COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY DIVISION

CHAPTER 6

COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY DIVISION

GENERAL

(C) The period from 1 May to 1 December 1972 was characterized by decreasing communications requirements and eventual phase out of the majority of STDAT US Communications. The Communications Advisory Division continued to advise and assist the Strategic Technical Directorate (STD) in communications-electronics matters. During this time, STD completed its Improvements and Modernization in the communications-electronics field.

ORGANIZATION

(U) The Communications Advisory Division was functionally organized, as depicted in figure

6.1.

(S) SINGLE SIDE BAND RADIO OPERATIONS. The STDAT Single Side Band (SSB) Net

remained operational throughout the period. As the US Integrated Communications System

(ICS) was reduced, additional reliance was placed on the SSB Net as the primary means of

communications with in STDAT. This was the only means of communication for Advisory Element Two (AE 2) at Kontum and for AE 3 at Ban Me Thuot. As the Advisory elements were

deactivated during October, the SSB Net was maintained until the last possible day to provide

last minute coordination. Special Mission Service Advisory Detachment (SMSAD) at Danang

temporarily established SSB stations at Hue and Chu Lai when the Special Mission Service

(SMS) teams of STD were committed to support ARVN 1st Corps. Figure 6.2 depicts the SSB

Net organization for the period 1 May 1972 - 1 December1972.

(S) TELETYPE. Use of the STDAT Teletype Net (TTY) sharply declined during June 1972,

and continued at a low level until the net was closed out on 10 October 1972. The net consisted

of two on-line secure KW-7 circuits to MACV and SMSAD, and one non-secure circuit with

one-time tapes to STD. On the deactivation of the STDAT Communications Center, all teletype

message traffic was hand-carried to the MACV Telecommunications Center Facility for transmission. An Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system was installed in the MACV TCF on 27 August 1972. STDAT obtained OCR typewriters on 25 September and all subsequent messages were prepared in the OCR format. Messages prepared in this format were “read” by the OCR system, which punches the tape for immediate transmission. This eliminated the need for a manual operator to punch the message tape. STDAT reached 100% on message submission in OCR format by 1 October 1972, well in advance of MACV’s 1 November 1972 deadline.

(S) AUTOSEVOCOM. AUTOSEVOCOM service was provided by two instruments at STDAT

Headquarters (Cmdr/SA and PO&T), one at LSAD, and one at SMSAD. When required, Special Mission Force (SMF) used the secure phones at Second Regional Assistance Command

HQs. The secure phone at SMSAD had repeated outages and poor quality service throughout

the period because of cable problems. This problem was never completely corrected. In late

October 172, all secure phones were phased out except for the Senior Advisor’s phone in HQ

STDAT.

(S) CODER BURST TRANSMISSION SYSTEM. In July, a STDAT Coder Burst Transmission

system (CBTS) feasibility study determined that it would be impractical to equip STD with

the CBTS unless highly qualified operators were available. Such a system provides the capability to pre-record International Morse Code messages on a small tape cartridge, and transmit the message at 300 words per minute via standard radios. The CBTS greatly reduces the message transmission and intercept time. This was considered a highly desirable capability for STD reconnaissance teams. In view of the difficulties US Forces had experienced in training indigenous personnel in the use and maintenance of the CBTS equipment, the study concluded that the project was not, nor would it be in the foreseeable future, within STD capabilities.

(S) CLOSURE OF COMSEC ACCOUNTS. The only major problem encountered in the communications field during this period was the closing of COMSEC Accounts. Of the seven active accounts in May 1972, only three closed without difficulty. Problems encountered were due to administrative accounting errors by the individual custodians concerned, and by similar errors and slow response by the COMSEC Headquarters at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

(S) SPECIAL MISSICN FORCE COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT. In August 1972, arrangements were made with the Air Force for the assignment of an AN/MRC-108 to the Special Mission Force (SMF). The MRC-108 is an Air Force communication package consisting of FM, VHF, UHF, and HF SSB radios mounted in a ¼ Ton Jeep. The MRC-108 was used by SMF as the communications center at its Tactical CP, and proved successful in several operations. Additionally, the STDAT radio repair shop was moved from STDAT HQ .to SMF at Pleiku when the STDAT Advisory Elements in the Saigon area phased out in the first week of November 1972.

(S) STREGIC TECHNICAL DIRECTORATE COMMUNICATIONS. The STD Improvement

and Modernization Program for Communications Electronics was completed on 26 June 1972.

STD continued to operate the teletype net (Figure 6.3) in the off-line secure mode. The US Advisory Elements were provided separate one-time tapes so that Top Secret NOFORN could be sent over the STD circuits.

(S) CLOSURE OF STDAT COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY DIVISION. The STDAT

Communication Advisory Division was closed on 17 November 1972, and its residual functions

were absorbed by the newly established Operations and Intelligence Division, STDAT.