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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Free Pineland
Posts: 24,823
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Signals, Day:
Mirror. Hands down, the best. No batteries, compact, highly visible at extended ranges, directional. Downside: Can be broken, requires light source and line of sight to operate, can give away position or be "spoofed".
Signal Panel (VS-17 or Scarf). Excellent choice, very visible at moderate ranges when "flashed". Scarf is very compact. Downside: VS-17 bulky, range usually much less than mirror, line of sight, can be omnidirectional if not properly employed, unsecure.
Pyrotechnics/Fire. Can be very visible/audible at extended ranges. Line of sight to user not necessarily required. Downside: Heavy, single use only except for signal fires or smoke, definitely omnidirectional, easily spoofed and detected.
Other Visual Signal Markings. Stones, sticks, tracks, dyes, or other indicators visible from overhead. No batteries, possibly no equipment required. Made from indigenous materials. Excellent if scale/contrast is noteworthy to searchers. Downside: Definitely line of sight, may be detected or spoofed, may require security, time and energy to deploy.
Whistles/Noisemakers. Excellent at limited ranges, much better than shouting. No line of sight limitation. Lightweight, portable, possibly no batteries. Downside: Limited range, definitely omnidirectional, unsecure, easily spoofed or detected.
Voice. Very limited range, omnidirectional, no equipment required, fuller range of data transfer. Downside: Easily overused or damaged, range very limited, non-secure, easily detected or spoofed.
Hard Wire. Telephone, Telegraph, Computer, etc. Excellent means, permits voice or data transmission. Downside: May not be secure, requires support, infrastructure, power, access.
Radio. Range varies, but better than all but possibly mirror. Works day or night, virtually all conditions. Allows full range of commo, not just "here I am". May be fully or semi-secure. Downside: Requires batteries, prone to failure or detection, range/freq of some models limited.
Thoughts?
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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