1941 U.S. ARMY SIGNAL CORPS SPLICING OF FIELD WIRE CABLE TECHNIQUES FIELD TELEPHONE 11844

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Created by the U.S. Army Signal Corps as part of the "Basic Signal Communication" just before WWII, this film on field wire presents information about the laying of telephone and telegraph wire, with a focus on the splicing of wires. At 4:40, a two man team is shown making splices in tandem. Various knotting and joining techniques are shown, as well as images of troops laying both surface (1:16) and elevated cable by hand and with the use of a truck.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFi...

[@FranktheDachshund]

Last night, I learned how to ditch a B17 in the ocean, today how to splice field cable.

Now you're ready Dingy Dan ! May I suggest you now learn how to live in the desert after crash-landing your B24, or how to navigating in the jungle after bailing out of a B25 ?

[@unclestuka8543]

I rewired my house using this method.

[@AliasUndercover]

A useful education, depending on your weekend plans.

[@alexcarter8807]

For the splicing, do what I did: Get the Army to pay you to learn.

[@boblangill4676]

Oh ya? I can change track on a Sherman..by myself! 😉

[@nevellgreenough404]

This method is still applicable today for repairing ham radio antennas! --N2GX

[@comment2009]

Crazy. My father taught me this. He was a radio operator in WW2 in the Pacific. He said where possible the lines were strung tree to tree suspended from the tree by a piece of rope. He received a purple heart from enemy fire while on a repair job.

[@thomasgustafsson7330]

Thx, the rope part might have helped me a bit :)

[@jaminova_1969]

My Grandpa was the guy putting that wire in the trees!

[@chiprenner]

in Italy my father -1073rd signal corp-said they used a statue with a man & his hand pointing up-They used the hand as a pole - he had some great stories fighting from South Africa up to Italy.

[@molotov9502]

Average infantry/artillery soldier: "Screw that! Just twist the ends together and tape them!...we need to get going!"

[@paladin0654]

Fortunately, "wire rats" assigned to combat arms units do it right.

[@ZerokillerOppel1]

@@paladin0654 It might seem like alot to remember but I think with experience and practice two soldiers could do this in under 5 minutes!

[@madsighntist14]

@@ZerokillerOppel1 I could not imagine Two pole jockeys on One Pole! I could tie wire fairly quickly, make my Comms Test, and be down the pole, (I was on a Base Camp and the WIRE was Old). I ended up Replacing all the sing strung lines with a 27 pair "TM" approved hand made cable from OPS Bunker to the Officer's Club, as it was a "Central Location" where I could do my branch cables.

[@misium]

When their life relies on the coms not breaking up, maybe they do it right.

[@maninhades]

Right... Some of my favorite memories are of when we had to duct tape and bubble gum stuff to make it work... Thinking is fun .. despite the popular narrative I see pushed so so much ..

[@BLUECHET]

Oh the 31-K/10 memories .!!❤️ I still have my issue TL pliers sheath and Barlow knife ...

[@alexcarter8807]

31K here too. Oh the memories. Like my finding out how to listen in on radio comms with my Fred Flintstone switchboard. Wires are antennas, audio amp is audio amp, crystallization/slight corrosion on plug is rectifying junction = radio receiver.

[@luckynedpepper9030]

Love these films. You can actually learn something. And the narrators voice is so calm and relaxing.

[@muskyelondragon]

Damn good method to make make reliable and strong connections without connectors and minimal tape. I really enjoyed watching this 👍

[@RinksRides]

you were expected to do all this while being shot at? LEGENDARY BADASS.

[@GIGATHEBOT]

BASIC SIGNAL COMMUNICATION woo i went through the trouble of translating that morse code at the beginning

[@nevellgreenough404]

Yeah but his fist was really lousy....

[@clockmonkey]

Another item that quietly helped to win the War.

[@donaldasayers]

The British had a solder splice; a thin walled copper tube with solder and flux on the inside and a pyrotechnic compound on the outside. The wired were threaded into the tube which was lightly crimped, then the pyrotechnic compund was lit. When it was cool the whole thing was taped.

[@Vegan123]

Hellerman Jointer

[@donaldasayers]

@@Vegan123 Not really the same no.

[@mudboy9762]

It's all good until someone cranks the field phone in the middle of you splicing the wires. Guaranteed to cause cursing.

[@chiprenner]

also used to go cat fishing using the ring generator to stun the fish.

[@bitsnpieces11]

This is a great to teach. It's done by people who have actually done the job instead of people who have read about the job. The military was successful in teaching a complex subject to people who had never encountered it before, in just days. That applies to every thing being used.

[@dangerousmythbuster]

I'd like to see an instructional film on terminating Ethernet or fiber optics in this film style. Too bad that'll never happen.

[@Jimmyzb36]

I wish that all of my critical wires were spliced this well! Not kidding!

[@ecrusch]

You make those pretty splices when you have about ten guys watching your back and you have complete control of the area... :)

[@madsighntist14]

I made them 24-7 . . . Those Wrapping Instructions KEEP the Lines Integrity, and I never had to repair my Work!!! When I got finished, our commo was in Perfect Order, and was even noticed by the Commander of the First Aviation Brigade! I was ABOVE on a pole when I heard him ASK our Commanding Officer who did the new Comms! I was Promoted three weeks later, but I had to go back to my Primary MOS 35L20 Avionics.

[@glocke380]

I'm pretty sure we saw this movie when I was in the Seabees back in the 70's. Although our wire was different.

[@sammoore9120]

Another burned out Bee here. Our wire was some hateful shit to be sure. Those steel strands were made of heat seeking spring steel, guaranteed to spring up and stab the nearest hand or finger.

[@kcrailroader5297]

Yep, WD- 1 line wire.

[@christopherrasmussen8718]

CE! Tell me about wires hahaha.

[@christopherrasmussen8718]

Want that in miles or tons sir.

[@kcrailroader5297]

And I keenly remember how a poke with those stainless wires would hurt, fester and ache if it didn't bleed real good.

[@alexcarter8807]

Yep good old WD-1, copper and steel strands, same in the 1980s as the 1940s.

[@christopherrasmussen8718]

Boy we started out with wire and when I was at the end, we ran fiber optic cable. We left miles of it in the open sewers in Haiti. I have used butyl tape ever since.

[@thepeter3116]

Can't really do a T splice or anything with fiber, right?

[@madsighntist14]

Hello. Trouble Shooter One Five, Tay Ninh, RVN, 1969/70. I worked in Signal Detachment for the 187th AHC "Crusaders". I did Telephone Lineman work when I first got there, as my Primary MOS was "Filled". So I Grabbed the Tech Manual, read it, & OJT'd as a Pole Jokey. I climbed poles Day OR night: when ever a line went dead, I was on it to get it fixed! This training was Very Similar to our more modern wire, 4 steel 3 Copper, and I could find a bad wire at Zero Dark Thirty with zero light, just by feel!

[@joegoldman3065]

Not even the movie gone with the wind, the godfather, saving private Ryan or any other thriller can match this piece for all our gripping action and fascination.

[@johnharris7353]

Good stuff, there's the right way, the wrong way, and the army way! I was in the navy! So I don't know shit!

[@alexcarter8807]

The right way, the wrong way, the Army way, and the sergeant's way.

[@geoben1810]

@john harris I was Navy too. I don't think the Army knows anything better than the Navy does. They do what they do, the Navy does what it does. But there's differences in how they need to communicate and the equipment is different due to the environments in which the two branches operate. Although nowadays digital satellite communication is the overall dominant means for all of the armed forces and government agencies as well as the general public. But consider this Mr. Harris, the NAVY does it ALL, and does it all AT ONCE !!! ✌🏻🇺🇸

[@jaminova_1969]

@@geoben1810 Just steer the boat and try not to run into anything sailor!

[@JeffreyOsb]

I find these videos amazing. Just imagine sitting in there, watching this. I had my own "videos" played to me when I was in the Army in the early 2000's.

[@eddiejones.redvees]

Now days in the U.K. most copper wires are crimped the wires that feed from the pole to house 🏠 drop wires has 5 wires 4 copper 1 stranded support wire only 2 of the copper wires are used for communication the other 2 are spare I have seen some one use the support wire to give service when the other wires are broken when they should run a new wire things are changeover to fibre directly to the the home it was going this way before I retired from the industry 3 years ago

[@sylviahacker6695]

I didn't think I'd enjoy this as much as I did and I learned some things too.

[@K-Effect]

Sylvia Hacker For some reason I want to go tie my shoes after watching this film, even though they're already tied

[@thomthumbe]

Tie it in a knot, soldier, wrap with rubber tape. Done! Or use an AN/PRC-117G and forget wire.

[@charpressler]

My grandfather was in the US Army Signal Corps during the war, stationed in New Guinea. He must have been trained to do all this. Respect!

[@mikeingeorgia1]

One of my Grandfathers was in the 6th Infantry Division in New Guinea

[@maninhades]

I was in a EIS unit in the AF mid 90’s right after high school.. ive put in miles and miles of every kind o cable you can imagine and maybe even some you can’t, anyways I digress.. I really enjoy all your videos but especially anything to do with communications, communications systems,computers and computer networks and so on , really appreciate the time you spend. Much thanks

[@deepbludude4697]

Cabledog!

[@KaciCooperations]

Those films are better than Security cameras…

[@sthildas4857]

My Dad was in the Royal Corps of Signals UK on motorcycles, think they did a bit of this. I became a BT jointer, crank twisting copper. Plus butt jointing 40lb coaxial. 3800 pair.

[@iamrichrocker]

reports are these lineman went to work in the Wichita area post war..

[@sixstringedthing]

RIP Mr Campbell

[@HazeAnderson]

Sign up at your local Vault-Tec Shelter today! 📋👍

[@MatthewHolevinski]

This Kansan finds that interesting

[@alexcarter8807]

Some say they're still on the line...

[@dadillen5902]

Not before be a migrant farm worker.

[@MightyJustas]

Now i know how to splice all of my wires at home, thanks

[@D9david]

“Watson come here--I want to [snap!].......damn, who spliced that wire?”

[@andyfeimsternfei8408]

Somehow I think a much more crude method is used while being shot at and with mortars flying overhead!

[@willienolegs8928]

Thief’s knot. Very cool knot.

[@JerryEricsson]

I took the Field Wireman course in 1970, other then a bit of improvement in the wire, the procedure was exactly the same the test to the proper splice was the strength, and the size, our instructor said it should be covered with a quarter, one instructor demanded the size of a dime, but he was an ass.

[@jimmy21584]

So who else dredged Morse Code from the bottom of their pre-internet brain, and could still understand that?

[@paulabraham2550]

I initially thought "lbs per mile, there's a quaint old fashioned unit of gauge". But on reflection it's probably still in use in the states.

[@unwired1281]

It will be in Ron DeSantis’ new math text books.

[@EdEdelenbos]

Now imagine making these splices with incoming fire…

[@trxtech3010]

0:24 And guys that is why there were such large family's back in the day.... As you can see anything getting started off with fingers that can move like that.... Women were squirting in their bushes.

[@hangarrat]

My grandma always said grandpappy was good with his hands. Guess that’s what she meant.

[@trxtech3010]

@@hangarrat You know it! lol

[@googacct]

What is the purpose of crushing the wire. Is it to make it easuer to remove the insulation?

[@ArmpitStudios]

Yes.

[@captnron3530]

We called the line Don 10 in Australian Sig's

[@Vegan123]

Aye - same in Ireland The steel would stick in your fingers!

[@leftylou6070]

When are we gonna learn how to make the western union splice? After pole climbing class?

[@nickmad887]

thanks

[@PeriscopeFilm]

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[@K-Effect]

In the field is this practiced of running temporary wire where needed still used in the military or is everything wireless now? I'm not talking about main power wire.

[@thomasgustafsson7330]

We are still issued a phone from 1921 or 1912, cant remember witch, with two D-cell batteries and two lines that goes in it. Used for guard posts and stuff like that.

[@mansnilsson4382]

@@thomasgustafsson7330 That would be 1937, and while there are two binding posts, "la" and "lb", they are connections for a pair of wires that constitute one line.

[@christopherrasmussen8718]

4 years ago the expeditionary phone switch was still in the nomenclature. We had one in a big box. I got training on that in the early 80s. As for wireless. Over long distance we used microwave on expedient towers. In camp we did have secure WiFi and also hard lines. I’m Iraq in 06 one of my jobs was keeping our phones up to the demarc of our little Navy camp, inside a larger Army camp on a bigger air base. We loose a line, I go to the demarc and verify it was dead coming in. Not my problem. I had a butt set and a toner. Then I go pound on the door of the Army comm shack, only concrete building on base. They crack it open, I slide in the trouble ticket and roll. One night the COs phone goes down. I find the problem is outside our camp. I go to the comm shack and one PFC is there. I’m telling this kid this needs to be fixed now. He won’t let me in. He is saying tomorrow. I outranked him so I told him it was the COs phone and let me in. He lets me in and for the first time I see the same damn phone switch I was trained on. And the punch down rack for the camp. I get down on the floor and find the lines with my inductive amp. I am about to punch down the pair and in walks in the CSM in full dress uniform. He screaming at the PFC for letting me in. I tell the CSM it’s our COs phone and I can have him walk over to his COs tent to work it out. CSM gets down on the floor, takes my gear, finds the line and punches it down. Then I call to the desk in our office and it’s working. He all but throws my gear at me, tells me to get out and not come back. So I got a CSM to crawl on the floor in full dress lol. I’ve been waiting to tell that story for years.

[@Mostlyharmless1985]

Yes and no. Most everything is UTP or STP which doesn’t take to splicing. Some shops still have the ancient telephone sets with half mile spools but I’ve only ever seen those spools used for corrective training, hauling them up and down the yard till the sergeant you pissed off got tired. That was 12 years ago. I haven’t seen them since.

[@jaminova_1969]

@@mansnilsson4382 Hence, twisted pair! Which oddly enough was my nickname in High School!

[@sixstringedthing]

And then there was Radio. Praise be, and hallelujah.

[@DirtyRobot]

Not sure what reality you are living in, but radio is much easier to hack.

[@Mostlyharmless1985]

Dirty Robot no it’s not. Any dipshit with a knife and a phone headset can listen in on wires comms

[@keyweststeve3509]

@@Mostlyharmless1985 Sure, all you have to do is crawl around in enemy territory in the dark looking for a wire in the jungle, no sweat! They had radio but all you had to do was sit in a nice dry bunker with a scanner to pick up all of the transmissions. Hmmm, that sounds MUCH easier.

[@Mostlyharmless1985]

Key West Steve are you really arguing with a Signaler about COMSEC? Wire com are considered insecure and less so than radio. FHS and encryption makes listening in on radio practically and effectively impossible. Radio is far more difficult to hack. The most secure coms is a dude with a motorcycle, not telephone.

[@keyweststeve3509]

@@Mostlyharmless1985 you do realize this was made during WW2 right?

[@dennismartin4659]

Damn. All these years of wire splicing, I feel now that all my splices have been so inadequate.

[@wonniewarrior]

That sqaure knot looks suspicously like a reef knot.

[@_GOD_HAND_]

Square knot is the same as a reef knot. Like a clove hitch is the same as a double hitch.

[@wonniewarrior]

@@_GOD_HAND_ There is a clove hitch, and a 1/2 clove hitch. I seen truck drivers call the clove hitch the truckies tie down at depots as I picked up loads in my van. Though nowadays they use those ratchet straps.

[@joe-bang8501]

Looks like I'm at the end of the internet... time to start over

[@michaelbarnes5223]

Gotta wonder if my grandfather (field lineman in a field artillery battalion, sent into the Philippines and Okinawa) watched this same video or something similar.

[@soundspartan]

FWCL...Field Wire Command Link...fwicle we called it.

[@mercenary-mb309]

Does the CC-333 cord (brown and black rubber finished one) for the TS-9 handset for the EE8 field telephone contain asbestos?

[@baddoggie101]

The action starts at 4:30

[@alfa156bruder]

Und wieder was gelernt

[@RandysFiftySevenChevy]

All this technology to run an army and I just called my nephew who is stationed in Kuwait on my cell phone to see how he's doing.

[@tonyhewett3729]

Going by my rubbish internet and TV connection, I think Virgin media have adopted this method.

[@stanleybadams]

Use a Western Union flying splice

[@farmerdave7965]

All of my square knots turn out to be granny knots.

[@lindabingham394]

most knots end up on my head ouch!!

[@Mark-iy4no]

Why was I thinking mcguyver when watching this

[@worddunlap]

TAX WIRE OPERATIONS SPECIALIST. 36K.

[@scottspradley1349]

36K10 Tactical Wire Operations Specialist

[@proft0x]

Every Periscope posting on KZbin obscures part of the film with their watermark and timecode.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Here's the issue: Tens of thousands of films similar to this one have been lost forever -- destroyed -- and many others are at risk. Our company preserves these precious bits of history one film at a time. How do we afford to do that? By selling them as stock footage to documentary filmmakers and broadcasters. If we did not have a counter, we could not afford to post films like these online, and no films would be preserved. It's that simple. So we ask you to bear with the watermark and timecodes. In the past we tried many different systems including placing our timer at the bottom corner of our videos. What happened? Unscrupulous KZbin users downloaded our vids, blew them up so the timer was not visible, and re-posted them as their own content! We had to use content control to have the videos removed and shut down these channels. It's hard enough work preserving these films and posting them, without having to spend precious time dealing with policing thievery -- and not what we devoted ourselves to do. Love our channel and want to support what we do? You can help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.

[@33rdsignalconstructionbatt22]

Periscope Films, out of curiosity where did this film come from? Funny how they showed up on your page with your water mark only after i share the original films on my account.

[@matthewward5664]

This is what a 31 kilo did in 1986-1988

[@kermittate9853]

Again with the time-code superimposed? WHY?

[@ArmpitStudios]

OMG. Because they’re in business of saving and selling films. The KZbin versions are here as advertising for their product. Yes, it’s annoying, but completely understandable.

[@jimmyp6443]

Western union splice

[@RandysFiftySevenChevy]

Lurch B co 34th SIG BN 71-74, wreaker driver. So this is what you guys were doing while Reforger was going on...I was towing your screwed up duce-n-hafts back to krabbenloch.Kasern

[@davolente]

My goodness - can you REALLY see a harassed serviceman (possibly under fire) carrying out this procedure to the letter? Methinks short-cuts would be the order of the day.

[@DirkGorgiel]

The Soviet won the war.