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Re:Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search by minedwiz on Monday June 19, 2023 @06:43PM (#36397355)
Communicating with submarines is actually a nightmare. The saltwater ruins most radio communications, so you have no chance to receive GPS signals, which are pretty weak even on the surface.

One thing the military does/did to communicate with subs is use low-bandwidth text-only very low frequency radio, but you need colossal transmitters and there's no way the mother ship carries one. Hydrophones are also an option, and IIRC NATO even has a working sound-based modem to transmit digital signals to subs, but not sure if that has spread in the civilian market.

Re:Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search by bombcar on Monday June 19, 2023 @07:34PM (#36397787)
The easiest way for a sub to communicate with the surface is to launch an icbm.

Or fire a torpedo and detonate it.

Re:Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search by scarnz on Monday June 19, 2023 @07:18PM (#36397652)
I concur. Message is authentic.
Re:Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search by camel_gopher on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @01:20AM (#36400035)
Message is authentic. Set condition 1-SQ.
Re:Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search by Prickle on Monday June 19, 2023 @07:52PM (#36397936)
Military submarines also have a towed communications buoy that they can use to communicate with satellites. But that thing is connected to the submersible via a cable.
Re:Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search by closewith on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @07:45AM (#36402670)
Even then, ELF is only available down to depths of hundreds of metres, not kilometres.
Re:Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search by snaily on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @03:01AM (#36400632)
There's at least one commercial acoustic underwater modem provider - Subnero out of Singapore. They claim up to 5km range:

https://subnero.com/products/modem.html

Re:Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search by closewith on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @07:45AM (#36402666)
> 4 km of communication range (horizontal) in littoral waters

Probably much lower range vertically.

Re:Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search by rkangel on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @09:46AM (#36403887)
The important issue with VLF radio in this case is that what we need is sub->ship communication. VLF relies on massive antenna, often ground based to (very slowly) send message to subs. My understanding is that for comms the other way, the sub needs to raise an antenna above the surface (then possibly doing laser comms to a satellite so that no radio emissions give away sub locations).
Re:Titanic tourist sub goes missing sparking search by TecoAndJix on Tuesday June 20, 2023 @01:17PM (#36407284)
INT ZBZ