[IRCA] 1610 kHz UNID Tone and Thoughts

[Mike Hardester <DX4EVR@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

	Noted in Jacksonville, on truck radio, at 1404-1420 (moving) and 
1420-1428 (parked). Signal varied in strength both while I was 
moving, and once parked. Level ranged from near excellent to absent. 
Should have checked the fade duration, but didn't. I got the 
impression that the "fading" was not real. That is, it seemed too 
rhythmic/smooth to be natural fading -- more like power being 
gradually/automatically increased and decreased over and over.

	Naturally, by the time I got home, 1530 ELT, it was off. I tried to 
plot a rough DF chart based on reported loggings and apparent 
bearings, but I'm not too certain, hi!

Shorewood, IL:	 directly E/W, so it eventually crossed the other 3 
paths - at points all in the northeast

State College, PA: crossed Lilburn, GA, near Monterrey in Mexico

Greenville, SC: crossed very close to the Lilburn, GA, reference 
point....Brock - what are you up to? Hi!!

	Theories? All kinds. For the technical people out there, and in line 
with David Gleason's comments,

"Could Kintronic have some kind of authorization to test the antennas 
at a higher power? They may be looking into some of the concerns 
about the antennas? There have been reports about the need for 
analysis of skywave angles and directional usage of the Kin-Star 
antenna. They have a paper on the system at 
http://www.kintronic.com/site/techpapers/KTL_NAB_Paper.pdf so you can 
see the current state of the design of these low-height antennas that 
perform much like a conforming quarter wave (90 degree) tower. At the 
end, it says that operation in DA systems is subject of further 
development... maybe that is what we have here?"

	Just a thought here on my part -- during 9/11 and the recent 
hurricanes, the biggest complaint has been the lack of reliable 
communications (planning and implementation close seconds). What IF 
you had a series of transmitters (relays, if you will) using 
specialized antennas ALL transmitting the same information (perhaps 
multi-channels with different info on the various channels) to other 
stations for rebroadcast? Any station could initiate traffic.Thus, 
even if some stations are disabled, the "message traffic" gets through.

	As an example - a station in San Francisco wants to send traffic to 
Washington, DC. Relays in Cheyenne, WY, and Omaha, NE, are off-line. 
One substitute path might be SF > Houston > State College, PA > 
Washington, DC. Again, via other relays between these points. Or, 
perhaps, SF > a site in ND > to Shorewood, IL > DC.	

	My point - depending where each station is located, and how many 
stations there are, you could conceivably cover the United States 
with a series of sites, almost guaranteeing communications. Also, 
nothing says that the stations have to transmit on 1610 kHz. With 
modifications, the frequency may be above 1610, or down into the 
longwave range.

	How will the government know if the plan is workable? They may already know.

	I'm not a technical type, so my ideas may be full of QRM. Just my thoughts.

	Mike







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