Date posted: 2005-11-14
HAARP Project Proceeds; Said to Be Record-Setting HF Project

Continental said it is ahead of schedule in delivering 132
ultra-low-noise transmitters to U.S. government contractor BAE Systems
for use in the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program.

"When the massive planar array for ionospheric research is completed
in 2007, it will include a total of 180 Continental Electronics D616G
10-kW combined transmitters, which the company is upgrading
specifically for HAARP," the supplier stated. The facility is near
Gakona, Alaska.

The installation began in 1993 with 18 transmitters, expanded to 48 in
1998 and will grow to 180 transmitters. The final expansion will bring
the HAARP array to full power, with ERP increasing from 84 dBW to
about 96 dBW.

Continental, which has a contract to supply six transmitters per
month, stated that the system "will have greater transmitter
modulation capability, variable frequency range and beam steering than
any other high-frequency transmitting system in the world."

According to the manufacturer, the federal government is constructing
the facility to conduct upper-atmospheric and solar-terrestrial
research via a phased array transmitter. The goal is to learn more
about the ionosphere, a section of the atmosphere ionized by solar
radiation with natural electrical currents that can be modulated with
radio signals.

"Much of the ionosphere's scientific potential lies in satellite
communications, which depends on signals passing through it,"
Continental stated.

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