[Growler]

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.

[_Jim]

As you note, it penetrates the ocean whereas other radio waves don't.

A VLF system with 12 different globally-located system may well outdo the olf VLF system; penetration of seawater is a matter of how much attenuation you're willing to accept, it's not a show stopper as far as propagation below the surface is concerned. We've got a lot of techniques we can use today to, using DSP technology and various 'synchronous' demodulation techniques that allow a raw noise to signal ratio to exist *prior* to signal processing ...

[Doohickey]

I can't get much into the specifics of how the system worked, but it was one of those "gee-whiz" systems that was ultimately very limited in its usefulness.

[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-)