Radio Interfacing Question

[1st Lt Leib]

Hey! A bit mod-dumb here compared to - literally anybody in any of the S-shops. Or most of the rest of the unit.

Or really the general ARMA community . . .

But that being besides the point: I have a question related to TFAR.

I know that the radios are primarily controlled by the faction of the player using the radio, that way a BLUFOR player on frequency 100 isn't talking over an OPFOR player on frequency 100. However I also know that ARMA is what ARMA is and that sometimes radios don't always interface with each other for any number of reasons related to real life technological differences in the systems, to just TFAR not always working 100%.

While most BMPs are found under the OPFOR list, if one was spawned empty in EDEN editor or spawned empty by Zeus (perhaps even from one of the few BLUFOR factions that use that vehicle) and a BLUFOR crew were to man the vehicle: would their long-range then be compatible with that of BLUFOR craft such as the Cobra gunship or the MR3000 backpack radio of a grunt?

[1LT (Ret) Garcia]

No clue. We can test it pretty easy though.

[1st Lt Leib]

No clue. We can test it pretty easy though.

But in all seriousness, that sounds good. We should get together in the near future to work it out. Its pertinent to a fun-op I'm planning to do Soon^TM.

[CPT L. McCoy]

In theory it should work if the transmission type is within the same frequency range as who you're trying to contact.  However, different military grade radios generally have something called COMSEC and FH. Since trying to explain how those work is way over my head... here's an excerpt from a combat engineer.

COMSEC is what encrypts the radio transmission and allows your radio to decrypt a signal with the same COMSEC loaded in a distant end radio. This prevents the enemy from hearing your transmissions. FH basically makes your radio jump a number of frequencies really fast. If another radio has the same timing as your radio along with the same list of frequencies to jump around to, they can be synced up and hear each other. This prevents the enemy from jamming your transmission and hearing you. 

Full article - How does a modern military handle communications on the ground?

All this being said, it probably wasn't helpful in regards to TFAR/Arma mechanics as is, but as far as immersion goes, this is technically how it works.

[1st Lt Leib]

In theory it should work if the transmission type is within the same frequency range as who you're trying to contact.  However, different military grade radios generally have something called COMSEC and FH. Since trying to explain how those work is way over my head... here's an excerpt from a combat engineer.

COMSEC is what encrypts the radio transmission and allows your radio to decrypt a signal with the same COMSEC loaded in a distant end radio. This prevents the enemy from hearing your transmissions. FH basically makes your radio jump a number of frequencies really fast. If another radio has the same timing as your radio along with the same list of frequencies to jump around to, they can be synced up and hear each other. This prevents the enemy from jamming your transmission and hearing you. 

Full article - How does a modern military handle communications on the ground?

All this being said, it probably wasn't helpful in regards to TFAR/Arma mechanics as is, but as far as immersion goes, this is technically how it works.

While the information is appreciated, I'm relatively familiar with how real life military communications work. Thanks though. 

My question was solely pertaining to ARMA and interaction between WARSAW and NATO vehicles and infantry communications systems. I was wanting (and did test) to see if all BLUFOR vehicles communicated on the same 'encryption' and if the player's faction automatically allowed them into that encryption. This has been proven false. For example the vehicles of the Chedaki Ground Forces (a BLUFOR faction) are WARSAW Pact and the origin of the vehicles overrides their nature as a technically BLUFOR unit. This is regardless of the faction of the crew laying claim to the vehicle, it would seem. The same holds true for the MR3000 radio pack as well, which seems to function as an INDFOR system or possibly OPFOR.

In summary: testing so far has been inconclusive at times, but helpful overall.

[1LT (Ret) Burke]

The TFAR site has some information about which radios work on which sides: http://radio.task-force.ru/en/

[1st Lt Leib]

The TFAR site has some information about which radios work on which sides: http://radio.task-force.ru/en/

Thank you very much, SFC, I hadn't even known this chart existed.

[SGT Stewart]

"   
 By default, all radios use an embedded faction-specific encryption code for transmission. In practice, this means that even if you somehow found out the radio frequency of your opponent you would still not be able to intercept their communication by simply switching to it on your own radio. To be able to listen and talk on enemy frequency, you will also need to have a captured enemy radio.

    While intercepting your opponent's communication using a captured manpack radio, it is preferable to get in and remain inside a friendly vehicle. This way, you'll be able to listen to the enemy chatter using manpack, while at the same time being able to broadcast to your allies using the vehicle-mounted radio as the active one."...

[1st Lt Leib]

"   
 By default, all radios use an embedded faction-specific encryption code for transmission. In practice, this means that even if you somehow found out the radio frequency of your opponent you would still not be able to intercept their communication by simply switching to it on your own radio. To be able to listen and talk on enemy frequency, you will also need to have a captured enemy radio.

    While intercepting your opponent's communication using a captured manpack radio, it is preferable to get in and remain inside a friendly vehicle. This way, you'll be able to listen to the enemy chatter using manpack, while at the same time being able to broadcast to your allies using the vehicle-mounted radio as the active one."...

I wasn't really interested in intercepting radios, but more in whether or not traditionally OPFOR vehicles (such as the Chernarus Ground Forces BMPs, which appear in both INDFOR and BLUFOR lists) interface with RHS and other BLUFOR radios despite being WARSAW Pact in origin. The conclusion thus far is that they do not change the in-game encryption regardless of whether they were spawned in by Zeus or not.