Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
North Atlantic Radio System
The North Atlantic Radio System (NARS) was a chain of 5 tropospheric scatter communication sites. It was an expansion of the former Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line). NARS was built for the United States Air Force (USAF) by Western Electric (AT&T) and its sites were maintained under contract by ITT Federal Electric Corporation (now ITT Federal Services Corp.). All NARS stations were supervised and controlled by the USAF, by agreement with the Canadian and Danish governments.
Source:
In the early 1950s, arctic surroundings and weather conditions of northern Canada made construction and manning of HF and VHF radio or microwave relay stations almost impossible. However, there was an urgent need for reliable data and communication facilities from the radar stations in the north to their control centers in the south.
The initial phase used tropospheric scatter radio communication. Powerful radio signals in the kilowatt range were scattered off the troposphere onwards to distant receiving stations. The receiving stations used gigantic billboard-like antennas, picking up just a fraction of the transmitted signal, meaning that the antenna and equipment maintenance and alignment had to be executed very carefully.
Construction of this system, code-named Pole Vault, started in 1954, became operational in 1955, and was extended in 1956. This troposcatter system had been supported by an undersea data cable system stretching from Thule airbase in Greenland via Cape Dyer to Newfoundland, Canada. The undersea cable system was unreliable, however, being cut many times by trawlers and icebergs. A better data transfer system was needed.
In 1962, the new SAGE system led to a gradual shutdown of the Pole Vault system. SAGE consisted of large computers and associated networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area. SAGE directed and controlled the NORAD response to a Soviet air attack, operating in this role from the late 1950s into the 1980s.
Construction of the large Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) radars at Thule, Greenland, Fylingdales, England, and another radar chain through Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, called for new powerful troposcatter communication stations linking all these radar sites to the NORAD headquarters in Colorado. This communication chain became known as the North Atlantic Radio System (NARS).
Source:
Hub AI
North Atlantic Radio System AI simulator
(@North Atlantic Radio System_simulator)
North Atlantic Radio System
The North Atlantic Radio System (NARS) was a chain of 5 tropospheric scatter communication sites. It was an expansion of the former Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line). NARS was built for the United States Air Force (USAF) by Western Electric (AT&T) and its sites were maintained under contract by ITT Federal Electric Corporation (now ITT Federal Services Corp.). All NARS stations were supervised and controlled by the USAF, by agreement with the Canadian and Danish governments.
Source:
In the early 1950s, arctic surroundings and weather conditions of northern Canada made construction and manning of HF and VHF radio or microwave relay stations almost impossible. However, there was an urgent need for reliable data and communication facilities from the radar stations in the north to their control centers in the south.
The initial phase used tropospheric scatter radio communication. Powerful radio signals in the kilowatt range were scattered off the troposphere onwards to distant receiving stations. The receiving stations used gigantic billboard-like antennas, picking up just a fraction of the transmitted signal, meaning that the antenna and equipment maintenance and alignment had to be executed very carefully.
Construction of this system, code-named Pole Vault, started in 1954, became operational in 1955, and was extended in 1956. This troposcatter system had been supported by an undersea data cable system stretching from Thule airbase in Greenland via Cape Dyer to Newfoundland, Canada. The undersea cable system was unreliable, however, being cut many times by trawlers and icebergs. A better data transfer system was needed.
In 1962, the new SAGE system led to a gradual shutdown of the Pole Vault system. SAGE consisted of large computers and associated networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image of the airspace over a wide area. SAGE directed and controlled the NORAD response to a Soviet air attack, operating in this role from the late 1950s into the 1980s.
Construction of the large Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) radars at Thule, Greenland, Fylingdales, England, and another radar chain through Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, called for new powerful troposcatter communication stations linking all these radar sites to the NORAD headquarters in Colorado. This communication chain became known as the North Atlantic Radio System (NARS).
Source: