[Lowfer] 160 - 175 KHz USE

[David L. Wilson]

> remember.  However, some of us in broadcasting had been approached in
> the late 70s by the government to have our sites included in a network of
> automated military LF communication relays that sure sounded an awful lot
> like what became GWEN.  The sites they were apparently most interested in
> were surveyed and studied in some detail.  Nothing came of it at that
time,
> however, and when the "real" program got underway in the next decade,
> the chosen sites were farther apart and not co-located with civilian
> facilities.)

Prototype GWEN stations were put on commercial broadcast towers in the US
southwest.  These actually operated above 175 kHz.

Initially GWEN used frequencies in the 175-190 kHz range but those were
abandoned to allow the planned  civil defense system DIDS to use 179 and 191
kH.  So GWEN was then confined to 150-175 kHz (actual channels were 150.625
to 173.125 with a channel spacing of 1.25 kHz).

The civil defense system never was developed beyond the 50 kW prototype
station WGU20 in Chase, MD.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGU-20