Tag Archives: emergency communications

3 on the 3s for 3

3 on the 3s for 3

This is the hailing plan for a group communications plan. The way to read this that the person out in the field could check in and reasonably expect to be answered if they call [hail] on channel 3 of their radio on the 3s [times on a 12 hour clock expressed in multiples of 3 or more simply put 3, 6, 9 or 12] and then monitor for 3 minutes before and after the hour. This allows for slight variations in what time your watch says.

In today’s world there are several ‘kinds’ of radios that people use so it would be that factory designated channel 3 for that radio. CB channel 3 is 26.985 MHz, channel 3 of GMRS equals FRS channel 17 or 462.600 MHz, MURS Channel 3 is 151.940 MHz. If you have access to HAM or shortwave equipment there are other frequencies that can be set up for this as long as everyone in your group knows what those frequencies are.

This system worked well for the military.

This system will work for cell phones too. For the sake of argument let’s say that you are out camping and or hunting in the mountains and you are for whatever reason unable to charge your cell phone so for most of the time you have it turned off to conserve the battery. Yet you want to be able to check in with family so they won’t worry as much about you so you agree on use of this system and turn on your phone and call or text your family at 6am when you get up and then again at noon while you are having lunch and finally at 6 pm after you are back in camp for the day.

Shutting off your phone yet still having check in times prevents the phone sounding and spooking the game you are after too.

A variation on this that we used in the military was blocks of time that a frequency was good for. For this discussion we will split the clock into 4 equal parts. Block A would go for 0005 to 0605, block B goes from 0605 to 1205, block C goes from 1205 to 1805 and Block D goes from 1805 till 0005. as a practical matter the ‘control center’ would monitor all sets of frequencies to account for any overlapping times.

By limiting the transmit time and varying the frequencies it made it harder for the enemy to use direction finding [DF] techniques and pinpointing field operatives. This was used a lot during WWII in ‘occupied’ areas. They also made use of \crystal\ radios for receiving coded messages. The BBC would at set times transmit groups of code words and or numbers most of them were meaningless yet they were important as ‘cover’ for the real message. Examples include ‘John has a long mustache’ or 15,24,13,43,51.

How does all of this relate to here and now [aside from the hunting/camping example] ? let us say that you have an elderly or sick friend or relative not living with you, they may be across town or in another nearby town but it is not ‘practical’ to see them every day, maybe you work shift work times. You can arrange check in times so that they can leave you a message [text or voice] that they were up in the morning and before bed time. If they don’t check in on time you can call them or go over.

Some of the biggest trouble that I get into with my daughter is when I fail to check in with her on time or departing / arrival on trips.

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