HF is Free

So I got to play with a new radio today. It was very similar and yet very different from the radios I usually play with. It was made by the same company that makes some of our walkie-talkie type team radios and larger back-pack radios. That was nice because the interface was very similar. In fact, it uses the same keypad, which saves the company money and saves us users limited brain space.

What made this radio different is that it only uses HF frequencies. None of that fancy satellite communication that we take for granted. As one of the other guys in the class likes to say, HF is free. You measure your antenna and blast it out. If you calculate right, it'll bounce around the atmosphere until it gets to your intended receiver. Roughly speaking.

On the other hand, satellite communications cost money and bandwidth. There is a nice simplicity to just shooting a signal at a satellite and letting the satellite system do the hard work of shooting it to the intended receiver. But reliance on a single system is never a good thing.

We carry GPS, but should have a paper map and compass too (and know how to use them). Similarly, we should be proficient in various means of radio communication. Unfortunately, I've probably missed the window in my career where I'll be out with a team and sending back reports via radio. But I am responsible for being an expert in how my guys can and should be employed and therefore need to know all the tools of the trade.

Besides, it got me out of the JOC for a few hours. I may schedule a couple other radio sessions while I'm out here. Never hurts.

I am also making slow progress in future planning. We'll see where it goes.

And, Groundhog Day was on in the gym this evening. Who would have thought that Groundhog Day would have a more lasting impact on military culture and lingo than Stripes?

Groundhog Day is, and remains, the greatest dramatic rendering of the deployed staff experience. Possibly of any deployed experience. Well, except for the part about changing, finding himself, and falling in love with your producer turning you in to a better man. Just the day after day after day after day after day...

And in news from back home, a friend of mine from Law School may be taking a year off to work a development contract through USAID in Afghanistan.

If society can be accepting of five years to get a liberal arts degree, the legal profession should be able to cope with people taking an extra year or so to finish their J.D... especially if they could finish an engineering degree in four...

I'm a little biased.

Besides, a year off from school with a full salary and major management/leadership responsibilities is more than many law school graduates have right out of school these days. So good for my friend.