Making radio contact

if someone were to get their hands on a German radio transceiver in Paris during august of 1944, and he wanted to make contact with MI5 or someone who could get in contact with MI5, what procedure would he have to use to do so?

 

He or she could try obtaining a copy of the secret wireless war...mi6..and all will be revealed..

 

I was thinking something more like if someone did get a hold of a radio and just start talking into it, would someone answer?

 

Probably not, since the best way to keep codes/procedures secret is to use them sparingly. Most communication would have been done by telephone, which is a lot more secure.
All sides used "Y service"-style units; specialist radio monitoring teams who did nothing but listen to the other sides' radio traffic, noting codenames or anything else which would identify units. They would have been first to hear this transmission, and if nothing else the general way it was conducted would have told them whether or not it was genuine or a deception.
They would have reported back up the chain of command, who might well have sent a small team out to investigate first, while the original listeners monitored for anything further.
Then again, a small combat unit in the area might have picked the transmission up and decided to investigate off their own backs. There isn't really a definitive answer, I suppose.
This is a good book on the subject, I've got it myself-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Searchers-I...r_1_48?s=STORE&ie=UTF8&qid=1283210449&sr=1-48

 

"Broadsword calling Dannyboy; come in Dannyboy"

 

danny boy reading you all the fives..pass your message over...unknown station...unknown station...you need to take your Paris info to mi6 ...mi5 are not interested..out

 

So if all he needed to do was get a message across to someone in the chain of command, and he didn't really need an answer, just repeating the message into the radio a few times would work? They wouldn't answer him, but they would hear?

 

They would hear him alright, but they would just note the details and pass it onto their superiors.

 

Weren't the majority of covert communication sets telegraphy based (ie Morse Code type)? VOX radio sets of the day were extremely cumbersome and short range.

 

Morse was certainly superior at long range, but in certain atmospheric conditions, even FM carries a long way - particularly at night.
I found this site on German transmitters-
WWII German Radio Page
Nothing too technical, but some useful background.

 

Sorry about all the weird questions. I'm trying to write a story that takes place in Paris in 1944, and I am just wondering if the scenario I have in mind is at all realistic.

I have just a couple more questions:

What does short range mean in this context? Less than a mile, like some small walkie-talkies, or more like less than 100 miles?

And would there be likely to be a VOX radio in, for instance, 84 Avenue Foch?

 

It all depends on the size of the antenna, or height, and the power source. I think considerably less than 100 miles more along the lines of 10 miles.

Most likely but it would be for local area communication in a secure area. Anything going much further would be encrypted and transmitted via morse code. Morse code is a much more efficient way of transmitting information.

 

Well for credibilities sake find out the difference on mi5 and 6 for starters. And if you are really serious on accuracy the bible for that time remains the secret wireless war mi6 i reffered to earlier. Unfortunately y service was not the controlling point in this area they had input but their role was more othermatters..including foreign monitoring service assistance at woodnorton m section with bbc..you reaally need my old mob composite signals.

 

thanks everyone

 

You'd need a pretty powerful transmitter to send signals other than morse to England from Paris along with a fairly large antenna. It would probably be safer to send it via a trusted messenger than by radio.

 

Yes, but if you don't have a trusted messenger available, you do what you can. And in August 1944, the Allied armies would have been much closer than England. Would that have changed anything about communication protocols?

 

Back in 1944 to send a message by radio using morse (about 50% greater range) 100 to 200 miles requires one of the bulky, usually static or truck mounted corps or army radio sets, a power supply and an antenna several stories tall.
Remember, electronics back then were horribly less efficent than they are today.