Aaaaaaaaaauuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!

[fatbuckRTO]

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...ESRC=marine.nl

So for about 20 years we just blew the US taxpayers' dollars (read: millions of dollars) on new utility uniform after new utility uniform only for Congress to finally say "hold up, this might not be the best use of our money." Now all that "R&D" and "wear testing," not to mention the uniforms themselves, will all go to an even bigger waste then they were before.

I was a radio operator, among other things, in the Marines. I had to buy my own goddamn antenna tuner (around $400) to use in the field, while my officers were wasting money trying to look spiffy wearing what amounts to heavy-duty pajamas. In Afghanistan, with the Navy, I had to buy my own compass and binoculars while my officers were rolling out a motherfucking blue camouflage utility uniform. What a fucking joke.

[Particle Man]

Hey, matching antenna impedance is serious shit

(Would you really trust the government to buy something that isn't crap for that? They'd probably buy from MFJ )

That reminds me, I need to pick up a decent tuner for some antenna projects.

[fatbuckRTO]

Originally Posted by Particle Man

Hey, matching antenna impedance is serious shit

(Would you really trust the government to buy something that isn't crap for that? They'd probably buy from MFJ )

Damn straight it is. SATCOM only works when the satellite works. And when there's no overhead cover. And when it's a clear day. And when the other side remembers which is the uplink and which is the downlink freq...

And that was the problem exactly. They provided us with an antenna tuner, and it was crap. You'd watch the SWR meter and the needle would just sit there laughing at you.

[Particle Man]

Originally Posted by fatbuckRTO

Damn straight it is. SATCOM only works when the satellite works. And when there's no overhead cover. And when it's a clear day. And when the other side remembers which is the uplink and which is the downlink freq...

And that was the problem exactly. They provided us with an antenna tuner, and it was crap. You'd watch the SWR meter and the needle would just sit there laughing at you.

I can only imagine. They could also invest in some resonant antennas, too

I put a max of 140 watts or so into the tuner I have - it is supposedly rated for 300 but I'm guessing it'd start to arc badly at close to 215 or so.

[fatbuckRTO]

Originally Posted by Particle Man

I can only imagine. They could also invest in some resonant antennas, too

I put a max of 140 watts or so into the tuner I have - it is supposedly rated for 300 but I'm guessing it'd start to arc badly at close to 215 or so.

That's well beyond my know-how, ours were 20 watt man-packables. The 10' whips they came with are generally worthless for HF (most freqs that's what, 1/8 wave?), so we were stuck running field expedients (read: speaker wire and a cobra head). At 20 watts, proper tuning is not optional. And I wasn't very successful even once I had a decent tuner. At any rate we didn't have to worry about arcing, but your fingers might get a little warm if you were holding the antenna while you keyed (guilty, I'm a moron).

This was back in the '90's. When I was re-activated in '09, the military had pretty much gone strictly to SATCOM for long range comms. Worked great in the sandbox and I was glad to have it, but it's gonna hit us in the feels if we ever try to fight a war in trees again. NO ONE will know how to bounce a sky wave.

I understand they have a few volunteer-run SATCOM projects for ham operators now. That's kinda crazy.

[Cutty72]

What this means is we'll probably be stuck with the damn ACU's for even longer now, and the damn things don't camouflage you from anything!

The advantage is that now that I'm AGR and have to buy my own, I have about 10 years worth, so I shouldn't have to buy any.

[Rangerscott]

What it means is they'll just waste money on something else.

[pauldun170]

Meh...First World Military problems
They don't need no stinking uniforms in Thailand

As per quote

I've seen this before, it's part of the survival training, if you keep doing this it starts a fire

[EpyonXero]

Where I work the different camos make it easy to tell who's who. Otherwise this is a good idea just too late. Also, good luck getting everyone to agree on a pattern.

[Cutty72]

Originally Posted by EpyonXero

Where I work the different camos make it easy to tell who's who. Otherwise this is a good idea just too late. Also, good luck getting everyone to agree on a pattern.

Exactly, I actually like a different pattern for Army, AF, Navy, Marines.