Re: HAARP Facility Shuts Down – National Association for Amateur Rad

From: benthejrporter

Date: 2013-07-24 10:27:10

Leaving aside the very important, but off-topic things he says in the first minute, then Evelyn de Rothschild talks about weather meteorology and climate change. Let’s see if “somebody” buys up the old HAARP facility! See: www.youtube.com/watc… Also remember there are duplicate facilities in Norway, supposedly to communicate with submarines using ELF- Extremely Low Frequency radio. But it has other purposes too I bet. — In Cognoscence@yahoogro…, “Andrew Johnson” wrote: > > Thanks to Maia for this link – as she says “Hmmm” > >http://www.arrl.org/news/view/haarp-facility-shuts-down > > > > HAARP Facility Shuts Down > > TAGS: air force , > Alaska , amateur > radio > club, hams , ionospheric > research, > keeney , naval > > research laboratory,research > > 07/15/2013 > > 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. > > “Currently the site is abandoned,” he said. “It comes down to money. 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. In the meantime a new prime contractor > will be coming on board to run the government owned-contractor operated > (GOCO) facility. > > 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. “People came unglued,” > Keeney said, noting that he’s already had inquiries from Congress. > Universities that depended upon HAARP research grants also are upset, he > said. > > 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. DARPA has nearly $8.8 million in its FY 14 budget plan to research > “physical aspects of natural phenomena such as magnetospheric sub-storms, > fire, lightning and geo-physical phenomena.” > > 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. Beyond that, he > said, it costs $300,000 a month just to keep the facility open and $500,000 > to run it at full capacity for 10 days. > > Jointly funded by the US Air Force Research Laboratory > and the US > sest-artificial-ionospheric-plasma-clouds-using-haarp> Naval Research > Laboratory, HAARP is an ionospheric research facility. Its best-known > apparatus is 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.” > > 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 HAARPsucceeded > requency-radar-echo-from-the-moon> in bouncing a 40 meter signal off the > moon. Earlier this year, HAARP scientists successfully > sest-artificial-ionospheric-plasma-clouds-using-haarp> 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. He pointed out that it would cost less to bulldoze > the antenna field than it would to replace the 180 antenna elements. > > 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.” >