[SFDXA] Watch for this ad...

[Kai]

Watch for this ad coming to your favorite electronics journal:

"For sale, 180 dual polarization wide band dipoles (2.8 to 10 MHz continuous 
coverage, convertible to 160 m band - 30m band). Matching wide band high power 
(20 kW)  transmitter available to the well qualified buyer with EACH dipole set 
purchased. Bulk purchases take priority. Don't miss this opportunity to be the 
first on your block to fry the ionosphere and the surrounding neighborhood on 
160m, 80m, 40m and 30m bands simultaneously! More fun, and way cooler, than 
illegal CB transmitters! Get them while they last, only 180 sets available! 
Inquire US Air Force Research Lab."

73
Kai, KE4PT


Propagation Science: HAARP Facility Shuts Down [ARRL NEwsletter]

The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) -- a subject of 
fascination for many hams and the target of conspiracy theorists and 
anti-government activists -- has closed down. HAARP's program manager, Dr James 
Keeney at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, told ARRL that the sprawling 
35-acre ionospheric research facility in remote Gakona, Alaska, has been 
shuttered since early May.

"It comes down to money," Keeney said. "We don't have any." Keeney said no one 
is on site, access roads are blocked, buildings are chained and the power turned 
off. HAARP's website through the University of Alaska no longer is available; 
Keeney said the program can't afford to pay for the service. "Everything is in 
secure mode," he said, adding that it will stay that way at least for another 4 
to 6 weeks.

HAARP put the world on notice two years ago that it would be shutting down and 
did not submit a budget request for FY 15, Keeney said, "but no one paid any 
attention." Now, he says, they're complaining. Keeney says he's already had 
inquiries from Congress, and universities that depended upon HAARP research 
grants also are upset. The only bright spot on HAARP's horizon right now is that 
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is expected on site as a 
client to finish up some research this fall and winter.

The proximate cause of HAARP's early May shutdown was less fiscal than 
environmental, Keeney said. As he explained it, the diesel generators on site no 
longer pass Clean Air Act muster. Repairing them to meet EPA standards will run 
$800,000.

Jointly funded by the US Air Force Research Laboratory and the US Naval Research 
Laboratory, HAARP is best known for its 3.6 MW HF (approximately 3 to 10 MHz) 
ionospheric research instrument (IRI), feeding an extensive system of 180 
antenna elements and used to "excite" sections of the ionosphere. Other onsite 
equipment is used to evaluate the effects.

Larry Ledlow, N1TX, of Fairbanks, Alaska, said HAARP ionosonde and riometer data 
have been "invaluable, especially being more or less local, to understand 
current conditions in the high latitudes." He said data from other sites "simply 
do not accurately reflect the unique propagation we endure here."

To fill the gap, Ledlow said, several members of the Arctic Amateur Radio Club 
-- including Eric Nichols, KL7AJ, author of Radio Science for the Radio Amateur 
and articles in QST -- have discussed building their own instruments. "It's all 
very preliminary," he said, "but we really feel the pinch losing HAARP." 
Nichols, of North Pole, Alaska, has conducted experiments at HAARP. He called 
the shutdown "a great loss to interior Alaska hams and many others."

HAARP is home to the most powerful radio transmitter in the world. (US Navy photo)

The ultra-high power facility long has intrigued hams, even outside of Alaska. 
In 1997, HAARP transmitted test signals on HF (3.4 MHz and 6.99 MHz) and 
solicited reports from hams and short-wave listeners in the "Lower 48" to 
determine how well the HAARP transmissions could be heard to the south. In 2007 
HAARP succeeded in bouncing a 40 meter signal off the moon. Earlier this year, 
HAARP scientists successfully produced a sustained high-density plasma cloud in 
Earth's upper atmosphere.

As things stand, the Air Force has possession for now, but if no other agency 
steps forward to take over HAARP, the unique facility will be dismantled, Keeney 
said.

Splashy web postings abound, blaming HAARP for controlling the weather -- most 
recently in the case of Hurricane Sandy and the spate of tornados -- and for 
causing other natural disasters. Quipped Keeney, "If I actually could affect the 
weather, I'd keep it open."