Batco |
Ansicht |
BATCO is short for BATtle COde not "British Army Tactical
COde" as some references say.
1. BATCO is a paper numerical code. It has been specifically designed for ease of use, therefore the security protection it provides depends on strict adherence to the rules of use. Unauthorized adaptation of these rules weakens the code and is forbidden.
2. A BATCO sheet consists of 6 main parts which are:
a. Heading, The heading gives the
edition, page and copy numbers
and space in which to record the period of
use. An edition consists
of 36 pages.
b. Settings. On the left hand side are
the cursor settings consisting
of 8 columns numbered 2 to 7, each
comprising a scrambled alphabet. On
unit nets all six columns may be used,
however the use of column 7 is
reserved and is only to be used on the
authority of the unit commander.
On formation nets only 2 columns may be
used for each net (see explanatory
notes at Appendix 1 (Page A1-2 of the
manual)). A column number and letter, eg '2I' sets
the row of alphabet to be used (this is the
same row set by '3D', '4F',
'5O', '6G' and '7O')
c. Cipher Alphabets. On the right hand
side are the cipher alphabets,
comprising 26 horizontal lines of scrambled
alphabet with the letters
printed in pairs. The plain text numbers 0
to 9 and two symbols are
printed at the top with 0 repeated. The
cursor has the column numbers
and the plain text numerals and symbols
engraved on it.
d. Spelling Box. The spelling box provides a method of spelling in BATCO.
e. Authentication Table. This table
allows any station on the net to
challenge the authenticity of any other by
requesting the details of a
2 figure number inside the box that
corresponds to the intersection of
specific horizontal and vertical cursor.
(See Appendix B)
f. Call sign and Starting Column
Indicators. The starting position for
the encryption of text on nets is derived
from the call sign indicator,
itself deduced from the list of letters in
the bottom panel of the BATCO
sheet . All the letters of the alphabet are
used, with the exception of Z which is reserved for use by
support helicopters as a fixed call sign
indicator.