Navy to Shut Down Sub Radio Transmitters

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS via NY Times ^ | September 26, 2004 | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Doohickey]

When considering the utility of this system to an operational submarine, keep in mind that wavelength is also inversely proportional to frequency. To receive an ELF signal, the receiving station has to deploy an antenna of sufficient length to receive the signal, steer a course nearly perpendicular to the transmitting station, and keep the antenna nearly level because the signal is horizontally polarized.

[Nowhere Man]

In was an open secret that ELF was designed to send nuclear launch orders to Ballistic Missile submarines. As you note, it penetrates the ocean whereas other radio waves don't. It wasn't the only method that the Tridents had of getting "the word." But I agree that we should keep ELF, for the redundency.

I remember reading about that in the Brookings Institute book, "Managing Nuclear Operations" (1987) about the longwave ELF systems. I know there are also planes that carry ELF gear too, the TACAMO (TAke Charge And Move Out) planes, usually C-130's although at the local airshow in Pittsburgh, the Navy did bring in a 707 that did the same thing. I was aboard it too, saw all the radio gear, you can "broadcast from DC to light" at 500,000 watts. Hmmm, a flying AM radio station, would be cool. B-) I remember the crew told me that plane was part of the communication network in the Cuban Missile Crisis too.

I also know a C-17 pilot who came here for the airshow, sat in the C-17's pilot's seat for 20 minutes, I played with the plane's radio, tuned in the Pirate's baseball game on AM and searched the 10 meter amateur radio band. If I could, I would have loved to fire up 10 meters and see who I can talk to. B-) I also copied frequencies from the VHF/UHF radio into my handheld radio scanner. I remember when he was 9 or 10, I was 18 at the time, gave him a copy of the F-15 "Strike Eagle" game for the Apple ][ computer, I like to say that maybe I had some influence on his career path. B-)

[Nowhere Man]

You've got a technical 'salad' of terms there that isn't very clear; a) they are phasing out the ELF system in favor of b) a VLF system with 12 different transmitting sites.

I've got to believe that the information 'data rate' will go up with the new system compared to the old system at ELF ...

Heh, I know, I drive people crazy with all those terms. B-) Will the new VLF sites be distributed all over the world? I remember a similar pan was used for the Omega navigation system, I think that's shut down now where they had 8 stations, 6 primary and 2 backup spaced around the world. IIRC, I think we had one in the Dakotas, another one was in India, and so on. I think they were on ELF in the 9 to 14 kc range.

Are you an amateur radio operator too? I'm KA3WRW. B-) BTW, I have some old QST's from 1963/64 that had an ad for a longwave radio where you can pick up Civil Defense and submarine communications too.

[Nowhere Man]

Yup, GWEN's gone - no more modem-sounding data bursts to compete with the hobby beacons within the 'license free' band of 160 - 190 KHz band ...

I remember those hissing data bursts, some nights they were active, you could hear the various nodes "talking" to each other. I know the predicessor to FEMA (Defense Civil Preparedness Agency) had a broadcast station, WGU-20, on 179 kc and planned to have a series of longwave stations around the country to broadcast info to the public during and after a nuclear attack.

There is morei nfo about it here: WGU-20 - http://www.conelrad.com/perki.html

Needless to say, it didn't fly too well, unlike Europe where they use that part of the longwave band for broadcast, longwave here was the curiousity of die-hard radio enthusiasts.