FEATURE
IMMERSIVE AIRSOFT
By the 1980 ’ s British Telecom was in charge of the UK ’ s telecom network and a new system was being introduced to replace the ageing technology . This time taking account for the effects of EMP , the WB1400 equipment carriers replaced the units at police stations and WB1400 Receiver speech and signalling replaced the units at warning points and siren stations . This version of “ HANDLE ” ran until the end of the Cold War , until the UK made the discussion to decommission it in 1992 . Now just a few sirens remain in use as flood warnings in coastal areas , in chemical plants or as escaped inmate warnings at some psychiatric institutions but even now , these are slowly being decommissioned to be replaced by text alert systems , sending alerts directly to people ’ s mobile phones and the iconic siren warble will be consigned to history . It is this last version of the system I shall make a representation of .
HOW IT WORKED FOR REAL
Even today here in the UK , if you dial 123 on a BT landline or on some mobile networks , you will connected to the UK ’ s “ talking clock ”, telling you “ At the third stroke the time will be ... XX : XX ”, followed by three “ pips ”. The number may have changed but , started in 1936 by the GPO , this service has been running ever since . However , if you had rung the talking clock at 02.00 or 02.15am on the 1st Wednesday of the month in January , April , July or October before 1992 , you would have heard a BT engineer stating “ this BT testing from ...” followed by a random UK town name , before it kicked back to the talking clock . This rather innocent sounding test was , in actual fact , a test of the secret “ HANDLE ” nuclear warning system . Utilizing the public talking clock circuits , BT exchanges and existing telephone trunk lines it sent attack warnings all over the UK . In its finale guise , the initial warning would be sent from The Air Defence Operations Centre at Strike Command in RAF High Wycombe , with its back up location being Preston U . K . W . M . O Sector Headquarters .
The WB1800 units at these locations , when activated , would seize control of the UK ’ s two main public talking clock circuits and send a sequence of tones to activate the 250 WB1400 carrier control points at police stations around the UK , wired into these circuits at local BT Exchanges . At the police stations the two red phones on the WB1400 equipment carrier ( one for the X Circuit , one for the Y Circuit ) indicator lights would illuminate , along with a ring tone . By picking up either set the War Officer on duty would receive a spoken message of national attack warning . When the broadcast was complete the circuits would be released and would return to the talking clock .
The reason behind the use of the public circuits was that they already existed and were maintained by BT against faults , so were a very effective cost-saving way to run the system . On receipt of the attack warning , the message it sent would then be passed on via the same unit ( by lifting both red handsets ) to the warning points in that sector . In total , 20,000 warning points around the UK , including R . O . C Monitoring posts , RGHQ ’ s , military installations , fire stations and centres of industry ( to name a few ) would receive the warning via the WB1400 receiver speech units at their locations . A series of tones sent from the carrier control points via the BT Exchanges would active these units and start a six-second “ warbling ” attack signal , which would then be followed by a spoken “ Attack Warning Red ” broadcast from the carrier control points .
From there , the final part was to warn the public of impending doom !
Back on the WB1400 equipment carrier at the police carrier control point , a master key turn and button sends the attack warning signal to WB1400 Receiver Signalling units in street cabinets and high buildings at 7,000 locations , telling the air raid sirens to start . By using these tone sequences the system was protected from accidental activation by short circuits and the like .
With all this information in hand , I set to re-creating my very own “ HANDLE ”, a “ prop ” that could be made to work in an airsoft game setting with some effort - but one that could certainly add a real air of tension . I imagine that an industrial-level siren going off would certainly get your attention and in a “ Cold war Goes Hot ” game it would most certainly add to the immersion level !
Next month I ’ ll show you how I went about the project ! AA www . airsoftaction . net 65