[ARC5] NSS Cutler, ME

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 26 Nov 2013 at 17:31, D C _Mac_ Macdonald wrote:

> The beast used a monter "coax" line that was copper "pipe" about 6'
> I.D. The pictures showed a man walking INSIDE the coax before the
> center conductor of copper piping about 1 foot O.D. was installed
> using four insulated standoffs at each point at intervals along the
> feedline.

Yes. I have seen that photo. I think it is still on the web 
somewhere. There is also a photo of the HUGE variometer in the 
antenna tuning house at the bottom of the feed-line. The antenna was 
mounted on 12 ea 600 foot towers.

The Germans had a similar setup many years ago. The antenna system 
was similar to the one at NSS. It completely crossed over a large 
river in Germany. As I remember it, they named it Goliath or 
Collossus or something similar. It was destroyed during WWII, as I 
remember it.

> The transmitter fed one of two identical antennas that had a
> huge ground counterpoise "screen" leading into the ocean. If one
> antenna iced up they fed raw AC (I guess) to the other antenna to
> de-ice it and then switched antennas. If I recall, the signal
> transmitted was ICW at about 5 wpm. Any higher speed would cause the
> bandwidth of the signal to exceed the bandwidth of the antenna system!

That may have been early on, but by the time I was using it for code 
practice, it, and all the others, was transmitting 5-letter code 
groups at a pretty steady 30 WPM.

I have forgotten how they got around the antenna-bandwidth problem 
but they did. I read an article some time ago which outlined their 
method. As I remember it, it was pretty ingenious. In fact, sometime 
after I was no longer using those VLF stations for code practice, 
they switched to a narrow-shift FSK, which actually required more 
bandwidth than 30 wpm CW.

In fact, there are still one or two that are on the air sending that 
stuff.

I worked with a fellow in Missoula, Montana for a couple of years in 
the 1970s who bought and set up multiple VLF receivers, first mostly 
RAKs, then RBLs, and others, with their audio outputs connected to 
chart recorders to record the signal levels of many of the Navy VLF 
stations.

He was investigating a VLF phenomenon called SES, or Sudden 
Enhancement of Signal. When the chart recorders would show a sudden 
rise in signal level, followed by an exponential fall off, he would 
fire up his solar-prominence telescope and take photos of the sun-
spots and flares to correlate all that info.

He was a real nut. He left me 5 tons (and I am not kidding) of mostly 
VLF radio receiving gear when he passed. Including over 150 ARC-5 
receivers.

I remember specifically being tuned to NSS in Cutler, NPG, NPM, one 
in the Canal Zone, and another at Northwest Cape, Australia. There 
were several more I have forgotten.

All were copyable in Missoula using end-fed wires in two large pine 
trees 24/7/365

Of course the one in Jim Creek, WA came in like gangbusters 24/7/365. 

All you really needed for that one was a tuned circuit, a crystal 
diode and some headphones. It was tremendously loud there.

Ken W7EKB