Heck dont ask me I get lost in a phone booth, worst yet half the time I have
a hard time finding out how to get out of that dang phone booth.lol

Ed
"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 01:35:16 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 00:39:00 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

"Two Tangos - 38 degrees Northwest"

seems like Hollywood gibberish to me. If I guess the context...

Tango shouldn't be plural and, like you, 38 degrees isn't Northwest.

OTOH.... has this anything to do with dance?

Tango equals target. SpecOp speech.

I was thinking about this last night and what I think they meant was
"Two Tangos - Northwest at 9 o'clock high" 9 o'clock high would be
about 38 degrees.

Of course, nothing like reality in a TV drama eh, what?

Could 9 o'clock high mean to your left and up if you were in a plane talking
to someone in the same plane, or a plane traveling in the same direction?
Could 38 degrees be referring to offset from the horizon? Just guessing
here.
JIMinFL
"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 01:35:16 GMT, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 00:39:00 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

"Two Tangos - 38 degrees Northwest"

seems like Hollywood gibberish to me. If I guess the context...

Tango shouldn't be plural and, like you, 38 degrees isn't Northwest.

OTOH.... has this anything to do with dance?

Tango equals target. SpecOp speech.

I was thinking about this last night and what I think they meant was
"Two Tangos - Northwest at 9 o'clock high" 9 o'clock high would be
about 38 degrees.

Of course, nothing like reality in a TV drama eh, what?

On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 14:47:22 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:
snip

For example, if you are on a recon in hilly territory and somebody
spots a target high on a hill you might say 11 o'clock high as a way
of getting everybody to focus on one specific area without being
exactly specific. It means slightly to your left and up.

There are variations on a theme in all this, but that's essentially
what it means.


In your example above I would have just gotten the patrol's attention
and mouthed "Gook". They would follow my eyes. It's simple, quiet,
lacking in sudden movement, and did I mention quiet. (You did say it
was a recon patrol didn't you. LOL)

Mark E. Williams

On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 20:58:59 -0500, Maynard G. Krebbs
wrote:

On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 14:47:22 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:
snip

For example, if you are on a recon in hilly territory and somebody
spots a target high on a hill you might say 11 o'clock high as a way
of getting everybody to focus on one specific area without being
exactly specific. It means slightly to your left and up.

There are variations on a theme in all this, but that's essentially
what it means.


In your example above I would have just gotten the patrol's attention
and mouthed "Gook". They would follow my eyes. It's simple, quiet,
lacking in sudden movement, and did I mention quiet. (You did say it
was a recon patrol didn't you. LOL)

Mark E. Williams

LOL!!
--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 02:29:58 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 20:58:59 -0500, Maynard G. Krebbs
wrote:

On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 14:47:22 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:
snip

For example, if you are on a recon in hilly territory and somebody
spots a target high on a hill you might say 11 o'clock high as a way
of getting everybody to focus on one specific area without being
exactly specific. It means slightly to your left and up.

There are variations on a theme in all this, but that's essentially
what it means.

In your example above I would have just gotten the patrol's attention
and mouthed "Gook". They would follow my eyes. It's simple, quiet,
lacking in sudden movement, and did I mention quiet. (You did say it
was a recon patrol didn't you. LOL)

Yes, but when you and I were doing this, we didn't have fancy pants
low power scrambled digital FM transceivers and headsets. :)

PRC-25 with 4lb batteries that lasted 12 minutes if you didn't transmit?
--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

"Maynard G. Krebbs" wrote in message


........I would have just gotten the patrol's attention
and mouthed "Gook".

mouthing "Gook" ? pointless exercise, in my view. G and K are both sounds
made in the back of the throat, involving no lip movement. just a point and
a glance got the point across. everyone knew we weren't looking for wild
boar.

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message

"Two Tangos - 38 degrees Northwest".

Now pardon me if I'm not looking at this properly, but wouldn't 38
degrees be NNE?

They can't be coming out of the Northwest at 38 degrees, it would 322
degrees right? and if they were facing Northwest, 38 degrees would be
North.

Sounds like they got their technical advice on the cheap, from someone with
a background in land surveying or some similar discipline. A surveyor would
describe an azimuth of 322* as "North 38* West". A compass azimuth of 038*
wuld be "North 38* East", etc., etc.