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follow the curvature of the earth. As you know, these characteristics limit the usual range of
radiotelephone from 20 to 25 miles. This is important because it reduces the chances of the enemy
intercepting the message. Radiotelephone procedures can be learned easily by persons with no other
training in communications.
Radiotelephone has some disadvantages. You may find transmissions unreadable because of static,
enemy interference, or high local noise level caused by shouts, gunfire, and bomb or shell bursts. Wave
propagation characteristics of radiotelephone frequencies sometimes are unpredictable, and tactical
transmissions may be heard from great distances. Most radiotelephone messages are in plain language,
and if information is to be kept from the enemy, users must keep their messages short, stick to the proper
procedures, and be careful of what they say.
Q1. What are the two types of electrical communications?
Q2. What is the main advantage of radiotelegraph communications?
Q3. Why is radiotelephone one of the most useful methods of military communications?
Q4. What are the disadvantages of radiotelephone communications?
Teletypewriter
Teletypewriter (tty) signals may be transmitted by either landline (wire), cable, or radio. The landline
tty is used both by the military services and by commercial communication companies. The Navy uses
radio teletypewriter (rtty) mainly for high-speed automatic communications across ocean areas. The tty
unit is equipped with a keyboard similar to a typewriter. When the operator presses a key, a sequence of
signals is transmitted. At receiving stations, the signals are fed into terminal equipment that translates the
sequences of signals into letters, figures, and symbols and types the messages automatically.
The rtty mode of transmission and reception is rapidly becoming more efficient and reliable for
communications between ships and from ship-to-shore. Ships copy what is known as "fleet broadcast"
messages on rtty. The speed at which message traffic is transmitted on rtty circuits depends on the
equipment in use. Normal speed of operation is 100 words per minute, but it may be faster or slower. You
may find high-speed equipment, capable of printing a line or even a page at a time, in some
communications centers. The use of rtty has brought about a considerable savings in manpower.
Facsimile
Facsimile (fax) is the process used to transmit photographs, charts, and other graphic information
electronically. The image to be transmitted is scanned by a photoelectric cell. Electrical changes in the
cell output, corresponding to the light and dark areas being scanned, are transmitted to the receiver. At the
receiver, the signal operates a recorder that reproduces the picture. The fax signals may be transmitted
either by landline or radio.
Facsimile transmissions suffer distortion from all of the common sources of interference experienced
with ordinary radiotelegraph and radio teletypewriter. Certain characteristics of TIF transmission make it
less susceptible to complete loss of intelligence. For example, picture quality will be downgraded by any
noise bursts, since facsimile recording is a continuous recording of signals coming from a receiver.
However, because the machine scans material at the rate of about 100 lines per inch, each line is only
1/100th of an inch high. So you can see, if a noise burst interfers with the signal, it will distort a line only
1/100th of an inch high, leaving the image still readable. Under similar circumstances on a conventional
rtty circuit, such distortion could cause a portion of the page copy to be unreadable.
