NAA Cutler Maine VLF TX

[vk...@wia.org.au]

Wow!


http://www.virhistory.com/navy/commsta/cutler.htm

73, Peter VK4QC

[D.J.J. Ring, Jr.]

Aeriel View (from the air, of aerials...) of some of the LF stations around the world:

http://sidstation.lionelloudet.homedns.org/stations-list-en.xhtml

The three icons on the left are for the various mapping web sites - some have clearer photos than others, so try all of them.

73

DR

[Spud Roscoe]

What a station and NAA was the call sign. I often wondered. When we were in weather in the winter we used to hug the coast coming up into the Bay of Fundy for a bit of a lee from the land. When we went past that station it wiped out every receiver on the ship. A high pitched pulse transmission of some kind.

 

Thanks for this.

 

Spud

 

 

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[Bryan Fisher]

If it's anything like NavRadSta Jim Creek, Oso, Washington, it would have been transmitting at 18.5 or 23 khz at extremely high power (megawatts of output), which would have wiped out your receives pretty effectively if you were close enough.   Bryan NXFN / NRUO / NMW43 / NMC / NLVS / NYCQ / NBTM / NRV / NMEL / NHWR --- On Mon, 3/1/10, Spud Roscoe <spudr...@eastlink.ca> wrote:

[Spud Roscoe]

That sounds like it. I did not manage to find the frequency they were transmitting on but it sure put me out of business until we went past the station aways. I was in a merchant ore carrier.

 

Thanks

[Douglas]

> From: Spud Roscoe <spudr...@eastlink.ca>
> Subject: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] NAA Cutler Maine VLF TX
> To: radio-o...@googlegroups.com
> Date: Monday, March 1, 2010, 7:36 PM
>

> What a station and NAA was
> the call sign. I often
> wondered. When we were in weather in the winter we used to
> hug the coast coming
> up into the Bay of Fundy for a bit of a lee from the land.
> When we went past
> that station it wiped out every receiver on the ship. A
> high pitched pulse
> transmission of some kind.
>  
> Thanks for
> this.
>  
> Spud

NAA/Cutler only transmits slow speed teletype.
High baud rates or high data transmission rates can't be used at VLF. The bandwidth required would be a significant percentage of the operating frequency. The antenna SWR would skyrocket at high data rates due to the Q of such an array.

A few years back while on vacation in Maine, I drove up to the station and gaped at the hugeness of NAA's array. It went to the horizon from where I was standing. The area is also extremely isolated with nothing but little villages for miles in any direction.

I then drove up to the main gate, asked if tours were possible and the military guards gave me a curt "NO". Apparently tours are NEVER possible, except perhaps if one is a U.S. Senator on the military appropriations committee...
:-)

I thought NAA was scheduled for closure. However, from the website info offered, it seems like they poured a lot of money into revamping the antenna insulators just last year. Apparently the cold war isn't yet cold enough...it's the site of last resort to get the order out to the sub fleet for the doomsday launch...

Methinks it might be on the opposite sides top ten target list. I might want to rethink buying that cottage in upper Maine...
:-)

By the way, similar bandwidth problems occur, to a lessor extent, on the AM broadcast band. Modern AM broadcast transmitters are capable of transmitting a flat audio response from 50 to at least 10,000 HZ, nearly the practical equivalent of an FM transmitter. However, the antenna array for an AM broadcast station can be a problem, limiting the upper audio range.

I used to work at a New Haven AM station WELI, 5KW on 960 KHz. The station uses a single tower during the day and goes to a 4 tower directional array at night for pattern control. During the day, I could get away with injecting a steady 10KHz tone into the transmitter. Even then, on a single tower, SWR would jump up to about 2:1, the transmitter's limit. If I tried that at night, the SWR protect would trip out the transmitter. It's difficult to obtain a low enough Q to maintain a broadband response in a multi-tower array unless one greatly sacrifices efficiency.

73,

Doug/WA1TUT

[Bryan Fisher]

When I was RM3 in the then-newly delivered USCGC POLAR SEA (WAGB 11) in Seattle, our radio crew were given a rare tour at Jim Creek.  It's been about 35 years, so my memory isn't all it could be, but I remember that there were capacitors bigger than 55-gallon oil drums, that the building was only big enough to hold two of the giant transmitters, that the operating frequencies were 18.5 kHz and 23 kHz (low-speed teletype), and that the antenna array included a 1/2-mile long longwire stretched between two mountain ridges over a valley.  The RF output was so great that much of that valley was bare of vegetation, and there were grounding straps for each car in the parking lot.  Not only that, the architecture of the transmitter building reminded me of the Emerald City of Oz; there were lightning bolts on the floor of the transmitter room (if I remember correctly), the walls were a darker color, and the housings of the two giant transmitters were a light green color; technicians could walk inside these behemoths through full-sized, insulated doors with windows in them.  A really surreal-looking place.

[jerry...@sympatico.ca]

> NAA/Cutler only transmits slow speed teletype.
> High baud rates or high data transmission rates can't be used at VLF. The bandwidth required would be a significant percentage of the operating frequency. The antenna SWR would skyrocket at high data rates due to the Q of such an array.

Data rates become even slower at ELF frequencies. To send messages to subs submerged several hundred feet below the surface, ELF frequencies are employed.
 
There are two reasons for the very slow data rate. The "code" which is sent is a repeated, error correcting code. As a result, the bit rate is few *bits per minute* repeated until enough data is accumulated to let the receiver decide if a *letter* has been received successfully. At the end of 15 minutes, it's expected that three correct characters have completed the journey. All messages sent in this manner instruct the submarine to do something which would not be catastrophic Example: One code might mean to come near the surface to copy the 0800Z broadcast on VLF, NOT launch all nuclear weapons . 
 
BTW, I understand that the ELF antenna used by the USN is 125 miles long and is situated in the mid-west US!

Regards,
Jerry Proc VE3FAB
E-mail: jerry...@sympatico.ca
Web : http://jproc.ca

[CLIVE COLLINS]

Interesting but typical American selling, they got it wrong as usual.!
Rugby Radio GBR was et up in the 1920's and had 2 megawatts output on 16.5 KC/s until she was shut down four tears ago.
Wonder why they dont do their research properly or even at all.?

--- On Mon, 1/3/10, vk...@wia.org.au <vk...@wia.org.au> wrote:

> From: vk...@wia.org.au <vk...@wia.org.au>
> Subject: [Radio Officers, &c] NAA Cutler Maine VLF TX

[msta...@comcast.net]

The US Navy's ELF Transmitter was at Clam Lake, Wisconson:

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/fs_clam_lake_elf2003.pdf

It has been decommisioned and is now shut down.

Mike N2MS

[jerry...@sympatico.ca]

Hi Mike,
 
Thanks for the update. If ELF is shut down, is there an alternate system in use?

Regards,
Jerry Proc VE3FAB
E-mail: jerry...@sympatico.ca
Web : http://jproc.ca



 

---

Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 13:53:14 +0000
From: msta...@comcast.net
To: radio-o...@googlegroups.com

Subject: RE: [Radio Officers, &c] NAA Cutler Maine VLF TX

[msta...@comcast.net]

Jerry,

I don't know. If these is the Navy does not discuss it. The VLF stations are still on the air.

Mike N2MS

----- Original Message -----
From: jerry proc
To: radio-o...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 14:06:17 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: RE: [Radio Officers, &c] NAA Cutler Maine VLF TX



Hi Mike,


 


Thanks for the update. If ELF is shut down, is there an alternate system in use?

Regards,
Jerry Proc VE3FAB
E-mail: jerry...@sympatico.ca
Web : http://jproc.ca



 

---

Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 13:53:14 +0000
From: msta...@comcast.net
To: radio-o...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [Radio Officers, &c] NAA Cutler Maine VLF TX



The US Navy's ELF Transmitter was at Clam Lake, Wisconson:

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/fs_clam_lake_elf2003.pdf

It has been decommisioned and is now shut down.

Mike N2MS

[need...@plateautel.net]

"and the housings of the two giant transmitters were a light green color"

Oh my! Who can read that and not think of Heathkit?

Vy 7 3
Earl


Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

[CLIVE COLLINS]

how about USPS?

Clive GW3WEQ

--- On Tue, 2/3/10, jerry...@sympatico.ca <jerry...@sympatico.ca> wrote:

> From: jerry...@sympatico.ca <jerry...@sympatico.ca>
> Subject: RE: [Radio Officers, &c] NAA Cutler Maine VLF TX
> To: radio-o...@googlegroups.com
> Date: Tuesday, 2 March, 2010, 14:06
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi Mike,
>
>  
>
> Thanks for the update. If ELF is shut down, is there an
> alternate system in use?
>
> Regards,
> Jerry Proc VE3FAB
> E-mail: jerry...@sympatico.ca
>
> Web : http://jproc.ca
>
>
>
>  
>
>

> Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 13:53:14 +0000
> From: msta...@comcast.net
> To: radio-o...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: RE: [Radio Officers, &c] NAA Cutler Maine VLF
> TX
>
>
>

> #yiv1024507127 .ExternalClass
> {height:100%;color:#000000;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial;}

>
> The US Navy's ELF Transmitter was at Clam Lake,
> Wisconson:
>
> http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/fs_clam_lake_elf2003.pdf
>
> It has been decommisioned and is now shut down.
>
> Mike N2MS
>
>
>
>
>
>

[Bryan Fisher]

I didn't think to check for labels!   Bryan --- On Tue, 3/2/10, need...@plateautel.net <need...@plateautel.net> wrote:

From: need...@plateautel.net <need...@plateautel.net> Subject: Re: [Radio Officers, &c] NAA Cutler Maine VLF TX To: radio-o...@googlegroups.com