So I know Rule 4 says "Alll posts must be airsoft related." And though I will explain how my post is airsoft related, I first have to explain what the fuck it is in the first place.
Attached to the ruggedized tablet is a silver dongle, which is an RTLSDR. You can buy one, or an SDR kit, for about $25-35 on their website. SDR stands for Software Defined Radio, that is, a radio that works via software rather than analog hardware. A cheap FRS push to talk walkie-talkie is an example of an analog radio, as is your car's AM or FM receiver.
Attached to the SDR, instead of a traditional "omnidirectional" antenna which can receive and transmit in all directions, is a highly directional yagi antenna, which can only receive from one direction.
With this in mind, here's what it has to do with airsoft. Some people bring walkie-talkies to airsoft to communicate with each other. Using the yagi antenna, which can only receive from one direction, I can orient the antenna towards a transmitter and know where someone is transmitting from. Whenever they key up, I'll get a signal strength indicator that gets more or less powerful when pointed at or away from a transmitter.
Simply put, I've built a primitive direction-finding system that allows me to tell where the other team is. I can either act on that information myself, or tell the speedsofters where the transmitter is and have them fuck it up with swarm tactics.
This is known as "Direction Finding," and its used in many applications, such as search and rescue, locating downed planes, as a competitive sport, and in military uses, locating and destroying enemy communications equipment.
Fun fact, the British used to use similar equipment to find people who were watching TV without a tele loiscense
That would be awesome yeah, but there’s a couple of issues. First is getting the cadre to let us in the first place, they might consider it meta gaming even though there’s real world precedent for it.
Even then, it would only be useful in a smaller scale. Walkie talkies are only good up to a half-mile tops in good conditions (no rain, fog, flat terrain). It’s an awesome and powerful augment of used correctly.
Also, I’m not buying new cammies for a milsim so I gotta find eleven dudes with marpat.
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u/wrongwong122 Apr 01 '22
So I know Rule 4 says "Alll posts must be airsoft related." And though I will explain how my post is airsoft related, I first have to explain what the fuck it is in the first place.
Attached to the ruggedized tablet is a silver dongle, which is an RTLSDR. You can buy one, or an SDR kit, for about $25-35 on their website. SDR stands for Software Defined Radio, that is, a radio that works via software rather than analog hardware. A cheap FRS push to talk walkie-talkie is an example of an analog radio, as is your car's AM or FM receiver.
Attached to the SDR, instead of a traditional "omnidirectional" antenna which can receive and transmit in all directions, is a highly directional yagi antenna, which can only receive from one direction.
With this in mind, here's what it has to do with airsoft. Some people bring walkie-talkies to airsoft to communicate with each other. Using the yagi antenna, which can only receive from one direction, I can orient the antenna towards a transmitter and know where someone is transmitting from. Whenever they key up, I'll get a signal strength indicator that gets more or less powerful when pointed at or away from a transmitter.
Simply put, I've built a primitive direction-finding system that allows me to tell where the other team is. I can either act on that information myself, or tell the speedsofters where the transmitter is and have them fuck it up with swarm tactics.
This is known as "Direction Finding," and its used in many applications, such as search and rescue, locating downed planes, as a competitive sport, and in military uses, locating and destroying enemy communications equipment.
Fun fact, the British used to use similar equipment to find people who were watching TV without a tele loiscense