String Used As Backup Tank Comms System

[llewtrah]

I posted this here because it sounds like it should be a UL. If it hadn't been vouched for by colleagues working on comms systems in tanks I would have dismissed it as UL.

Tank commanders need to communicate with tank drivers. Usually they have 2 systems, the main and the backup. In the past when tanks only had 1 system they needed another backup system (stopping and fixing the comms unit isn't always an option). Shouting isn't an option due to noise levels and ear protection being worn. The low-tech back up system was string reins - a piece of string ties to the drivers left and right epaulette - used to signal direction and also whether to stop.

Sometimes the simplest methods are best.

I am not pulling legs with this one, but it has all the makings of a UL (it's reminiscent of NASA and the spacepen/Russian pencil solution) and for tank crews who are used to have technology for main and backup comms, no doubt it is being relegated to the realm of myth.