tactile
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Post by tactile on Jan 4, 2023 19:34:58 GMT 10
I just finished reading a book called Eccentric Orbits (great title!  ) - The Iridium Story - by John Bloom
What a great book! Learned a lot about satcomms and how it works, Iridium's competitors and how restricted most of them are.
Iridium is still the only voice and data system with 100% guaranteed Earth coverage, minimal latency, and the only system with total orbital system hand-off...which means no ground station interaction and all the switching is done in orbit. So if you call another Iridium Satphone there is no problems if the ground stations are destroyed - they are there for diverting to landlines and mobile networks. I wondered why the military liked it so much.
So is this the best potential system for a group? Yes, Yes, people are going to go on about cost, EMP bla bla. What about for a spread out group (maybe a family) that decides to all come together if there is an emergency? Kept in the car or hand/man bag? Yes it might not be up for ever but initially you would have comms?
This would of been perfect for me in the Black Saturday fires when the mobile network was useless...
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frostbite
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Post by frostbite on Jan 4, 2023 20:00:51 GMT 10
I have an Iridium sat phone. It's a bit sketchy on reception in my hidden valley retreat but my daughter took it all through the outback of SA, NT and western Qld and it always had coverage. Came in handy for her morning check in with family.
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Jan 4, 2023 22:06:57 GMT 10
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Post by Stealth on Jan 5, 2023 18:29:56 GMT 10
Iridium is a great tool... Until the boogaloo kicks off. With only 66 satellites in their constellation it won't take long for those to become the LEO version of a Stop sign in a rural area. Peppered with rounds. Especially because it's known that many militaries use it pretty frequently. I suspect you'd be better off, if only for a short time, using Musk's network. Far more satellites to take out in each string before you lose all functionality and much smaller targets in general.
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tactile
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Post by tactile on Jan 5, 2023 19:38:03 GMT 10
I guess you could use VOIP through Starlink but it runs at a lot higher altitude than Iridium so there would be a lot of latency (lag - which sucks if you've used it). Starlink uses a lot more ground stations as well so it might be able to be knocked out easier than you think. Iridium also has spare satellites in maintenance orbits that can be moved into place fairly quickly.
I think from the Russian and Chinese perspective there would be a lot more juicier targets up there for them to expend their limited orbital resources on...
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norseman
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Post by norseman on Jan 6, 2023 5:26:14 GMT 10
When Big Brother chooses either selectively or wholesale to block, deny use, or destroy the satellites all this stuff becomes useless. Morse Code of around WW2 era of technology will be king!
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tactile
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Post by tactile on Jan 6, 2023 6:14:33 GMT 10
Transmit anything and there will probably be a JDAM heading your way! Morse Code wont save you...
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Jan 6, 2023 6:37:25 GMT 10
Transmit anything and there will probably be a JDAM heading your way! Morse Code wont save you... A cruse missile costs around $250,000, There is currently a world shortage due to the Ukraine war. No one is going to be sending missiles, only to to high risk military targets. |
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jan 6, 2023 7:10:43 GMT 10
Morse code, CW, is a very robust way of transferring information and can fight its way through noise that you cant even hear. Some digital modes are almost as good now, and hams are always experimenting with different modes of transmission.
Two tin cans and a length of string may also work to some extent !
Dark has physical properties that cause our vision to be obscured and make it hard to see things. To see anything, some of this dark must be removed.
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tactile
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Post by tactile on Jan 6, 2023 9:24:22 GMT 10
Transmit anything and there will probably be a JDAM heading your way! Morse Code wont save you... A cruse missile costs around $250,000, There is currently a world shortage due to the Ukraine war. No one is going to be sending missiles, only to to high risk military targets. I agree (tho a JDAM is not a cruise missile and a Tomahawk cost over $1.5M US), but I'm not sure if Iridium would even be a target initially. If I was a bad guy, and had expensive and limited orbital weapons, I'm not sure slow data and voice would be high on my target list. I'd probably go for those big, slow Keyhole jobs that can see what I'm doing in real time. |
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frostbite
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Post by frostbite on Jan 6, 2023 9:32:16 GMT 10
I once had my finger on the launch button for a cruise missile in the fire control room on the USS Missouri. Got a photo of it somewhere. What a shame there was nothing in the launch tube.
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Post by Stealth on Jan 6, 2023 18:17:29 GMT 10
A cruse missile costs around $250,000, There is currently a world shortage due to the Ukraine war. No one is going to be sending missiles, only to to high risk military targets. I agree (tho a JDAM is not a cruise missile and a Tomahawk cost over $1.5M US), but I'm not sure if Iridium would even be a target initially. If I was a bad guy, and had expensive and limited orbital weapons, I'm not sure slow data and voice would be high on my target list. I'd probably go for those big, slow Keyhole jobs that can see what I'm doing in real time. No need to waste high end bang sticks on LEO satellites. Hack several of the Starlink boxes and you've got a very slow directional adjustment kamikaze rounds on offer. LEO has the most junk in its layer and there's plenty of smaller satellites that would make great rocks to throw from a bridge onto the car that is a communications satellite. As a constellation you'd only need to take out maybe half of the Iridium ones to interrupt the capability. There's about 70 odd Iridium satellites now, I've found out through a bit of googlefu. There's 1.6k Starlink satellites alone. Plenty of rounds in the chamber, and we'd have to be delusional to not believe that someone somewhere has already coded the theoretical big red button for that to occur over every type of communications satellite constellation. For both sides. Keep in mind you're not going to have to even necessarily hack someone else's system. You could just tap into some of the many commercial commsats that your own nation owns to do it. And you'd be doing that in tandem with taking pot shots at the big, slow targets. No good sending your target blind if you don't take away his hearing as well. |
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jan 7, 2023 8:37:57 GMT 10
The orbiting satellites are just as vulnerable to an EMP/CME as earth based gear is, possibly more so as there is no obstructions and no way to service them if they fail.
I still believe that Ham comms will be the most reliable way of finding out information if the big bang happens.
That said, the repeaters that Hams and CBer's use will be damaged/degraded by the big flash, and the atmosphere will be upset for some hours/days afterwards, so even Ham comms might not work particularly well for some time.
In the event of a economic collapse, then Ham and CB comms will be very useful, both the keep in touch with loved ones who may be traveling, and for general news, as I wouldn't trust any mainstream news services and the net will be heavily censored.
As preppers, we eschew the reliance on stores for supplies, and produce/store our own, but continue to rely on an outside service for communications and information. I don't think that is particularly a wise move, given how easy it is to interrupt/corrupt/insert disinformation, the phone/internet services.
A HF type SSB CB radio and antenna isn't expensive, and has the potential for Australia wide comms during darkness. Likewise, its not hard to get a Ham license, and 2nd hand gear isn't expensive.
My own station can communicate with the world, and cost less than $500 all up, is solar powered and includes a decent short wave radio receiver from WW2, which is EMP/CME proof.
The aerials are usually disconnected, except when I want to use the gear, and that give protection from lightning and so on.
Initially, accurate, truthful information will be vital to determine our response to the threats.
First, the basis of the Dark Sucker Theory is that electric bulbs suck dark. For example, take the Dark Sucker in the room you are in. There is much less dark right next to it than there is elsewhere. The larger the Dark Sucker, the greater its capacity to suck dark. Dark Suckers in the parking lot have a much greater capacity to suck dark than the ones in this room.
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peter1942
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Post by peter1942 on Jan 7, 2023 10:53:30 GMT 10
If, and when the time comes for a reboot of the planet as we know it, you, we, all of us will be spending the time we have to to get the essentials, water. food and shelter.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jan 7, 2023 12:09:10 GMT 10
If, and when the time comes for a reboot of the planet as we know it, you, we, all of us will be spending the time we have to to get the essentials, water. food and shelter. I don't think most people now just know much energy it takes to grow food. being associated with the planting and harvest industries, I see it every day. Its gunna be hard.
I keep saying, whats your resupply plan ? Growing your own food is all well and good, but its very energy intensive. To grow enough by hand is possible, but your gunna be busy. And a tractor is a force multiplier, along with a stock of diesel to power it. (Or an electric tractor). I think our farm will be a small community after the collapse, so am preparing accordingly. Enough diesel for several years, and the machinery to grow crops on a largish scale.
And there are other consumables that you cant make easily. Such as foundation wax for bee hives, spare seals and washers for taps and so on.
Compared to food, water is easy, it just falls from the sky into a tank, with a solar pumping system to a header tank.
And if you turn up here, you will have at least 6 months food and self contained accommodation, and some form of firearm, that you know how to maintain and use. Not negotiable.
As with all things, Dark Suckers don't last forever. Once they are full of dark, they can no longer suck. This is proven by the dark spot on a full Dark Sucker.
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jan 15, 2023 18:35:39 GMT 10
In the 1960's, I was involved with a group of radio hams who were experimenting with bouncing signal off the moon. The path loss is horrendous, but we did it. Latency was over 2 seconds, so we could hear our own echos from the moon after we had stopped transmitting. Who needs Elon Musk and his satellites ? Unless they blow up the moon (possible I suppose .....), even though its not a very good reflector, it would work.
Since then, others have done Venus bounce, and even Mars bounce, so if an EMP takes out the satellite network, there are options.
A lot of RF power is needed, over 10,000 watts to get 0.1 watt reflected, but modern gear is much more sensitive than what we had, surplus WW2 dishes etc, in the '60's.
And because the power is in a very narrow beam, its undetectable from earth, unless u are very close. The reflection would not be detectable without specialist gear, which Big Brother may have, but probably wont know how to operate.
Why did you knock on the fridge ? 'cause there could be a salad dressing !
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tactile
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Post by tactile on Jan 16, 2023 6:57:12 GMT 10
Not only do I not have a terra-watt amp handy in my BOB, but the moon isn't where you need it to be at any one time...soooooo lets move along shall we?
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malewithatail
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Post by malewithatail on Jan 16, 2023 7:06:34 GMT 10
I wonder how much gunpowder I would need to launch my own satellite ?
Could be a very spectacular project in more ways than one !
Dark has mass. When dark goes into a dark sucker, friction from this mass generates heat. Thus it is not wise to touch an operating dark sucker.
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australia
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Post by australia on Jan 16, 2023 20:47:19 GMT 10
I just finished reading a book called Eccentric Orbits (great title! ) - The Iridium Story - by John Bloom
What a great book! Learned a lot about satcomms and how it works, Iridium's competitors and how restricted most of them are.
Iridium is still the only voice and data system with 100% guaranteed Earth coverage, minimal latency, and the only system with total orbital system hand-off...which means no ground station interaction and all the switching is done in orbit. So if you call another Iridium Satphone there is no problems if the ground stations are destroyed - they are there for diverting to landlines and mobile networks. I wondered why the military liked it so much.
So is this the best potential system for a group? Yes, Yes, people are going to go on about cost, EMP bla bla. What about for a spread out group (maybe a family) that decides to all come together if there is an emergency? Kept in the car or hand/man bag? Yes it might not be up for ever but initially you would have comms?
This would of been perfect for me in the Black Saturday fires when the mobile network was useless...
Hold up there ! No groundstations ? All sat services connect somewhere to a ground station for billing , no active account then no service for you .. Sure some data Is stored up there but how do you think billing info makes it up there, mass internet outages can prevent all the billing info from working correctly when SHTF, Mil satcom is a different story obviously, no billing But , encryption fill data originates from ground stations .. |
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tactile
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Post by tactile on Jan 16, 2023 21:04:03 GMT 10
It does have ground-stations (gateways) but it doesn't need it for phone to phone comms. That's why I said "no ground station interaction" they can forward the meta data on at a later date and/or pass it on to another satellite.
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) - The Iridium Story - by John Bloom
