twilight2000-digest Monday, February 7 2000 Volume 1999 : Number 091 The following topics are covered in this digest: Polish Language Polish Language and Ethnicity maps Re: maps Re: Polish Language Re: maps Re: Polish Language and Ethnicity Re: Fuzion Re: Fuzion Commo Re: Commo Gun trucks Re: Gun trucks What happened to Cris Callahan's webpage? Re: Commo Re: Commo Re: Commo Re: EMP Re: EMP ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2000 22:28:22 -0600 From: Mitch Berg Subject: Polish Language >Although I really don't know what they have or have not borrowed, I >wouldn't be suprised if they borrowed German words, there are many Polish >names (especailly first names) that are German. As I'm sure you know >Scott, Prussia was once most of Northern Poland, so I figure, there must >be lasting linguistic effects. Not only that, but much of Western Poland is ethnically German. And borders make remarkably porous barriers to language. Odd that the pic said "Panzer" rather than the Polish "Pancier", though. Mitch Berg Humanware Design, Inc. Business: http://www.humanwaredesign.com/ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2000 22:32:28 -0600 From: Mitch Berg Subject: Polish Language and Ethnicity >There was some group of people right on the border who spoke a form of Polish >with a very heavy German influence-- I can't remember what they are called (or >were called I guess such a culture wouldn't last long in the modern world). The Polish province of Silesia (Slaskie, or in German, Schlesien) has passed back and forth between the two nations forever. Most towns have had both German and Polish names (Gdansk - Danzig, Oswiecim - Auschwitz, etc). And many German surnames are found on the Polish side of the border, while many "skis" are found in Germany's easternmost länder. Mitch Berg Humanware Design, Inc. Business: http://www.humanwaredesign.com/ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 21:18:05 -0800 (PST) From: GRAEBARDE Subject: maps In response to Jim Lawrie's comment about Tarnbrzeg on the Wisla (Vistula) p136 Polska atlas. Now about cheerfully killing??:):):) F.O.R.D. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 16:35:06 +1100 From: "Jim & Peta Lawrie" Subject: Re: maps >In response to Jim Lawrie's comment about Tarnbrzeg on the >Wisla (Vistula) p136 Polska atlas. Now about cheerfully >killing??:):):) > >F.O.R.D. Is that online? No online, no wet work! Jim *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2000 00:56:30 -0500 From: Scott David Orr Subject: Re: Polish Language At 10:28 PM 2/4/00 -0600, Mitch Berg wrote: >>Although I really don't know what they have or have not borrowed, I >>wouldn't be suprised if they borrowed German words, there are many Polish >>names (especailly first names) that are German. As I'm sure you know >>Scott, Prussia was once most of Northern Poland, so I figure, there must >>be lasting linguistic effects. > >Not only that, but much of Western Poland is ethnically German. > Not anymore, no--when the borders were moved after WWII, most of the Germans were physically expelled. There are a few Germans, and more people with some German heritage, but the percentage of the population that's German is something like 1% of the country's total population (if that much). >And borders make remarkably porous barriers to language. > In the days before nation-states, sure--but with centralized public education, language lines have hardened in the past century--and this is probably especially true of places under Communist rule, with their limitations on travel. Mind you, most educated Poles speak either English or German. >Odd that the pic said "Panzer" rather than the Polish "Pancier", though. > Pancier? Never heard that one. The Polish word for tank is "czolg"--though they may call German tanks something else, like we often do. But remember, this particular label didn't refer to tanks, but rather to bunkers. Scott Orr *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 21:59:46 -0800 (PST) From: GRAEBARDE Subject: Re: maps actually I was thinking of a SEAL LT that's running around southern Poland with my ruck sack from a couple of campaigns ago:):):) F.O.R.D. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2000 01:16:54 -0500 From: Scott David Orr Subject: Re: Polish Language and Ethnicity At 10:32 PM 2/4/00 -0600, Mitch Berg wrote: >>There was some group of people right on the border who spoke a form of Polish >>with a very heavy German influence-- I can't remember what they are called >(or >>were called I guess such a culture wouldn't last long in the modern world). > >The Polish province of Silesia (Slaskie, or in German, Schlesien) has >passed back and forth between the two nations forever. Most towns have had >both German and Polish names (Gdansk - Danzig, Oswiecim - Auschwitz, etc). >And many German surnames are found on the Polish side of the border, while >many "skis" are found in Germany's easternmost länder. > The extreme northwestern parts of Poland (Pomerania and whatever is to the south of Pomerania--can't remember what it's called) really never were Polish, at least not for several centuries, though there were some Poles in the countryside I guess, with Germans being found more in the cities. The best example of a city in this area is Breslau/Wroclaw. The southwestern part of Poland, Polish Silesia (there's a bit of Silesia in the Czech Republic), is historically Polish, but was ruled by Prussia and Austria (more Austria orignally, then Prussia after 1866) during the period following the Partitions (the 19th century, bascially)--the principle city here is Katowice/Katowitz. Oswiciem isn't really in Silesia, but rather is close to Krakow, the historical capital of Poland--the common use of the German name Auschwitz is mostly due to the WWII concentration camp. Gdansk/Danzig of course is on the northern coast--it's historically been a city inhabited by Germans (until after WWII, when they were all expelled), but it's also historically the principle port of Poland. Between the wars it was an independent city. This brings up another point, though: the larger cities in Eastern Europe, all the way to the Volga, have, since the 13th century or so, been home to large numbers of Germans and Jews, who were brought there (often at the invitation of rulers, especially in the case of the Germans) as merchants and craftsmen. Because of this, and because many of these cities were under Prussian or Austrian rule during the 19th century, there are German names for these cities, so we have Lemburg for Lwow (in addition to Lvov in Russian and Lviv in Ukranian), Krakau for Krakow, Stettin for Szczecin, and so on. Note also that in Western Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania you historically had mostly Jews and Poles (Poles being the imperial power) in the cities (e.g., Lwow/Lviv, Grodno/Hrodno, Minsk, Wilno/Wilnius), while the countryside was mostly Ukranians, Belarusians, or Lithuanians (except around Grodno--that was really a solidly Polish area I think). As for the people with Polish surnames who live in Germany, I'm going to guess that most of them didn't come from the countryside now in Germany--I say this because the modern borders are hundreds of miles further west than any Polish state extended any time in the past few hundred years. Rather, most of the Polish-surnamed Germans are the descandants of people who moved to the "big city" in Germany when Poland was part of the Prussian empire. You find the same thing in Austria, especially Vienna, with a lot of people with Czech, Slovenian, or Hungarian surnames living there. Scott Orr *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2000 10:56:11 +0100 From: fmmeier@freshnet.de (Meier, Frank) Subject: Re: Fuzion Hi Jim, nice to hear. Do you have a homepage ? Fuzion is not very much different from CP 2020. Only the hit point system is different. All the vehicle values and weapon stats are the same. >Yep, I've converted all the weapons in the Small Arms Guide and every >soft skinned vehicle in the Vehicles books for CP 2020. I'm working through >the NATO, Soviet and US armoured vehicles now. I'm running a PbEM and I used >to run our house campaign with the rules and I really recommend them. Fuzion >is supposed to be pretty good but I've already done the work for CP so I >won't be making the big switch. > Jim *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 10:09:34 +1100 From: "Jim & Peta Lawrie" Subject: Re: Fuzion >>Yep, I've converted all the weapons in the Small Arms Guide and every >>soft skinned vehicle in the Vehicles books for CP 2020. I'm working through >>the NATO, Soviet and US armoured vehicles now. I'm running a PbEM and I used >>to run our house campaign with the rules and I really recommend them. Fuzion >>is supposed to be pretty good but I've already done the work for CP so I >>won't be making the big switch. >> Jim >Hi Jim, > >nice to hear. Do you have a homepage ? >Fuzion is not very much different from CP 2020. Only the hit point system is >different. All the vehicle values and weapon stats are the same. I do have a site but hardly any of my material is on it. I'm in the process of changing around the step-by-step fire chart to reflect the changes I have made to siut the rules. As written the rules are way too lethal for usefull play, I had to ditch the "more than 8 points rule" for damage and have instead instituted that BOD X 2 damage disables a limb. I have kept head wounds as Damage X 2 and that usually kills then anyway, no need for the 8 points thing. I have used the Maximum Metal rules to change over the vehicles and a bunch of reference books to change the weapons. The weapons list is on Excel though. Jim *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 10:57:52 -0800 (PST) From: GRAEBARDE Subject: Commo Communications is an important asset in any military operation. The lack of which causes confusion and misunderstanding of orders, leading to the failure of the mission. T2K rules cover communications on radios by saying in combat only one person can talk per 5 sec, and "god" usually determines if it's transmitted or received. The radios listed in the guides show ranges, but these are ambiguous because Murphy rules! How do you determine ranges? I roll a D10: 0=0%, 1=10%, 2=30%, 3=50%, 4=70%, 5=100%, 6=150%, 7=200%, 8=300%, 9=500%. Radios are notoriously unpredictable (or at least the ones I had experience with). Radios also run on power. Man-pack radios utilize batteries which have short lives. I use a rule of thumb a fully charge battery has 6 hrs continuous operation monitoring or 3600 points use. If the radio is left on to monitor each minute reduces the total 10 points. Each transmission reduces the total points 2 points as it takes more power to transmit. For each 400 points reduction on the battery total I subtract 1 from the D10 for the range of the radio. This can be by passed for vehicles if the engine is running, or periodically run to recharge the battery as done in mech units, or if run off generators. Radios also require maintenance. I use a maintenance level of 1 for all radios. If the maintenance roll is failed, no radio commo! Catastrophic failure means it's not repairable at unit level, if there is a unit level! While this requires some paperwork it is fairer to the PC than an arbitrary roll of the dice to see if you make contact. I have also added Mitch Berg's communications skill to the list list and it's an additional skill for all combat MOS, rationale is anyone can be made an rto. Input? F.O.R.D. Rangers! Lead the Way!! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 22:46:10 +0800 From: "Ballistix" Subject: Re: Commo Ok this is my 2 cents worth so you can take it or leave it. My experience comes from a regimental signaller background in the Australian Army. > Communications is an important asset in any military > operation. The lack of which causes confusion and > misunderstanding of orders, leading to the failure of the > mission. Not always a failure, but usually major cock-ups. > T2K rules cover communications on radios by > saying in combat only one person can talk per 5 sec, and > "god" usually determines if it's transmitted or received. > The radios listed in the guides show ranges, but these are > ambiguous because Murphy rules! How do you determine > ranges? The one person can talk is pretty accurate, although a couple of things to remember are; If a radio is Tx with more power or is closer to a Rx station than another Tx it will either jam the signal or over ride it. As for ranges these are pretty easy to work out if you are talking VHF radio's. It's just line of sight. Large features on your maps will block the Tx, similarly if your ontop of a whopping great yama then it is possible to get better than the stated range. Also the stated range of a radio is normally the planning range used for intel and planning. This range will give a high % of radio comms success. HF radio's are a little more painful if you want to work ranges out as they vary on atmospheric condition, whether or not the message skips the intended receiver, power settings and so on. > Radios also run on power. Man-pack radios utilise > batteries which have short lives. I use a rule of thumb a > fully charge battery has 6 hrs continuous operation > monitoring or 3600 points use. Newer radio's that utilise lithium batteries have longer life expectancies than this, some as high as 20 hours if just used as a listening watch. > If the radio is left on to > monitor each minute reduces the total 10 points. Each > transmission reduces the total points 2 points as it takes > more power to transmit. For each 400 points reduction on > the battery total I subtract 1 from the D10 for the range > of the radio. Again newer radio's have varying power settings which would vary this usage. > This can be by passed for vehicles if the > engine is running, or periodically run to recharge the > battery as done in mech units, or if run off generators. The Radio's can be fitted to the vehicles via the use of a vehicle mount. This allows for a greater power output if required and also for a continuous source of power, ie runs of the vehicle batteries. > Radios also require maintenance. I use a maintenance > level of 1 for all radios. If the maintenance roll is > failed, no radio commo! Catastrophic failure means it's > not repairable at unit level, if there is a unit level! Newer radio's are sealed units and self testing, if it comes up with an error it usually means that it has to be sent back to the techs to look at. You may want to make the repairs more difficult in this case it is up to you. > While this requires some paperwork it is fairer to the PC > than an arbitrary roll of the dice to see if you make > contact. I have also added Mitch Berg's communications > skill to the list list and it's an additional skill for all > combat MOS, rationale is anyone can be made an rto. > Input? This I think is very much country dependant. I'm not sure how the US forces operate, but in Australia all soldiers learn basic radio operation procedures. In some countries this may be a specialised position within a section. Further training is given to radio operators in company and higher positions. I hope some of this information helps you. Ballistix *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 20:46:50 EST From: OrrinLadd@aol.com Subject: Gun trucks I saw this on the Command Decision list awhile back. There was a discussion of the US Army converting trucks into armored cars during Vietnam. Basically what the armorers would do is weld steel plate onto the sides of the truck bed and mount several MG's on the sides. There was another exotic conversion, basically placing a disabled M113 ACAV onto a 5-ton truck. I remember seeing an issue of Challenge magazine that had 1st edition stats for these gun trucks. Does anybody know what issue it was? thanks orrin *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 18:45:06 -0800 (PST) From: GRAEBARDE Subject: Re: Gun trucks Challenge 55 had an new vehicle segment on gun trucks by Keith Potter, but I believe the specs are v2. Most of the guns trucks in the Nam were M54 series 5 tons as the M34's weren't heavy enough to hold up on the sh*** roads with the added armor and ammo loads. They mounted what ever weapons the units could scrounge as there regular assigned "heavy weapons" remained in the base for perimeter security. Most had M2's and or M60's, but some had scrounged miniguns from downed snakes they rigged, and yes the M113 tincans were mounted in some trucks. They added quick armor for the gunners. The 113's of choice were the acav with armored pindels and copula for the M2. One unit got quad 50's from an ADA unit, and I believe the ada battery personnel manned the guns. All the gunners in the other truck were transportation personnel and volunteered for the duty. Gun trucks were impressive escorts and brought smoke on MR Charles, but weren't invulnerable to B40's. There were usually about 5-6, maybe more strung out in the convoy all linked by radio to the convoy commander. They performed better than the V100's the MP's had, both with fuel and firepower. I think Signal pubs?? had a book on the gun trucks, had it somewhere, but lost in the maze. Hope this helps some. F.O.R.D. Rangers! Lead the Way!! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 20:38:24 -0800 (PST) From: ignatius Subject: What happened to Cris Callahan's webpage? Anyone know what happened to Cris Callahan’s webpage? It had T2k info on South America. Anyone have his email address? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 13:49:17 +0100 From: Wolfgang Weisselberg Subject: Re: Commo Hi, GRAEBARDE! Trying to kill the keyboard, GRAEBARDE (graebarde@yahoo.com) produced 2,1K in 51 lines: > monitoring or 3600 points use. If the radio is left on to > monitor each minute reduces the total 10 points. Each > transmission reduces the total points 2 points as it takes > more power to transmit. For each 400 points reduction on > the battery total I subtract 1 from the D10 for the range > of the radio. You assume that the voltage drops somewhat linearly to the amount of energy in the battery, and that the equipment is not built to deal with that. That is of course not the case. See your car battery, unless it really goes to empty (say the last 10%, but I am guessing) the car will start OK, the radio will recieve OK, ... Actually, under power the voltage is around 14V, instead of the rated 12V from the battery. The battery needs loading, you know ... Then battery voltage might break down if you draw much power (sending) but keep up well with low requirements (recieving). This happens much more with emptier conventional batteries. Then newer accumulators have very interesting output levels, up to the point that you have to count the amps going in and out to see how full the battery is. (Similar with fuel cells, but there it's trivial to measure the amount of O_2 and H_2 aviable.) Then there is suscpetibility to cold. Simply said: Unless the conditions are really avert for the batteries you use, the matching(!) equipment will work to spec for most of the life of the battery. Towards the end performance might drop off. Like, once you go below 500 points, you get a -1 for every 75 below that. > Radios also require maintenance. I use a maintenance > level of 1 for all radios. If the maintenance roll is > failed, no radio commo! Depends on the radio. A makeshift device from a few transistors scrounged, some tubes and coils of wire[1], stuck together with luck and gum and spit might react differently to a civilian model or a rugged 'drive a tank over me' military model. > While this requires some paperwork it is fairer to the PC > than an arbitrary roll of the dice to see if you make > contact. Also being in or out of contact can have story reasons. If you really don't want to decide every time, OK, use that system, but if you want them cut off for some reason, just decide it to be so. It can always be a intermittent failure inside the transmitter or reciever ... or some jamming or the terrain. - -Wolfgang [1] And people have build recievers like these in prison camps! *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 12:12:08 -0500 From: "Chuck Mandus" Subject: Re: Commo I know that battery voltage does make a different in the power the radio does transmit. I have an HTX-202 walkie-talkie which I use to talk on 2 meters (144 -148 Mc) on the VHF-Hi band (137 - 174 Mc usually). If I run it off the standard 7.2V, 600 Ma NiCad battery pack, I can put out 2.5 watts RF power. If I run it off the backup 6 AA, alkaline battery pack at 9V, I get 4 watts. If I run it off of a power supply or the car battery, at 12 - 14V (typically 13.8V) I get about 5 or 6 watts. I think what would make a bigger difference than transmitted power is the type of antenna used and the terrain you are in. When you get into the VHF bands (30 - 300 Mc) and the UHF bands (300 - 3000 Mc), most of the radio waves behave "line-of-sight" much like a light beam, especially as you go higher in frequency. However, VHF radio waves do go beyond the horizon, more so as you go lower in frequency. Then you have atmosphere bending of the signals and bouncing signals off the ionosphere if the sunspots and geomagnetic field is hyper-active. Let's see, if I use a 5/8th wave car antenna on a cookie sheet for a ground plane, my 2.5 watts can carry a good 50 miles or more, I've been known to key up ham radio repeaters in Eastern Ohio from here in Western PA near Pittsburgh. I also live pretty high up for the area so of course height helps me greatly. I've worked mobile using the NiCads at the same power and I did almost as well as I would at 5 or 6 watts. Western PA is kind of hilly, so if your 2.5 watts won't make it, for the most part, neither will 5 or 6. Another issue is what type of batteries does the radio use? NiCad, mercury, lithium-ion, lead-acid, alkaline, carbon zinc, and perhaps others, would be a factor too. Some batteries might deliver the same voltage at the same amperage, more or less as they are used up and then drop like a hot potato at some point while others drop gradually. Then you have temperature to worry about. NiCads are a little better than alkaline when it's cold. Again, it is up to the ref to fit whatever he wants to do in his/her campaign, but I just wanted to offer a viewpoint on the subject. Chuck DE KA3WRW - --- "Truly those of us with brain cells are an oppressed minority..." - -- Jason Fox said after the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles had been cancelled. - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wolfgang Weisselberg" To: "T2K LISTS" Sent: Monday, February 07, 2000 7:49 AM Subject: Re: Commo > Hi, GRAEBARDE! > > Trying to kill the keyboard, GRAEBARDE (graebarde@yahoo.com) > produced 2,1K in 51 lines: > > > monitoring or 3600 points use. If the radio is left on to > > monitor each minute reduces the total 10 points. Each > > transmission reduces the total points 2 points as it takes > > more power to transmit. For each 400 points reduction on > > the battery total I subtract 1 from the D10 for the range > > of the radio. > > You assume that the voltage drops somewhat linearly to the > amount of energy in the battery, and that the equipment is > not built to deal with that. That is of course not the case. > > See your car battery, unless it really goes to empty (say > the last 10%, but I am guessing) the car will start OK, the > radio will recieve OK, ... > > Actually, under power the voltage is around 14V, instead of > the rated 12V from the battery. The battery needs loading, > you know ... > > Then battery voltage might break down if you draw much power > (sending) but keep up well with low requirements (recieving). > This happens much more with emptier conventional batteries. > > Then newer accumulators have very interesting output levels, > up to the point that you have to count the amps going in and > out to see how full the battery is. (Similar with fuel cells, > but there it's trivial to measure the amount of O_2 and H_2 > aviable.) > > Then there is suscpetibility to cold. > > Simply said: Unless the conditions are really avert for the > batteries you use, the matching(!) equipment will work to > spec for most of the life of the battery. Towards the end > performance might drop off. Like, once you go below 500 > points, you get a -1 for every 75 below that. > > > Radios also require maintenance. I use a maintenance > > level of 1 for all radios. If the maintenance roll is > > failed, no radio commo! > > Depends on the radio. A makeshift device from a few transistors > scrounged, some tubes and coils of wire[1], stuck together with > luck and gum and spit might react differently to a civilian > model or a rugged 'drive a tank over me' military model. > > > While this requires some paperwork it is fairer to the PC > > than an arbitrary roll of the dice to see if you make > > contact. > > Also being in or out of contact can have story reasons. If you > really don't want to decide every time, OK, use that system, > but if you want them cut off for some reason, just decide it > to be so. It can always be a intermittent failure inside the > transmitter or reciever ... or some jamming or the terrain. > > -Wolfgang > > [1] And people have build recievers like these in prison camps! > *************************************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com > with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. > > *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 16:38:18 -0500 From: "Dwight Looney" Subject: Re: Commo What amazes me Chuck is how you always put it out in plain speak for those of us that are slower. :-) Thanks Loonz Subject: Re: Commo > I know that battery voltage does make a different in the power the radio > does transmit. I have an HTX-202 walkie-talkie which I use to talk on 2 > meters (144 -148 Mc) on the VHF-Hi band (137 - 174 Mc usually). If I run it > off the standard 7.2V, 600 Ma NiCad battery pack, I can put out 2.5 watts RF > power. If I run it off the backup 6 AA, alkaline battery pack at 9V, I get > 4 watts. If I run it off of a power supply or the car battery, at 12 - 14V > (typically 13.8V) I get about 5 or 6 watts. I think what would make a > bigger difference than transmitted power is the type of antenna used and the > terrain you are in. When you get into the VHF bands (30 - 300 Mc) and the > UHF bands (300 - 3000 Mc), most of the radio waves behave "line-of-sight" > much like a light beam, especially as you go higher in frequency. However, > VHF radio waves do go beyond the horizon, more so as you go lower in > frequency. Then you have atmosphere bending of the signals and bouncing > signals off the ionosphere if the sunspots and geomagnetic field is > hyper-active. > > Let's see, if I use a 5/8th wave car antenna on a cookie sheet for a ground > plane, my 2.5 watts can carry a good 50 miles or more, I've been known to > key up ham radio repeaters in Eastern Ohio from here in Western PA near > Pittsburgh. I also live pretty high up for the area so of course height > helps me greatly. I've worked mobile using the NiCads at the same power and > I did almost as well as I would at 5 or 6 watts. Western PA is kind of > hilly, so if your 2.5 watts won't make it, for the most part, neither will 5 > or 6. > > Another issue is what type of batteries does the radio use? NiCad, mercury, > lithium-ion, lead-acid, alkaline, carbon zinc, and perhaps others, would be > a factor too. Some batteries might deliver the same voltage at the same > amperage, more or less as they are used up and then drop like a hot potato > at some point while others drop gradually. Then you have temperature to > worry about. NiCads are a little better than alkaline when it's cold. > > Again, it is up to the ref to fit whatever he wants to do in his/her > campaign, but I just wanted to offer a viewpoint on the subject. > > Chuck > > DE KA3WRW > > --- > > "Truly those of us with brain cells are an oppressed minority..." > > -- Jason Fox said after the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles had been > cancelled. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Wolfgang Weisselberg" > To: "T2K LISTS" > Sent: Monday, February 07, 2000 7:49 AM > Subject: Re: Commo > > > > Hi, GRAEBARDE! > > > > Trying to kill the keyboard, GRAEBARDE (graebarde@yahoo.com) > > produced 2,1K in 51 lines: > > > > > monitoring or 3600 points use. If the radio is left on to > > > monitor each minute reduces the total 10 points. Each > > > transmission reduces the total points 2 points as it takes > > > more power to transmit. For each 400 points reduction on > > > the battery total I subtract 1 from the D10 for the range > > > of the radio. > > > > You assume that the voltage drops somewhat linearly to the > > amount of energy in the battery, and that the equipment is > > not built to deal with that. That is of course not the case. > > > > See your car battery, unless it really goes to empty (say > > the last 10%, but I am guessing) the car will start OK, the > > radio will recieve OK, ... > > > > Actually, under power the voltage is around 14V, instead of > > the rated 12V from the battery. The battery needs loading, > > you know ... > > > > Then battery voltage might break down if you draw much power > > (sending) but keep up well with low requirements (recieving). > > This happens much more with emptier conventional batteries. > > > > Then newer accumulators have very interesting output levels, > > up to the point that you have to count the amps going in and > > out to see how full the battery is. (Similar with fuel cells, > > but there it's trivial to measure the amount of O_2 and H_2 > > aviable.) > > > > Then there is suscpetibility to cold. > > > > Simply said: Unless the conditions are really avert for the > > batteries you use, the matching(!) equipment will work to > > spec for most of the life of the battery. Towards the end > > performance might drop off. Like, once you go below 500 > > points, you get a -1 for every 75 below that. > > > > > Radios also require maintenance. I use a maintenance > > > level of 1 for all radios. If the maintenance roll is > > > failed, no radio commo! > > > > Depends on the radio. A makeshift device from a few transistors > > scrounged, some tubes and coils of wire[1], stuck together with > > luck and gum and spit might react differently to a civilian > > model or a rugged 'drive a tank over me' military model. > > > > > While this requires some paperwork it is fairer to the PC > > > than an arbitrary roll of the dice to see if you make > > > contact. > > > > Also being in or out of contact can have story reasons. If you > > really don't want to decide every time, OK, use that system, > > but if you want them cut off for some reason, just decide it > > to be so. It can always be a intermittent failure inside the > > transmitter or reciever ... or some jamming or the terrain. > > > > -Wolfgang > > > > [1] And people have build recievers like these in prison camps! > > > *************************************************************************** > > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to > majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com > > with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. > > > > > > *************************************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com > with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. > *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 14:28:10 -0800 From: Peter Vieth Subject: Re: EMP I seriously doubt it would affect the 2.5ton truck Calibur1@aol.com wrote: > In my campaign the PC's are part of a structured U.S. military. Both sides > haven't been devastated yet, the war goes on, and there are some pretty > sophisticated vehicles and weapons available. In my last scenario a small (1 > kiloton) nuclear device went off just out of the reach of the PC's. They had > a M1A1 Abrams MBT and 2.5 ton truck. I knocked out both with EMP. An argument > ensued, and the ruling is on hold until I resolve this. Unfortunately, I > don't have any facts to support my ruling. I'm not sure exactly how EMP > works, what it is, how long does it last, effects on electronics and > vehicles? If anybody knows, I'd appreciate it. > > -Billy Bob > *************************************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com > with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 14:32:17 -0800 From: Peter Vieth Subject: Re: EMP Does the 2.5 ton truck really have any electronics? haven't they pretty much stayed the same forever? Rob Barnes wrote: > There are a number of resources on the internet that give very detailed > information on what is known about EMP. It is important to note that EMP comes > from sources other than nuclear explosions, too (lightning being the most > common source). The telecommunications industry has been dealing with it for a > long time. > > As to the effects on vehicles: I would say it depends on the size of the > device and the distance from the burst. A one kiloton explosion is pretty puny > as nuclear weapons go, and the EMP would be fairly minor. Also, an M1A1 is > designed to survive on a nuclear battlefield. This doesn't mean that EMP > wouldn't have some effect, but it probably does mean that there are enough > redundant circuits to survive the EMP. Some components might need to be > replaced, but the critical items would survive. Think of it like a big surge > protector. I'd say the truck would be dead, but solid-state electrical systems > tend to hold up better than delicate microelectronics. And while being turned > off isn't proof against damage, it does have a limiting effect. Against such a > small explosion as you described, I'd say the M1 would be okay and maybe even > the truck. A cell phone would probably be fried and a personal computer would > be dead as well. As a rule of thumb, if it can survive getting hit by > lightning and keep functioning, it can probably withstand most EMP effects. > > As a side note, EMP can apparently also effect living creatures via their > nervous system. > > -Rob > > Calibur1@aol.com wrote: > > > In my campaign the PC's are part of a structured U.S. military. Both sides > > haven't been devastated yet, the war goes on, and there are some pretty > > sophisticated vehicles and weapons available. In my last scenario a small (1 > > kiloton) nuclear device went off just out of the reach of the PC's. They had > > a M1A1 Abrams MBT and 2.5 ton truck. I knocked out both with EMP. An argument > > ensued, and the ruling is on hold until I resolve this. Unfortunately, I > > don't have any facts to support my ruling. I'm not sure exactly how EMP > > works, what it is, how long does it last, effects on electronics and > > vehicles? If anybody knows, I'd appreciate it. > > > > -Billy Bob > > *************************************************************************** > > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com > > with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. > > *************************************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com > with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe twilight2000' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of twilight2000-digest V1999 #91 ************************************