[ARC5] NAA Cutler, ME

[Tim]

Hi Glen - TACAMO was an interesting concept antenna-wise.  I had understood
the C-130 flew in circles but the trailing wire antenna end found its way
down into the center of the circle, so the antenna was primarily vertical.
This technique is also used by light aircraft to deliver and pick up small
items from remote places with no landing strip.  Trail a long rope with a
bucket on the end - fly in circles around the clearing, bucket lands and is
stationary for cargo in/out.  Then head off straight, bucket follows... It
works!
Tim


On Tue, Nov 26, 2013 at 8:34 PM, Glen Zook <gzook at yahoo.com> wrote:

> The TACAMO VLF radio systems that Collins Radio made for airborne
> communications with U.S. Navy submarines, had a "trailing wire antenna"
> several miles long!  Many times, before the system was really operational,
> there would be "snags" when reeling in the antenna so that the aircraft
> could land.  At that point, the antenna would have to be cut from the reel.
>  There are several hundred miles of this antenna wire at the bottom of the
> Gulf of Mexico!
>
> In the late 1960s, Collins had a 35 mm slide presentation on the TACAMO
> system.  One slide showed a disheveled "Heckle and Jeckle" (cartoon crows
> of the era) lamenting "there goes that damned wire again" (referring, of
> course, to the trailing wire TACAMO antenna).
>
> The C-130 aircraft, with the TACAMO equipment aboard, would fly in circles
> approaching the end of the trailing wire antenna.
>
> Glen, K9STH
>
>
> Website:  http://k9sth.com
>
>
>
> On Tuesday, November 26, 2013 10:03 PM, mac <w7qho at aol.com> wrote:
>
> So, of course, full-size anenna elements not feasible.  The "modified"
> Goliath antenna at NSS used a 1200 ft central tower and a huge top
> loading array supported by adjacent towers.  This "top-hat" was
> reputed to weigh as much as a destroyer.
>
> Dennis D.  W7QHO
> Glendale, CA
>
> **********
> On Nov 26, 2013, at 5:55 PM, Kenneth G. Gordon wrote:
>
> > It is particularly interesting that a 1/4 wave antenna at those VLF
> > frequencies is about 2.5 KM tall. That is about 1.5 miles. Some
> > antenna!
>
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