Whisper Channels are all new to me Dslyecxi. I mean, I know they exist. But so far I have never had to use them for a game.

Not sure how the UK Army/Air Force deal with Comms for their deployed detachments. In regards to their individual Sqd leaders keeping in touch with HQ.

Navy warships though. Ops room and bridge crew, all have specific jobs to do - Above Water, Under Water, Air (fixed wing), Helo Controller, Tactical and so on. Specific Radio circuits are patched through to the various users that co-ordinate (with the other ships) over them.

Here in lies the trouble with a Sim like ArmA. Unfortunately we are all, a one man band, all trying to communicate with one another via one channel. We don't have the luxury of detailing one person off to monitor each separate channel (Air, Armour, Command, etc.) We are trying to communicate, play the game, and stay alive by ourselves, which makes it so much harder.

Real world scenario. Naval Gunfire Support (NGS). Falklands conflict 1982 (the last time I was ever involved in "real" live Naval bombardment).

Spotters ashore (using Clansman HF radio) initially established contact with the Ship using CW (Carrier Wave - Morse Code). Frequencies (TS Channels) were various HF 2Mhz up to 30Mhz (depending on ionospheric conditions) - Cryptographic Authentication (one time pads) were used to, well, authenticate each other, before proceeding further....!

Once a good working frequency was established, Commandos ashore and the ship moved to J3E (SSB, Suppressed Carrier, Voice) (don't forget to offset your ships receivers from the frequency assigned by 2Khz (Clansman radio automatically added a 2Khz offset to the dialled on frequency) and not the standard 1.5Khz – Many a ships Comms department fell over on that one!) otherwise the guys ashore calling in NGS (normally 148 Commando Battery) would sound like Mickey Duck! Anyway, I digress.....

Once on voice, (but still sounding like we were using two bean tins, and a piece of string) the ships Gunnery Officer, would take his seat by the plot in the Ops Room. The Spotters would then communicate the Map Grid Ref, the weather, and finally any diverse wind that could affect the shoot, followed by a description of the target.

Gunnery Officer (using the ships computer) would work out, gun trajectory, direction the barrel was going, and (once fired) how long the (4.5") shell would take to reach the area.

Ship would give a:

"Shot" (Spotters ashore would know the ships gun had just fired)

(countdown mentally in seconds the figure the Gunnery Officer had given)

"Splash" (Heads up to the Green Berets ashore that the shell has now landed. (Somewhere) Spotters ashore scan for a sign of where the shell hit)

"Out". (No further Comms from the ship - awaiting further instructions)

Spotters ashore, when the impact of the first shell has been located would then radio in giving adjustments Left/Right, North/South until the shell was "walked" on to the target area. Once this was achieved, a "Fire for Effect" order was given (how many shells they wanted on the Target – Governed by what the target actually was (given in the initial Fire Mission request).

Doubtful we are going to see that amount of realism in a Sim - The point of this (rather long winded) story is; We are over complicating the Comms.

In the example above, the other "departments" were still monitoring/actioning their own reports off their own individual radio circuits (AAWWC, TG REP, TG TAC and any other circuit that was up and required).

In this Sim, there is only one of us! Will we ever really be able to make it work the way we want?