Milsim Radios Go Digital

We have been using the cheap and dependable BaoFeng UV5R in milsim games for ages.

They are easy to use, almost throwaway due to their low price and they have been ticking all the boxes at games for a long time now.

However, they are basically cheap radio ham sets that are useful to us, more by chance than design, but that arena is slowly changing.

Digital Mobile Radios (known as DMR) are entering the market.

Radios like the UV5R are analogue devices - they use relatively simple technology and are susceptible to interference and atmospheric noise. They are largely unintelligent in their abilities.

Radio manufacturers are slowly switching to producing digital handheld radios. Like all our mobile phones these days, they convert your analogue voice to 1's and 0's and send a digital data stream over the radio channel, which is then converted back to analogue voice at the receiving radio, so the recipient can hear your speech in his speaker.

New DMR radios like the BaoFeng shown here, are now available.

What's the benefit to us ?

- Better clarity and the ability to make intelligent radio calls - you can target individual recipients or selected groups, you can send short text messages and calls can be scrambled, providing a degree of security and preventing eavesdropping by the enemy.

Great, what's stopping us ?

- Well, at the present time, these radios are 2-3 times the cost of their analogue counterparts. Although the one shown above can also work in analogue mode, providing backwards compatibility, if you switch to digital mode, the people you want to talk to will need to also have a DMR and be switched into digital mode. 

Realistically, are the players you wish to speak to, going to invest at these price levels ?

In reality, I also doubt that players will have the time to fiddle with the finer points offered by these radio's in a milsim game. Players are generally not radio hams and have not paid their ticket price to spend lots of time playing with radios !! - radios are simply a tool to fulfill a game objective i.e. comms.

In my humble opinion, the main benefit to milsim is the scrambling or encryption aspect, something not available on the common UV5R. Some milsim game organisers positively encourage their players to scan the airwaves and try to eavesdrop on the opposition. The DMR would bring in a level of reality to this scenario, in that most military radios are encrypted and comms are not sent in "clear".

However, an alternative view is that there are others ways of achieving secure comms. 

The Squad Leader or his appointed RTO could carry a single second "secure" radio to communicate with command or other squads in secure mode. This can be achieved with a simple analogue radio with scrambling, programmed on a specific frequency. These are available for as little as £18 each.

No doubt, DMR prices will drop with time and eventually, makers will stop making analogue sets like the UV5R. Hopefully, this decision is still a long way away while people like milsimmers are still buying the cheaper, simpler, analogue sets. We will see..

Bone conduction on a Budget

For some time, I've had quite an expensive Bone Conduction headset from a well known company in the United States..

Electronically, it's fine but it's so uncomfortable. The design has a lump of plastic behind one ear which pushes your ear out and rubs after a short time. I couldn't wear them for anything other than very short periods.

I don't think the company makes that model anymore. The new ones which are a better design, are US$295, so out of my price range.

I've started to use a new type which is about a third of that price - approximately £60 delivered in the UK.

It's a copy of the "real-steel" TABC III Bone Conduction headset from TCI. I saw one of these real ones recently, online, for sale as secondhand at £200.

Now of course, you aren't going to get TCI performance for £60.
For example, the type under test isn't fully waterproof - forget swimming. However, it will withstand heavy rain I believe if the connectors are taped (read my comments further down).

The construction is pretty good with rubber-effect plastic used in all the right places.

The System

It is VERY COMFORTABLE - Once you adjust the Velcro headband and the neck rubber, it sits nicely on your head with the headband carrying the weight. The bone conduction earpieces don't press tightly against the Zygomatic bone just in front of your ears. Now it has to be said, I have a big head. 60cm hat size. The neck rubber is adjusted for maximum on me, but the headband allows me to adjust the lowering of the earpieces to get them below the arms of ballistic glasses and they rest comfortably, once adjusted.

The Adjustable Neckband

 
Now you can see from the second photo titled "System," for the money, you get the headset, a Press-To-Talk with a nice tactile rubber effect press button and a clip that can be adjusted in 45 degree intervals around 360 degrees to allow the PTT to be clipped in any orientation. The output line of the PTT splits into two cables and goes on to become two inline connectors. One connector goes to your radio and there is a short adapter cable that connects the inline connector to an appropriate radio connector for your model of radio. The other goes to a sniper type finger PTT. The latter can be removed, but it's best to cut the cable and seal it as an exposed connector will allow water ingress.

It must be said that the plastic locking nuts on the radio connector and the sniper PTT connector aren't the best and I had a problem with the thread not engaging on the radio connector on the test sample. The connector plug and socket themselves are very positive and have a key to allow the correct pin orientation. I would be inclined to use amalgamating tape on these connectors as it will keep the damp out and ensure that they don't come apart through weak screw threads.

Nice Tactile PTT Surface

The Sniper Connector with its PTT removed

Electrically, its not as good as my uncomfortable $120 bone conduction headset (but it IS comfortable !!!). The screening is not as good as it might be on a professional set, but it doesn't cause a problem or become irritating. The "earpieces" vibrate at higher volumes from strong broadcast FM stations and you can feel the vibration with your fingers on any part of the headset frame. A buddy who listened 30cm from your ears would probably hear some of the received audio. On the expensive ones, this isn't possible. Personally, I find the volume good. Using the UV5R radio in the photo as a receiver and listening to a strong broadcast station, the volume response in the earset is good. The radio volume knob on my UV5R goes from 12 o'clock to 9 o'clock in a CW direction. In a quiet place, I only have to set it to 3 o'clock. In a noisy environment, you can wind it up to about 5 o'clock before the earsets pulsate and reverb in an irritating way. Strangely, when listening to somebody else transmitting with another BaoFeng, I could wind up the volume on my radio receiver to maximum and there was no vibration and the volume was just right. You can always press the speaker part closer to your skull with a free hand and this improves the volume through better contact.
The maximum audio output from a BaoFeng UV5R open speaker is about 1000mW of audio. This bone conduction system outputs between 50 and 200mW of audio straight to your skull. Bear in mind that your ears are always exposed with these, which is the benefit of bone conduction. Your ears won't get hot and sweaty and you keep your natural hearing which is overlaid with the radio audio, not suppressed by it. However, loud explosions will still saturate your natural hearing as there is no protection like you would get with a military style headset.

I like the PTT action - it's reasonably quiet ( I hate the loud clicking of some cheap PTTs like the Z-Tactical type, but this system is fine).

The Complete Headset Shown As Worn

The microphone is very flexible so you can bend it to get it just in front of your mouth, but it's not floppy. There's nothing worse than a wobbling boom microphone when you are moving.
There is also a wind deflector provided to stop the other guy hearing wind and rain through the microphone, when you are transmitting.

Note that it is only available on the left hand side, so will possibly be a problem for left handed shooters.

Furthermore, this set is great for wearing under a baseball cap, yes, UNDER.

Flexible Boom Microphone with Deflector

The transmitted microphone sound quality is really good if you position the microphone just in front of your lips. I've used bone conduction kit before where it takes the transmission from your skull (no open mic as such). The sound transmission on this is far superior.The person on the receiving end said my transmission was clear, distortion-free and reasonable in volume.

SUMMARY

 For the price, this is a value for money solution.

It's incredibly comfortable...
The audio quality is good if you can work with a reasonably low volume output and you are working in quiet areas e.g. excellent for snipers, not so good for riot control. For tabbing through woodland, it should be fine and it allows you to use the natural directional hearing of your ears which are far better at assessing noise source direction than any "over-the-ears headset."
Construction quality is good and durable apart from the cheap plastic locking nuts on the connectors.
Note - Personally I wouldn't want the sniper PTT - it just gets in my way.

If you can't get on with shooters type headsets that cover your ears all day, then this could be the solution for you. Don't expect perfection - they are made in China to a price - but in my humble opinion, they are worth the reasonable price tag.

BattleTac Smart Terminal

 

Following on in the theme of BattleTac and Blue Force Tracking, I've been looking for a cost effective way of getting players to start using the app in Milsims.

Barriers have been players who didn't want to use their own expensive personal phones in the field and the high cost of ownership for a spare or dedicated phone just for milsimming.

My search has led me to the Guophone V88.

What was needed is a rugged (preferably rain proof) smartphone with a decent sized screen for mapping, which has GPS and a magnetic compass incorporated and which ideally works on Android.

Look no more and whats even better is that it can be bought on Ebay UK from China for around £43 delivered ex UK (at time of writing)*

.
The smartphone arrived in a neat box which contained the items shown above and a cheap pair of earphones which double as a FM radio antenna.

Incidentally, the little compass on the lanyard doesn't work (doesnt matter; there is a compass in the phone) and the micro USB has a longer reach on it than most so cant be substituted with leads from other kit. The screwdriver is used to take the back cover off to access the battery and SIM cards.

This mobile can take two regular (full size) SIM cards at the same time but doesn't do 4G.

To be honest, 4G isn't much use in the places that most milsims are held. Its normally enough to just cling on to a couple of bars of the most watered down EDGE or GSM signal.

The build is rugged but hey, this is a budget phone. I have a Rangerfone which cost twice the price and the V88 is discernibly lighter with less robust keys, but it's entirely fit for function.

The V88 comes in a choice of black, yellow or as I have here, green. I'm not keen on the shiny metal plate on the side but it's just personal taste. I got mine from a UK supplier and it had the UK 3-pin plug taped to the outside of the standard box. If you buy from China it will come with a 2-pin and need an adapter.

The controls are very simple - on the side there is a power on/off and standby button and a volume + and volume - button. The usual Android three softkeys aren't backlit but it's not a huge problem as your fingers seem to automatically home in on them in the darkness.

Apart from being ruggedly built, the makers claim that the phone is IP67 which suggests that it may be immersed in water. Personally, I wouldn't try it but I believe it to be certainly capable of being used in a heavy rain storm. The screen is apparently Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for added toughness.

This brings me on to the subject of charging. This phone is slightly unusual in that it has the charging socket on the top of the phone. The micro USB socket and the earphone socket are concealed behind a bung.

 The bung was retained by a tiny, tiny screw at one end and I undid this to remove the bung. In actual fact, it looks as if the screw is supposed to stay in place and act as a retaining pivot. There are no real meaningful instructions with this product, so who knows. Anyway, I've lost the screw on the floor somewhere as it was the smallest one I've ever seen and I will be just pushing the bung in from now on - it's a snug fit so shouldn't be a problem. I guess I won't be fording the Zambesi with my phone after all.

 The back of the phone is well designed and has a chunky appearance. Thanks to a little lip on the bottom of the battery cover, it's easy to undo the two screws and lift the lid up and out. There is also a lanyard bar on the bottom if you have attachment issues. Note the outwardly facing camera which is advertised as 8.0MP.

Inside, you have the V88 3200mAH 3.7V Lithium-Ion battery and beneath that room for two Standard sized SIM cards and an optional SD card to increase the standard 8GB memory. 

The V88 is a pretty much standard Android phone in terms of its operation and facilities.

However, what is useful to us for milsims is the integral GPS and magnetic compass if we are to use this for navigation and Blue Force Tracking.

Now, it has to be said that I had some concerns about the GPS. I run two diagnostic apps on my navigation smartphones called GPS Test Plus and Sensors Test. The former was telling me that although we could see satellites in the sky, we weren't decoding them. The latter gave me the good news about the compass being fitted (this isn't declared anywhere in the sales blurb).

I was just about to think that the GPS chip was defective when I managed to get a fix by leaving the phone in the garden for 20 minutes under open sky. I now believe that the GPS just isn't a very good one. I've been spoilt by better ones on other devices that will work indoors (through windows). The V88 will lose lock even if it's sat next to a window. It has to be outside and then, it doesn't seem to see the full constellation of satellites that my other GPS units see.    

However, it does work and I guess this is how they get the price point so low.

The compass on the other hand works fine. They all need periodic calibration though and I'm to be seen waving my hands in the air in a figure of eight like a demented loon.

This is the GPS Test Plus screen when the mobile is sitting by the window - no satellite fixes. Outside I can get about 6m accuracy which is fine for BattleTac but not a patch on the 1-2m accuracy I can get on my more expensive units. 

This is the GPS Test Plus magnetic compass page which uses the phones GTK magnetic sensor. You do need to take the precaution of calibrating these if the phone has been off or potentially disturbed by lots of steelwork. I always carry a conventional compass and make sure its reading correctly before a game.

 

I'm only using my V88 as a navigation smartphone so these are the only apps I use. In a milsim game, its always useful to have text messaging for back-up comms and sound recording and a camera for gathering intel or evidence if the operation requires it. The standard integral flashlight is quite handy too !!!

Now to get down to the job in hand.

Does it run BattleTac ?

You betcha..

Its good to see the compass rose working on BattleTac with the big black chevron arrow showing the way we are facing.

and the HUD of course..

 

* - The price quoted includes delivery to the UK but excludes UK import duty and VAT which may be levied at the point of import.

BattleTac Advanced Features

Today, we are going to talk about using BattleTac to walk our comrades on to objectives or threats that we have identified but they aren't aware of (yet).

So, we have seen an enemy patrol coming through our field glasses. We are not in a position to engage ourselves but one of our other units is very close. We want to make them aware of the approaching threat.

Of course, we could radio them, but this is not particularly stealthy and how do we communicate the position of the enemy patrol accurately ?

BattleTac allows us to do this in a positive and accurate way removing the need for grid references being transmitted over a radio channel and elimiates the problems that can cause.

We place the small red cursor over the position on our screen map where we best estimate the enemy is at the moment. If they are passing a landmark that can be tallied with the map, it makes this all the more accurate.

We click the little PIPPER symbol at the 2 o'clock position on the screen and then:

Share POI > Set Type to Hostile Unit > SAVE

Our allies should see a red square symbol appear on their screen which has arrived over the secure data net (in this case, to the West).

 If the recipient then clicks on the red enemy icon that has appeared, they will see this:

 They now have a range and bearing (the numbers in this example arent realistic but bear with me, it's simulated). The recipient can click on "Set as destination" and the software will place a black cross fix on the enemy position and give them a range and bearing in the top left corner which will countdown as they get closer towards the enemy.

Alternatively, if we were the commanding unit, we could have been more authorative and issued an order for them to attack the enemy.

If we selected, "send a unit to here", we would be presented with a list of available allied units.
Once the lucky unit is selected, they will receive an alert message which flashes up on their screen and they will see the black fixed cross appear over the enemy position. Again if the recipient clicks on it, they can obtain a range and bearing countdown.

The enemy icon can be deleted by any party on the net (for example, after its destroyed).

In the same way, this feature can be used for the transmission of useful information such as the tagging of tactically important objects.

To do this, we hover the red cursor over the position of interest, click the little PIPPER symbol at the 2 o'clock position on the screen and then:

Share POI > POI > Type in description or ident using keyboard>SAVE

Here you can see that we have identified the position of a train, possibly carrying ammunition or weaponry.

To made visual recognition easier when approaching a destination, the software displays a large orange direction arrow to provide you with an indicator for approach.

Finally, it has to be said that these markers and object tags have a limited visibility life which you can set. They aren't permanent and will expire after a set time. The longest amount of time they will remain is 3 days which should be enough for most milsim games.