- 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.
- 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.)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
