Story 14 - Comcen Stats 1971


104 Sig Sqn, 1ATF, Nui Dat, Vietnam

by Ken Mackenzie OAM

Ken Mackenzie

COMCEN Traffic Statistics

1st Australian Task Force (1ATF)  Communication Centre (COMCEN) was owned and manned by 104 Sig Sqn.  Traffic statistics were recorded and reported monthly.  Statistics for April, May, June, July, August and September 1971, are as follows:

Type/Date Apr 1971 May 1971 Jun 1971 Jul 1971 Aug 1971 Sep/Oct 1971
Received
Messages		 5582 4985 5476 4299 3929 4202
Rerun
(Received)		 1299 838 720 334 231 629
SVC
Meassages		 2219 2813 3117 2819 2816 3317
Send
Messages		 1933 2339 1973 1924 1938 1933
Rerun
(Send)		 758 655 584 422 443 538
SCV
Message		 5780 2714 21250 2269 2334 2863
Total
Messages		 17571 14344 14760 12067 11691 13482
Flash
Messages		 Nil 0.2% 0.1% Nil Nil Nil
Immediate
Messages		 8% 8.7% 9.8% 10.5% 9.1% 12.1%
Priority
Messages		 27% 24.1% 32.7% 33.2% 25.3% 30.4%
Routine
Messages		 65% 67% 57.4% 56.3% 65.6% 57.5%
SDS/ADS
(in)		 21915 20826 20153 19907 20182 15940
SDS/ADS (out) 31532 27183 32686 35365 22508 17954
Total
SDS/ADS		 53447 48009 52939 54462 42690 33885

Rerun = Retransmissions
SVC = Signals internal messages used to maintain/check communications
Message Precedences = FLASH, IMMEDIATE, PRIORITY and ROUTINE
SDS = Special Delivery Service
ADS = Aerial Delivery Service

COMCEN Closure

1st October, 1971, the 1ATF COMCEN was transferred into a vehicle mounted COMCEN provided by 110 Sig Sqn and located adjacent to the HQ 1ATF COMCEN building. Message acceptance and distribution continued from the "outer office" of 1ATF COMCEN until 1200 hr on October 16th, 1971, when the whole system closed.

1 ATF COMCEN, 104 Sig Sqn, Nui Dat   Inside COMCEN - 104 Sig Sqn, Nui Dat

The Headquarters Third Regional Assistance Command (HQ TRAC), telegraph circuit was deactivated at 1200 hr on October 16th, 1971, when the 1ATF COMCEN closed.

COMCEN Switchboard Statistics

Ebony Switchboard - 1 ATF COMCEN (104 Sig Sqn) 1971Ebony Switchboard statistics were not recorded.  Looking at it with the benefit of hindsight, it sure is strange.

However, given that there were three operators on shift each day, and conservatively, if each operator only handled one connection/query every minute, that's 180 calls per hour/1440 calls per 8 hour shift. Personally, I'd say it would have been higher, because if memory serves me correctly, they went on to 12 hour shifts at one stage, due to shortage of switchboard operators

 

 

Ken Mackenzie
1999

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