1966 & 2016


IT AIN’T HEAVY, IT’S MY


CONNECTIVITY B


ack in 1966, the year before the first Super Bowl, when satellites were few and far between, the Army’s long-range communication needs were taken care of


using low-frequency communications. Tose who’ve been driving at night on the East Coast and picked up an AM radio station out of Chicago or Nashville would intuitively know the reason why.


Back then, today’s cellular and satellite commu- nications devices—smartphones, iPads, Androids, GPS—would have been the stuff of science fiction. Tat’s why the February 1966 edition of the Army Research and Development Newsmagazine (now Army AL&T magazine) extolled the wonders of a


“revolutionary” new low-frequency antenna being tested at the Army Electronic Proving Ground at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.


While it looks quaint today, it was then the best the Army had for communicating over long distances. Te system was mounted on a 2 1/2-ton M36-C combat truck (“the deuce and a half truck” for old- timers). According to the article, “Tree hydraulic


lifts move the top load—more than a ton of Litz wire coiled like a clock spring—to the 38-foot level. Te lifts can be operated simultaneously or independently to enable the erecting team to equalize the antenna’s plane with the earth.” Litz wire consists of cables of multiple strands of insulated wire, effective at low frequencies. Adding to the load were 100 square feet of copper netting coiled on two spools, which com- pleted the circuit—all in all, a cumbersome way to set up communications on the battlefield.


QUICK AND EASY Fifty years and 50 Super Bowls later, the new Transportable Tactical Command Communica- tions (T2C2) duo of lightweight, high-bandwidth, inflatable satellite dish/antennas is available. T2C2 promises to keep Soldiers and commanders connected to the Warfighter Information Net- work – Tactical (WIN-T) that provides high-speed, high-capacity voice, video and data communications in theater.


“T2C2 is the Army’s early-entry SATCOM [satellite communications] solution, and will provide network


ASC.ARMY.MIL 143


THEN & NOW


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