HAARP: FAQ and Glossary
NOTICE: TO ALL CONCERNED Certain text files and messages contained on this site deal with activities and devices which would be in violation of various Federal, State, and local laws if actually carried out or constructed. The webmasters of this site do not advocate the breaking of any law. Our text files and message bases are for informational purposes only. We recommend that you contact your local law enforcement officials before undertaking any project based upon any information obtained from this or any other web site. We do not guarantee that any of the information contained on this system is correct, workable, or factual. We are not responsible for, nor do we assume any liability for, damages resulting from the use of any information on this site.
The Language of HAARP
Frequently Asked Questions & Glossary
One thing I've found out in writing about radios and technical
subjects is the relative impenetrability of the jargon. We think
about kilohertz and phase-angles as if they were part of our lives,
because they are. It's like the Eskimos and all their words for snow.
But snow is indeed what happens if we do not define our terms.
This is difficult. Defining a 'radio wave' is a bit like defining
sunshine. We know what it is, but mostly nonverbally or (worse)
mathematically. Therefore this glossary is very hard to write, and
given the complexity of ionospheric physics it will always be a bit
embryonic and imprecise. Those needing precise, mathematical
definitions should consult university-level science texts. Be
prepared to review calculus!
Frequently Asked HAARP Questions
How does HAARP work?
HAARP is a radio transmitter. It works exactly like the ones in
standard, AM stations like the ones you listen to every day, except
for three differences:
1.It is far larger.
(A large U.S. station is 50,000 watts. HAARP will deliver about 20-30 times that, not counting antenna gain.)
2.It is on a slightly higher frequency.
(AM broadcasting is 0.530 - 1.730 MHz. HAARP is 4 - 9 MHz.)
3.The antenna is completely different. (AM stations use vertical towers, to direct power along the Earth's surface. HAARP uses a complex antenna that concentrates the entire beam on a small area of the sky.)
Think about when you were a kid, and how it was fun to burn holes
in leaves with a magnifying glass. This analogy works, very
superficially, for HAARP. Instead of focusing the sun's rays to heat
a tiny area of the leaf, it focuses radio waves to heat a tiny area of
the earth's atmosphere. However, no oxidation takes place. The air
is much too thin for this.
This process is caused ionospheric heating. Short wave broadcasting stations do it, on a much, much smaller scale, every day.
If this heating isn't thermal, what's going on?
As with any heating process, an external energy source increases
the motions of particles in that which is being heated. In this case,
the process is not thermal but electrical, since charged particles are
being heated. The result is an expansion.
Sounds sinister. What's ionospheric heating really doing?
It's stirring up the ionosphere, a series of charged layers made up of
very thin, ionized air, from 40 to 300 miles up in the atmosphere.
This kind of heating seeks to influence the spirals that charged
particles, notably electrons, make around the Earth's magnetic lines,
thus changing electrical currents that move continuously around
our planet. Such heating is invisible, except possibly for some dim,
auroral glow. A space shuttle orbiting in the vicinity would see no
obvious changes, except possibly for one hell of a radio signal. The
effect is electrical. Like any heated plasma, the tiny ionospheric
section thins and expands. This greatly changes its effect on all
radio signals.
HAARP, like most such heaters, gets much of its bang from its
position, which takes advantage of the angle of the Earth's magnetic
field. The second "A" is for "Auroral," as in the "Northern Lights."
HAARP is not strong enough to cause anything but the tiniest
approximation of an aurora, but it is well situated to influence the
natural one.
How did Nikola Tesla get into all this?
Some of his writings, notably the ones on wireless transmission of
electrical power, spoke of resonance and standing waves. A similar
effect was mentioned in Eastlund's work.
The original, Eastlund patent cites the "gyrofrequency." This is
merely the radio frequency, in kHz, that matches the time it takes
an ionospheric electron to spiral around a magnetic line. HAARP
uses the gyrofrequency to achieve a resonance, or a tuned condition
in which a small kick makes a big effect - more bang for the buck.
Resonance is already used in most radio circuits. It's how you "tune
in" a station. Tesla studied resonance for many years, with some
dramatic results.
It has been shown, at EISCAT, a larger heater in Norway, that the
right kind of resonant auroral stimulation can actually cause feeble,
controllable fluctuations in the auroral "electrojet," a sort of electric
jet stream that flows around our planet. This electrojet grows
stronger in visible aurora, but it is always present to some degree.
Modification opens some very interesting possibilities, such as the
generation of secondary radio waves with extremely low
frequencies (ELF).
The military is excited about such ELF waves, because it uses them
for communicating with submarines. They penetrate water, at least
to a shallow depth, which ordinary radio waves just don't do. Also,
the right kind of ELF would allow remote sensing and tomography
of the deep underground - giving the earth a non-ionizing type of
"CAT scan" without X-rays, which wouldn't work on this scale. It
might be possible to map deeply buried missile bases, pipelines,
bomb shelters, and more.
Anything past this is pure conjecture. Aurora has been connected
with brain waves and weather modification, but nothing is proven.
Is HAARP a top secret project?
HAARP is unclassified, though some of its experiments might not be. It's like the space shuttle.
Most of its use is just what they say it is - scientific research. It is,
in fact, only one of several such facilities. An even larger one is
being built in Norway. Other heaters exist in Russia and Puerto
Rico (to study the equatorial ring current?). Either these people are
onto something, or an awful lot of academic/industrial/military
types just ensured their job security into the next century.
Won't HAARP burn a hole in the ionosphere?
Burning involves oxidation, which cannot take place in such thin
air. Keep in mind that the ionosphere, especially higher up, is
practically a vacuum. There isn't a lot of there, there. The space
shuttle actually orbits in its upper layer. The "holes" referred to in
military papers probably refer to some sort of localized, space-
based, ionospheric modification to improve signals to/from
geosynchronous satellites above combat zones.
Space-based?
Oh, most definitely. The DoD has been investigating every possible
way of modifying the ionosphere. The Tethered Satellite System on
the space shuttle had some vaguely stated research aims here, along
with the publicly declared mission of generating electricity. The
CRRES satellite caused disturbances strong enough to be seen
from the ground.
Does this mean HAARP will cause global disturbances?
No. It is a device for creating localized ones. This is not to say,
however, that wide deployment of resulting technology will not
someday affect the ionosphere worldwide, with unforseen
consequences.
We had a [power blackout, bad storm, whatever] yesterday. Did HAARP cause it?
Almost certainly not. Compared to the energy coming from the sun,
HAARP is a weenie roast. It can create only a tiny fraction of the
planetary effects of a magnetic storm, such as the ones expected
around 2000 when the solar cycle peaks. It cannot knock out
power, change the weather or disrupt communication, except
perhaps in a very, very limited area that might be useful for tactical
situations.
Though their information suffers from the usual credibility
problems of anything coming from the military, it's worth checking
the Navy's web page to see if HAARP was even transmitting when
something happened.
Can HAARP change the global weather?
We don't know. At its proposed power level, very, very probably
not. The laws of physics require a radio transmitter of almost
apocalyptic power, an Eastlund machine or larger, to make even a
small difference over a useful area of the sky. Nuclear bombs would
do it better and cheaper. Of course, the precise connection between
the ionosphere and upper-level meterology is not well understood,
though there is very good evidence that there is one.
What about all the bizarre weather we're having right now?
This pattern, which is based on a jet stream displaced from its
traditional position over North America, seemed to start in the 70s,
well before any ionospheric heaters were operating at any kind of
reasonable field strength. More likely, the unpredictable jet stream,
the augmented El Nino/Southern Oscillation, and the other
anomalies are due to volcanism, global warming, mere statistical
artifacts, all of the above, or none of the above.
Isn't HAARP dangerous to birds and aircraft?
It certainly is. The first inklings that something was up at the
Gakona site came from FAA memos about possible future RF
hazards. HAARP will apparently use radar to shut the IRI down if
airplanes stray into RF fields strong enough to affect navigation or
safety. The hazard to birds is harder to determine. HAARP's
antennas are actually much safer to wildlife than many of those
used by large, shortwave broadcasters. The concern has centered on
the fact that there are so many of them.
What's the effect of HAARP on ham radio?
Depends on where you are, what HAARP is doing, and when it's
doing it. It could range from disruptive to unnoticed. Most of the
proposed emission is not of a type that causes very much
interference. It's more likely that certain activities from the several
heaters in the auroral zone could temporarily weaken certain polar-
path signals for very short periods. In any event, ionospheric
heating will never be anywhere near as disruptive as backstatter
radar.
So what's the problem with HAARP?
It changes the ionosphere, a part of the atmosphere upon which we
depend for life itself, in ways that are not entirely predictable. On a
more philosophical level, it militarizes a lower fringe of space, that
treaties have long established as belonging to everyone on the
planet.
You mean HAARP is against international law?
It skirts the spirit, if not the letter. The U.S. has signed a number of
treaties and UN agreements which largely preclude using the
ionosphere as a weapon. It's more debatable as to whether any one
country has a right to change everyone else's atmosphere over 50
miles up, which is technically space. Of course, international law
takes a beating in wartime, and in any event the law always seems
to lag behind technology.
If "We" don't build it, won't "They?"
This is always a good one, because "They" already have. They built
a real nice one, at SURA. The main effect upon the United States
was to give the U.S. military another place to do heating research,
and it has done just that. Glasnost at work, I guess. So the alarmists
can come out of their fallout shelters now, and get a life.
HAARP Glossary
Aurora
Streams of energetic particles, mostly electrons, that originate in
the solar wind, and are trapped by the Earth's magnetic field. When
these particles collide with atoms in the ionosphere, a number of
effects can be observed, from the visible northern and southern
lights to shifts in radio wave propagation. HAARP is an attempt to
test the modification of this process using synchronized, high
power RF.
Auroral Zone
Two vaguely-defined circles around the Arctic and Antarctic, that
have the most northern and southern lights. These represent the
areas above which the Earth's magnetic field reaches the right angle
to guide trapped, solar particles into collisions with terrestrial ones
in the atmosphere. If particle flow is strong enough, as from an
enhanced solar wind, observable visible aurora (northern and
southern lights) and radio aurora (a set of effects on radio
reception) are the results. It is important that ionospheric heaters
beam their waves into the auroral zones, as this gives the most bang
per buck. The auroral zones move southward/northward in
geomagnetic storms.
CRRES
Acronym for Combined Release and Radiation Effect Satellite.
Among other DoD missions, the satellite dumped glowing
chemicals into the ionosphere to observe the disturbed results.
Your taxes at work.
dB
Decibels. A tenth of a Bel, a unit of ratio named for Alexander
Graham Bell, who invented the telephone. A dB does not measure a
quantity. It measures how much bigger something is than something
else. It is common to talk about a loud sound as so many decibels,
but this is actually dB as referenced to a zero level that is around
the threshhold of human hearing, and may or may not be weighted
to match the ear.
The important thing about dB is that they're logarithmic. They
follow the laws of physics in such matters, which mean that some
pretty dramatic (and expensive) expansions of equipment make
rather undramatic changes out at the listener's end. For example, a
50,000 watt AM radio station does not sound 45,500 watts louder
than a 500-watt oat burner, everything else being equal. It sounds
20 dB louder. Nice, but not spectacular, except out in the fringes
where it makes the whole difference. Now, if the engineer goes to
500,000 watts, as WLW ('World's Largest Wireless') once did, he
only gets another 10 dB, and meanwhile the transmitter is starting
to look (and cost) like a nuclear reactor. It is, in fact, this law of
physics that motivated the FCC to reduce the legal AM radio power
to 50 kW. Getting a better antenna can do the rest.
back
Death Ray
A death ray is any invisible radiation beam that can kill,
presumably as quickly and effectively as a bullet. The term comes
from science fiction, but apparently also refers to a real or
imaginary weapon that the U.S. military proposed or designed in
World War II. Rumors that Nikola Tesla was in on some secret
project gained credence in some areas when the government
confiscated all Tesla's papers upon his death, although it is very
possible that the Feds were going on the same rumors. Particle and
photon beams were re-investigated for SDI. (See SDI.)
back
EISCAT
A HAARP-like ionospheric heater being developed in Noway.
Electromagnetism
One of the four known 'cosmic forces' from which all energy comes.
Electricity and magnetism are forever associated by 'Maxwell's
Equations.' Indeed, it is observed that a moving charge has an
electric and a magnetic field, providing a theroretical basis for
ionospheric heating.
Electron
Negatively charged particle of low mass (a 'lepton'), the motions of
which are the partial basis of electricity and electromagnetism.
When these motions cause energy to be transferred into space as
waves of massless 'photons,' the result can be a radio wave.
ELF
Extremely Low Frequency. Often said as a whole word instead of
an acronym, pronounced like Santa's little employees. Refers to the
radio frequencies, typically below 3-5 kHz, where radio waves are
barely even radio waves, and where they can be directly converted
into audible sounds, or even electric power. The ionosphere gives
off various, natural ELF waves, that sound like whistles when
connected to simple audio amplifiers like in any stereo. Man-made
ELF has such a long wavelength that it will penetrate water for
short distances, which ordinary radio simply cannot do. This means
that, at least since Nikola Tesla's time, the military has been
interested in using it to communicate with submerged submarines.
In fact, the United States does this, and one goal of HAARP is to
determine if the current, unwieldy, miles-long antennas can be
replaced with secondary emissions from the heated ionosphere.
On a more theoretical level, ELF waves can be made to synchronize
with human brain waves, or various electromechanical resonances
in the Earth itself. This is the phenomenon, presumably
investigated secretly by both sides in the Cold War, that has
launched a thousand conspiracy theories. Like all good
conspiracies, none of these can be proven, since the people
involved, if any, can't talk.
back
Frequency
The number of times a wave, or any other cyclic phenomenon for
that matter, makes one complete set of changes (a cycle) in a
second. Used to be measured in 'cycles per second,' but that was
way too logical for radio people, so now we use 'Hertz,' the same
thing.
Geomagnetic Storm
An ominous name for a less ominous phenomenon, in which the
Earth's magnetic field becomes more unstable, as measured on
standard instruments and crunched into index numbers more
numerous even than the ones in the stock market. As in the stock
market 'tick figure' and all that, low numbers mean less volatility,
greater ones mean something's up. What's up is increased solar
wind, leading to increased aurora, which pushes the magnetosphere
around. This is not good for power companies, satellites, and
shortwave radio communication. This is good for physicists, who
can write papers about things that make HAARP look like a dim
bulb.
Actually, a dim bulb is what the entire province of Quebec got after
an especially large storm took out their power grid in 1989. It is not
yet known if a transmitter the size of HAARP can cause power
failures in a similar manner. I'm not going to rule it out.
Gyrofrequency
Pretend you're an electron. You were blown loose of a hydrogen
atom by a solar disturbance and given a solid kick into
interplanetary space. You're now near the Earth. Since you're a
moving charge, and thus electricity, you are attracted by a magnet,
in this case the whole planet. You are captured and spiral in toward
the Earth's poles. Since you have angular momentum and all that
stuff (though barely, being as much a probability wave as a
particle), you don't just follow the magnetic field in a straight line.
You spiral in. On the way, you meet a lot of local yokels, little
particles blown from atoms in the upper atmosphere by solar EUV
or other ionizing radiation.
The number of spirals per second is the gyrofrequency, and it
determines how radio waves interact with you, and thus with the
ionosphere in general. This frequency is usually somwhere between
4 and 10 MHz, in the HF band, and if HAARP happens to be
transmitting at the moment, it can give you the biggest kick in the
pants right at that frequency, because that's how you're moving
anyway. Your day just got a lot more interesting. You've been
heated.
You can thank the good Dr. Eastlund for putting this idea into
people's heads. See, the hydrogen nuclei back on the sun warned
you that Earth was a bad neighborhood, but, being a silly lepton,
you did not listen...
HAARP
High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Project. Why we're here.
Hertz
A unit of frequency, equal to one cycle per second, named for
Heinrich Hertz, who helped discover radio waves.
HF
High Frequency. Usually pertains to the radio band between 3 and
30 MHz, which is the primary range returned to earth by the
ionosphere. Also known, for our wavelength fans, as 'short wave.'
Note that HF is not a very high frequency by today's standards. It
was when they named it, though, when 'real' radios used spark gaps.
back
HIPAS
HIgh Power Auroral Stimulation. A HAARP precursor, to test the
principle, built by UCLA at Poker Flat.
Ionospheric Heating
The use, in this case, of focused radio waves to increase the energy
of particles in the ionosphere, notably electrons, making them move
more and causing the area thus heated to expand and thin.
back
Ionosphere
Any of 3 or 4 electrically charged (ionized) regions in the Earth's
upper atmosphere. The ionosphere is created by ultraviolet and X-
rays from the sun, therefore it is thickest on the sunlit side of the
planet, and nearer the equator.
The D region is the lowest, at about 50 miles, and it serves mostly
to absorb radio signals. The E region, around 100-150 miles,
returns signals over distances from 50-300 miles. The F region,
highest up at 200-300 miles, returns signals from 200-2000 miles,
or globally with multiple 'hops.' On the daylight side of the Earth,
the F region splits into two layers, F1 and F2, F2 being most
important. On the night side, the F1 region rises and recombines
with the F2. The D and E quickly disappear altogether. At the
planet's 'terminator' or 'twilight zone' (two good shows, huh?), the
ionosphere is in a state of change that creates 'greyline' signal
propagation over some otherwise improbable paths.
The F2 region is rather thin. For example, the space shuttle usually
orbits right in the middle of it. When you watch the astronauts
doing EVAs on TV, they are moving around in the ionosphere.
They can actually generate static electricity. Not a lot of there there,
however. Shortwave radio is literally voices from thin air.
The ionosphere is also sometimes called the Kennely-Heaviside
Layer, after its discoverers.
back
Luxembourg Effect, the
This is a remarkable form of radio interference. Early in broadcast
history, little Luxembourg discovered the commercial potential of
radio, charging private ventures to build ultra-power stations to
compete with government monopolies in other countries. While
France exported wine, and Britain exported fine cars, Luxembourg
exported photons.
Engineers were a long time figuring out why these Luxembourg
flame throwers were audible on other frequencies, but only when
someone else broadcast on them. The cause was ultimately proven
to be a rare form of intermodulation distortion caused by the heavy-
duty Luxembourg transmitters actually heating the ionosphere in
sync with their modulation, impressing their audio upon the other
signals. In this manner, active ionospheric modification was
discovered.
Magnetosphere
The portion of space enclosed within, and thus partially controlled
by, the Earth's magnetic field. It is shaped like a teardrop, with the
tail away from the sun, making it the largest known structure
associated with our planet.
Megawatts
A million watts. This is still a very high power level for radio
transmitters, though there are a few stations with this kind of juice
available, making them low-grade ionospheric heaters in
themselves. (See Luxembourg Effect, the.) HAARP's transmitters
are nothing special, but its antennas are. They concentrate the beam
into an area that otherwise would require a transmitter thousands of
times more powerful. (Also see Watt).
back
Planar Antenna Array
A group of radio antennas arranged precisely on a flat surface.
Typically, a computer varies the 'phase' or timing of signals to
different antennas in the array, causing a beam to form in the
desired direction. Some fighter planes have radar systems with
planar arrays a few feet across. The one used by HAARP will be
miles across, due to lower frequencies and more gain.
back
QSL Card
A postcard, or occasionally a certificate, sent by a radio station to a
listener, as an official verification that a reception report is valid.
Radio hobbyists like to collect these. QSL comes from the old
procedural signal for, "I am acknowledging receipt." It's how Morse
code operators would 'roger' a copied message.
back
RF
Radio Frequency. Radio waves. Refers to electrical oscillations
higher than what can be converted into sound (Audio Frequency or
AF) and lower than frequencies/wavelengths associated with
infrared light. This concept is old, from radio receiver design, and
in fact much of the secondary 'RF' that might come from HAARP is
of audio frequency, though still treated as RF.
back
SDI
Acronym for Strategic Defense Initiative, basically a large cluster of
research projects aimed at extending the U.S. military into space, or
into high-tech weapons systems. The best-known, but probably the
least significant, part of SDI was the infamous BRILLIANT
PEBBLES, an expensive scheme to throw rocks at incoming
nuclear warheads.
SDI pretty much defined the 1980s in the USA. Its awesome
expenditures created several new industries, built a city or two,
expanded thousands more, and pretty much put a generation to
work. However, the return on the investment was low, and SDI's
huge contribution to the deficit is now defining the 90s. Many SDI
programs, including HAARP, are very much alive.
back
Short Wave
Technically, a frequency band roughly synonymous with HF, in
other words 3 to 30 MHz. Coloquially, any radio using a higher
frequency than standard AM, and thus able to communicate over
great distances using the ionosphere. HAARP uses short wave
because of this optimum ionospheric interaction.
back
Sidescatter
Picture a flashlight hitting a mirror. Most of the beam will come
back and make a bright spot on a wall as predicted by simple
reflection, but due to imperfections in the mirror, light will also
scatter around the room. Now do the same thing with high-angle
beams of radio waves hitting the ionosphere, an atmospheric
refractor following chaos theory as well as more basic physics.
While most of the signal comes down in the skip area, enough is
sidescattered and backscattered to greatly increase coverage, filling
'skip zones,' though the received signals are usually thin and
fluttery, often not of commercial quality. Backscatter has a
practical use in over-the-horizon radar, the 'Woodpecker' and its
successors, that are so beloved in conspiracy theories.
One concern is that HAARP can generate enough sidescatter to
cause interference to other short wave users. See Skip.
back
Skip
A radio wave path in which a zone of weak or no reception appears
between two zones of strong reception. The simplest, though least
accurate, analogy, is beams bouncing from a mirror. The waves go
up, skip over an area, and come down. The area skipped over is,
eponymously, the 'skip zone.' Though most skip is ionospheric, it
can also come from meteors, airplanes, atmospheric inversions, the
moon, nearby mountains, buildings, and even hurricanes.
CB radio operators are familiar with skip. Most of the distance
propagation on their band is via the F2 region. They'll suddenly
hear stations 1500 miles away, often louder than the truckers on the
Interstate that they usually talk to. 'Shooting skip' is technically
illegal on CB, but the FCC does not especially care, and I'll never
tell.
Wavelength
While it isn't precise, it's OK to compare radio waves with the ones
in the ocean. The part of the ocean wave that you surf on is the
positive peak. The trough between these is the negative peak. The
distance between similar peaks is the wavelength. In radio,
wavelength is the inverse of frequency, as related by the speed of
light. The wavelength is the size of the radio wave, dictating how
large antennas must be, and how the wave will pass through various
media, among them the moving charges in the ionosphere. While
we usually describe different radio stations by their frequency in
kHz, earlier radios were calibrated in wavelengths, typically in
meters. Thus you'll find both scales in use today. Are we on the
same wavelength about this now?
Watt
A watt is a unit of work being done at a standard rate, named for
the inventor of the steam engine. A horsepower, as in a car engine,
works out to around 700 watts.
In radio, watts are used to measure the amount of electricity
available to a transmitter to turn into RF. The largest legal ham
radios may have 1000 or 1500 watts, depending on how they're
measured. This sounds like about the same as a hair dryer, but the
radio is less efficient, and while the dryer can be plugged into the
wall, the radio probably needs heavy-duty wiring.
A large broadcasting station can have anywhere from 50,000 to a
million watts, and the U.S. military has used powers over 2 MW on
some frequencies. A station this big needs its own powerhouse,
typically several large electric generators driven by Deisel engines.
The cooling systems can resemble small nuclear reactors.
|