No Angels Playing This HAARP

Two men have been arrested in Georgia on charges of plotting to blow up the Alaska research center of HAARP, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program. The facility, now owned and operated by the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, was built by the U.S. Air Force to study auroras and experiment with creating artificial auroras. The work there has long been of interest to hams, as well as to a variety of conspiracy theorists.

 

The ARRL Letter reports that one of the two Georgia men was being investigated for drug trafficking when police received a tip that he had been trying to buy a large quantity of weapons. Police found what was described as a massive arsenal of weapons and said the men explained "that God told them to go and blow this machine up that kept souls, so souls could be released." They were both charged with domestic terrorism, and drug offenses. A spokesman for the university assured the Letter that "no souls are stored at HAARP."

Stand By for More Over-the-Horizon Radar

A US Over-the-Horizon radar installation.
(US Navy photo)

The ARRL Letter reports that Russia is planning to activate several new over-the-horizon radars this year in the Arctic. The radars reportedly are capable of tracking and identifying aerial and sea targets at distances of several hundred miles. Hams who were active on HF in the 1970s and '80s will likely remember the "Russian woodpecker" interference caused by over-the-horizon radars of that period. The Letter says that level of interference is unlikely with current-technology radars. 

However, it says that a Russian OTH radar currently heard frequently on 20 meters transmits an 80-kHz-wide frequency-modulated CW signal that sweeps across the band 50 times a minute.

Milestones: Two Former ARRL Officers Among Silent Keys

ARRL President Emeritus Jim Haynie, W5JBP, and Honorary Vice President Tod Olson, K0TO, are among the hams who became Silent Keys in November. Haynie, who was 73, served as ARRL President from 2000 to 2006, and was a major proponent of amateur radio in the classroom. 

Olson, who also served as an ARRL director and international affairs vice president, was a dedicated contester and was founding editor of the National Contest Journal. He was inducted last year into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame.
 

Also becoming a Silent Key was Nate Brightman, K6OSC. Brightman was best known for bringing amateur radio aboard the Queen Mary after it became a museum ship. He served as W6RO Wireless Room Manager for 34 years before retiring in 2013, according to the ARRL Letter. W6RO was reportedly the first permanent ham station aboard a museum ship. Currently, some 90 museum ships feature ham stations that often provide visitors with their first exposure to amateur radio. Brightman was 99.