Other bases, may not have a policy or may be permissive, restricting operations by exception. All Navy ships require specific approval from the Communications Officer or CO, even when in port, and may restrict cell phone usage. No point in arguing, with them, because it' their base, their responsiblity, and we have no clue what sensitive operations may be going on.
Military term for radio silence license#
An FCC license does not grant absolute right to operate on military bases.Įven military operators on the same base often face band and power restrictions, quiet hours, radio silence for ordnance handling and to avoid interference/desensing during tests and intercept work.Ī C.O. Of course the original poster is dead wrong. I had a lot of fun setting this up with K5LRW (Little Red Wagon) gang. Holloman Middle School kids contact with NASA via HF. I bet he got clued in when the Public Affairs printed the event in the base news paper. He was informed about PA, Comm, and the Base Commander. We had some guy show up (high ranking military) and wanted to know why there was a large antenna on his base without him knowing about it. All of which was coordinated through the Comm Squadron, Public Affairs, and the Base Commander. We set up a tri-bander on a mobile trailer. I did have one event on base with the Local HAM Club at the Middle School. That was a real treat because all my home HF operation was on a dipole antenna. They even let me take my HAM gear to the old MARS site and hook up to the 6 MHz Log Periodic. The Base Comm Squadron had no problems as long as I stayed within the Amateur Bands. I operated from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico from 1994 to 2003. Needless to say I relied on a simple ham stick and my Dual Band mobile during my short stay. Unfortunately in this modern age an Extra class operator can defend his set up to someone oblivious to amateur radio and guess who’s going to win the debate?
And then I remembered my dad’s advice “Never argue with an idiot because he’ll drag you down to his level and then beat you with experience”. I won’t go into the conversation entirely but I quickly figured out that I was speaking to the village idiot. Having served in the military for three decades I knew this was huge BS. This expert in communications announced that my operation would interfere with the base’s communications and that I needed authorization from the Installation Commander via the Communications Commander. I strung a G5RV from the RV to a Tree, the vertical on the rear ladder. At NAS New Orleans I encountered one of these Crusty/Rusty old souls while I was erecting my HF antennas. Worse yet is that famous civilian employee with a Two-way and a golf cart. For those of us who’ve served, you know base security forces can be fussy.