permissive environment.
All this being said, I think this is an approachable first step in getting people thinking about the concept and how to implement something like it.
But, the other thing one must consider is the environment in which one is operating. I think this is mainly geared toward the preparedness commumity, but...who's on the other side? -- state actors? -- foreign military? -- local authorities? -- SHTF surviving hordes?
...because the relative permissiveness of the environment is going to figure heavily in how something like this is implemented.
@@N0LSD Good comment. And true. My point is that tacticool almost always turns out to be a liability.
It's just more stuff to maintain.
Less is more.
I talked the military angle to highlight that mil-bling and tacticool are things the pros also suffer from...especially without rigorous attention to a pacing threat.
My advice is to establish the toughest pacing threat you can build up to, then aim higher.
Your mind is your most important equipment.
Since pursuing digital TOCs the pros have learned to do less with more.
A Corps TOC's primary effort in training is to work tables, cables, tents, and trucks into a tightly defined rigorously packed and inventoried set. Most of the HQ's tactical effort is just to pack, track, and maintain it. And it takes hours, with everyone BG and below pounding stakes and hauling tables.
That exact same Corps HQ, with a lot more trucks, tentage, and bodies could be 100% established by a single SFC and a fireteam of Specialists in 2003 in just a couple of hours, and jumped on the same timeline with the same personnel commitments.
For almost every echelon and mission, less is more.
At any level to fight effectively, you need a map, an SOP, and a means of communication (not necessarily a radio). Get smart with defining what needs to be communicated, and you can literally do everything you need with less gear than you can imagine.
Less is more.
Travel Light. Break no blade of grass. Make the wildlife not notice you.
But do all you need to do.
Mastering that is what makes you effective.
If you are a prepper with a small team, and you want to know where to start:
Learn dead-drops and cache signalling as Primary.
Alternate is meeting. Learn anti-surveillance, evasion, and third-party signaling. More CI and Agent-handling tradecraft as commo. Less Q.
Contingency is squawk code or burst text.
Emergency is voice.
You'll spend most of your time in voice, trying to get to squawk or text. But when you've mastered dead-drop commo and anti-surveillance, no potential adversary will be able to find you.
@@gordonjohnson405 Lots to process here - and, a great discussion! I do think you're spot-on with the more tradecraft, less technology notion, to an extent: again, it largely depends upon the environment. In a highly non-permissive environment, I agree totally. If stealth is a high priority, I agree totally. If real-time communications isn't a priority, I agree totally. This last one is a sticking point with many command elements, in my experience.
All this being said, much of the technology that *would* enable what you're talking about -- burst transmissions, pseudo-random transmissions, spread-spectrum transmissions that essentially hide traffic in the noise floor....most of this is completely unavailable to civilian preparedness-minded folks. Heck, even Amateur radio operators are prohibited from utilizing encryption, and the FCC only recently changed the rules and allowed symbol rates in excess of 300 baud on HF! Now, this absolutely places a greater emphasis on tradecraft over technology, but communication - even routine communication -- is still necessary.
Add to this that most people will never work in what you or I would call a non-permissive environment. I'm not saying don't prepare for it, don't train for it, it ain't ever gonna happen....but the chances are relatively small for the vast majority of people.
Last point I'd make is to differentiate between civilian tactical, and what you've (rightly) termed "tacticool." LARPers are *gonna* LARP, and if that's their jam, more power to 'em. That being said, I sort of put those folks to one side. I honestly don't think much of what we're discussing here has much application when it comes to cosplay; but it has a more realistic application for folks that are looking to hone their skills when it comes to communications for emergency / disaster preparedness.
@N0LSD That's very true.
But even pros get caught up in tacticool.
If you were to walk into the SFD or Ranger Regt, or the Delta compound they would have beach-ball style inflatable satcoms, and a wide range of gear.
What distinguishes GWOT style fighting is that the entire enterprise became built around tactical raids and route clearance vs an adversary without technical depth. It means everything you train for is real-time, up-armored, run-and-gun, followed by low threat reset time.
The Prophets became so under used that adversaries built permanent LRM links from Makhmur to Kirkuk, Hasakah, Deir-E-Zuar, all the way to Rakka. They were just a series of relay stations consisting of the equivalent of a couple OE-254 or 292 on roofs.
At the tactical level real-time necessity is fire mission, SPOT, SALUTE, and medevac. Those are formatted messages explicitly so you dont need to transmit long. All the other things we use real-time for can be bypassed. Signal to lift fire or initiate can be audible. Aborts can be time based.
Field expedient burst is what happens when you have a lot of text stored in the queue and then turn on the NIC so it can all be spooled out at once.
Real-time comms is mostly a pacifier to satisfy EAC desires for immediate feedback. Or tactical desires for immediate reassurance.
Honest and for true, with foresight you do not need the kit. But you do need the standardized messages and SOPs.
In the civilian world you don't need HF to talk to Air Support. But you might need it very briefly to transmit LZ Clearance to a medevac bird.
What minimizing comms requires, which has fallen out of fashion, is foresight. It is too late to designate Rally Points or Medevac points when you need them. To be deadly silent you have to push all that thinking backwards in time to the orders process. And you have to become expert with a paper map.
@@gordonjohnson405 I'm not disagreeing with you, especially when it comes to a command and other REMF and their "requirement" for "real-time comms." From a command point of view, look: I get it -- the last thing a commander wants is to be uninformed, or to have someone else know something before they do. However, there are few circumstances where a forward-deployed element really needs to do a comms check every hour, right? And yet...
As for the notion of the pre-GWOT batallion TOC...oh, absolutely - it's a dated model. Heck, one could argue that it was a poor model during the Vietnam conflict. In terms of this "TOC in a Box" notion, I'd be interested in asking /s2-actual if he really means a TOC in that traditional sense.
Where I see the place for a quick-deploy, bare-bones system like this is more of a "Comms at the Halt" scenario, where the requirement is to have a capability to communicating if necessary, but more in order to do some basic SIGINT while pausing and developing the next step. Or maybe for a deployed element, in the team-leader's tent. I notice that there's no email capability here -- even within the group. There's no storage capacity built-in. Both of these would really be necessary in something like a traditional TOC. (This would likely be achievable with a second Raspberry Pi, housed in an Argon One case with an M.2 SSD, running Citadel or Postfix. Perhaps this could be achieved running OMV (Open Media Vault) on a Pi, as OMV has a docker functionality - which would provide a storage server along with email server capability...I donno. OMV easily runs on a Pi4, and I'm pretty sure Citadel can be run in OMV's docker. Might be interesting to see if that works. Again, it's a really bare-bones solution, but highly portable.) This system seems more geared toward, "Even if you manage to find us, we already did out work and sent our traffic, and we're gone by the time you arrive to investigate."
Cool advice about the radio. I don’t know if I would ever use it even if the SHTF. But it is sexy.
I haven’t used radios for many year but do civilians use frequently hopping or hiding with noise?
Question: Can’t the use of the Wifi router be an issue for EMCOM? Great video S2 as always
Should we be concerned with some sort of EMF shielding to protect from an EMP? Lots of talk about EMP these days...is it something that we should worry about?
More power points, please?! Ill bring the popcorn and see you in the 7th level comrade.
I’ll be the dumb one that is willing to carry your solar panel 😂
Love this stuff but it is over my head 😂
Thank you for the video 😊
Have you thought about a LiFePo4 battery and a solar charge controller like the West Mountain Radio EpicPWRGate? I use one one my battery box. Takes powerpole connectors for shore power and solar. I use some good sized panels with it. They're RF silent as well.
You'd need an output, but they make powerpole to USB adapters and buck converters.
A very long time ago I built something like this for someone. One thing I found better, Than trying to use small embedded systems like the Raspberry Pi. Is to use 2 laptops, one *nix box, one Win box. Then remote into the *nix box from windows. I even removed the screen from the *nix laptop because I was never going to need it. Headless *nix is easy compared to windows. There are lots of mini pc solutions you could use as an alternative to a Pi if you wanted. lots of mini pcs intended for industry use 12v power.
If you need more Meshtastic battery life, My testing (YMMV) the rakwireless is better than everything else with power.
PSA - Sep 22, 2024 the Energy Cube is $30 off on Amazon. $49.99.
Slap an attenuator on the wifi AP antennas. You can make the WiFi "bubble" pretty small and keep the OPFOR from detecting it.
I have been working on something similar revolving around the Raspberry Pi. Having trouble getting dump1090 and PlanePlotter talking. Would be interested in information on how to setup the Pi!
Could you explain how to build, or where you got that Basic Incident Response manual?
The Icom ic705 is a great radio. The only issue you may find is the max output, with an external battery, is 10 watts. Is it enough? Well that is mission specific but at $1400 some may want to find something with more output (or add an amplifier which will double your cost). I suppose a Yaesu 891 would do well if you only wanted HF. You could add an Yaesu FTM-6000R for vhf/uhf I guess but now more radios, more weight but way more power output and still $500 less overall. Choices choices...
The ecoflow batteries are good as well. Battery-wise, lifpo batteries are a great option, just be sure to have a mmp that is made for it. Something else to consider, and you see it somewhat in the usb to dc cable he shows, but consider standardizing your connectors as much as possible. Having to find what cable goes with what is a pain and if you lose a cable you are out of luck. In the ham world anderson power connectors are very popular.
The issue with 100w rigs is power consumption. Even on rx the 891 pulls an amp. And RXing is what you're doing the majority of the time. Not to mention that you really don't need pileup busting power when your dealing with directed contacts. The 891 is a great radio for POTA or FD because of the extra power, but the 705 is everything else and more. 10w is enough for NVIS communications, hitting repeaters, running digital modes, and the 705 does that without extra equipment.
One of the funniest things I ever heard was actually Gen Jim Mattis saying "PowerPoint is mind numbingly stupid, but sometimes, that's all you got."
Thanks for making this video. I'm getting mine up and running myself.
I'm running more powerful hardware tho. My biggest thing is getting IP addresses and firewalls working correctly.
спасибо, хорошая работа.