Radar trial to watch Torres Strait

http://australianit.news.com.au/arti...E15306,00.html

MAY 05, 2005

A NEW radar surveillance system to boost protection against drugs, disease,
illegal immigration and fishing is being trialled in Torres Strait.

Defence Minister Robert Hill and Justice and Customs Minister Chris Ellison
said the new over-the-horizon high frequency surface wave radar (HFSWR)
would allow defence and Coas****ch to better monitor Australia's northern
coastline, particularly the Torres Strait area. The strait is sensitive
because of its closeness to Papua New Guinea.

Senator Ellison flew to north Queensland today for the handover of the $23
million radar by contractor Daronmont Technologies. He said the trial would
run for two to three years to evaluate the surveillance potential of the
radar.
HFSWR can detect surface vessels and low-flying aircraft beyond the visible
horizon, unlike conventional radars which are limited to line-of-sight
operations.

"This technology has the potential to deliver 24-hour wide-area coastal
surveillance of aircraft, ships and boats travelling in the Torres Strait,"
he said in a statement. "It also has the potential to provide early storm
warnings and to protect offshore oil and gas installations, if further
developed and deployed."

The ceremony was attended by Torres Strait community representatives and
executives from Daronmont Technologies.
The project required an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) under the 1998
Native Title Act in 1998.

Senator Hill and Senator Ellison signed ILUAs with the Dauan and Badu Island
communities in February 2004, allowing construction of the radar facilities
on the two Torres Strait Islands. A 440m-long receiver array is on Dauan
Island in the northern Torres Strait and the transmitter is on the
uninhabited Koey Ngurtai (Pumpkin) island, north of Badu Island in the
middle of Torres Strait. The HFSWR technology was developed by the Defence
Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO).

Daronmont Technologies is a wholly Australian-owned enterprise specialising
in design, engineering, integration and support of complex high technology
electronics systems. Opposition defence and homeland security spokesman
Robert McClelland said while Daronmont and DSTO were to be commended for
their work, there was still more for the government to do on border
protection and stopping illegal fishing. AAP

"This technology has the potential to deliver 24-hour wide-area coastal
surveillance of aircraft, ships and boats travelling in the Torres
Strait,"
he said in a statement. "It also has the potential to provide early
storm
warnings and to protect offshore oil and gas installations, if further
developed and deployed."

************************************************** *********************

Aussie "woodpecker". ?

Drifter...

"Drifter" wrote in message
...
"This technology has the potential to deliver 24-hour wide-area coastal
surveillance of aircraft, ships and boats travelling in the Torres
Strait,"
he said in a statement. "It also has the potential to provide early
storm
warnings and to protect offshore oil and gas installations, if further
developed and deployed."

************************************************** *********************

Aussie "woodpecker". ?

Drifter...

Dunno, but something has been making a racket across the bottom edge of 40m
for a couple of months now. It runs at random times and I have heard it from
several locations separated by several hundred kilometres.
Damn nuisance if it is the OTHR, but then, it's only the CW segment of 40m.
Who will miss it? ;-)

Brad VK2QQ

Aussie "woodpecker". ?

Drifter...

Dunno, but something has been making a racket across the bottom edge of
40m
for a couple of months now. It runs at random times and I have heard it
from
several locations separated by several hundred kilometres.
Damn nuisance if it is the OTHR, but then, it's only the CW segment of
40m.
Who will miss it? ;-)

Brad VK2QQ

************************************************** ***************************

Hi Brad. if your old enough to remember the "Russia Woodpecker"; you
would
remember the sound. i believe it was back in the 70s. can't recall the
freqs,
but, it played hell for a few years. i'll have to check out the cw
segment
of 40m...
Drifter...

************************************************** ***************************

Hi Brad. if your old enough to remember the "Russia Woodpecker"; you
would
remember the sound. i believe it was back in the 70s. can't recall the
freqs,
but, it played hell for a few years. i'll have to check out the cw
segment
of 40m...
Drifter...

I remember the Russian Woodpecker all too well. It would clobber a lump of
spectrum several hundred kHz wide and be S9 or greater for hours. It also
followed the propagation and was a nuisance from 40m to 10m. The Jindalee
OTHR has a different signature and keeps away from the various ham and
commercial frequencies, which is very considerate of them. I think the new
one has a much faster pulse rate than the old Russian one.

brad.

Mark Zenier wrote:

For that matter, Raytheon has one for sale, developed for the
Canadians. The web page says it can detect a jet ski from a couple
of hundred kilometers.

Wonder why it is for sale? But then we here in Canada don't use jet skis -
just snowmobiles in our "great white north".

Ken
Winnipeg, Canada

On Sat, 7 May 2005 16:38:03 GMT, (Mark
Zenier) wrote:

They've had them for quite a while. There's a really big one in
their northern outback. "Jindalee" is what the location sounds like,
I don't remember how it's spelled in print.

For that matter, Raytheon has one for sale, developed for the
Canadians. The web page says it can detect a jet ski from a couple
of hundred kilometers.

Mark Zenier Washington State resident

I think you'll find this is Jindalee under a different name.
They spent a significant amount developing it during the
'90s, this is the first practical application I've seen
publicly announced.

http://www.defence.gov.au/dmo/esd/jp2025/jp2025.cfm

and some historical reports he

http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/corpo...hr/othr11.html

http://www.anao.gov.au/WebSite.nsf/P...25690A002479D2


Cheers, Alan, Australia