4 ms·

I've visited this radar installation - of course, as another poster pointed out it was an OTH missile detection system. But a fun conspiracy theory floated by m

by vsnf 7y ago

I've visited this radar installation - of course, as another poster pointed out it was an OTH missile detection system. But a fun conspiracy theory floated by my guide was that this installation was intended as a Soviet weather control experiment. The evidence for that, such as it can be considered, was that allegedly there were supposed to be 12 reactors at Chernobyl, not just the famously exploded Reactor 4, which would have been an immense amount of energy production capability for one single location. Additionally, the nearby Pripyat was inhabited by the brightest of the bright, most elite of the Soviet population in an already highly secret portion of the Soviet Union. Who better to attempt that sort of endeavor? Plus, what powerful government doesn't wish it could control the weather? Whether or not it's true, it clearly didn't work. But it sure is fun to think about. edit: typos Also, while I was there I picked up some forgotten artifacts in the form of old computer operations manuals, including one for the Russian ES EVM, which was a copy of the System/360. I scanned all the pages, maybe it would be interesting some people here: https://chernobylbooks.netlify.com/ https://chernobylbooks.netlify.com/

dylan604 7y ago
The US had HAARP[0] which was researching use of high frequency radio waves in the upper atmosphere which was also surrounded by conspiracy theories. One theory was that HAARP was responsible for the massive flooding in the early 90s of the Mississippi river due to the Jet Stream to severely change course due to the effects of HAARP. Another was that HAARP opened up a hole in the atmosphere which allowed a small portion of Alaska to receive a much more intense dosing of solar radiation. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program#Conspiracy_theories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_...
- creeble 7y ago
  For non-hams, "high frequncy" here refers to the "HF" band of roughly 3-30MHz. Or, as anyone else might call it, low frequency. Afaik, it didn't work at whatever it was trying to do, which IIIRC had something to do with submarines.
  - dylan604 7y ago
    That was one of the stated purposes. They thought that they would be able to communicate with deeply submerged submarines with something more than 3 letter codes using ELF. They also thought they would be able to communicate further distances by reflecting the signals off of the ionosphere. They also thought they could disrupt warheads on re-entry. There was a lot of ideas about this place. I guess when you are getting the government to fund such a project it's going to need a lot of things it can pivot to when the original idea fails.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- jlj 7y ago
  HAARP isn't the same type of installation as the Soviet example in the article. It is a radio transmitter, not used for radar. Alaska had the "dew line" which was an installation similar to the Soviets for detection of ICBM's. It covered the perimeter of the horizon towards Russia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distant_Early_Warning_Line https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distant_Early_Warning_Line Clear AFB in Alaska has (maybe had) an operational radar station that looks very similar to the Russian one. Saw it in person a few times driving by as a kid. Not sure if it still exists or was upgraded with something smaller.
  - dylan604 7y ago
    Sorry, wasn't trying to compare HAARP to Woodpecker by like for like purposes. I was mentioning more on totally odd radio installations cloaked in conspiracy.
johnbrodie 7y ago
I went there too, trip of a lifetime. Of course, the disaster tourism angle makes it hard to get too excited, especially if you've spent time in Ukraine and spoken with the people affected. Either way, the pictures do not do justice to the true scale of this thing. You come around the corner of an old single lane road through the woods and suddenly you can see part of it. It just keeps on getting larger and larger looking as you get closer. Our tour was allowed to climb up a few levels, but most of us chickened out at the first platform.
ar4herjer5hjr5 7y ago
There is a now-defunct Soviet-equivalent to HAARP called Sura Ionospheric Heating Facility, as well as facilities in Ukraine that contain similar arrays of antennae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sura_Ionospheric_Heating_Facility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sura_Ionospheric_Heating_Facil... http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/10/abandoned-ionospheric-research-station.html http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/10/abandoned-ionospheri... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpN3KXLgCz0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpN3KXLgCz0 (location not disclosed, but this Youtuber makes several videos of abandoned sites around Ukraine)

by vsnf 7y ago

dylan604 7y ago

The US had HAARP[0] which was researching use of high frequency radio waves in the upper atmosphere which was also surrounded by conspiracy theories. One theory was that HAARP was responsible for the massive flooding in the early 90s of the Mississippi river due to the Jet Stream to severely change course due to the effects of HAARP. Another was that HAARP opened up a hole in the atmosphere which allowed a small portion of Alaska to receive a much more intense dosing of solar radiation. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program#Conspiracy_theories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_...

creeble 7y ago
For non-hams, "high frequncy" here refers to the "HF" band of roughly 3-30MHz. Or, as anyone else might call it, low frequency. Afaik, it didn't work at whatever it was trying to do, which IIIRC had something to do with submarines.
- dylan604 7y ago
  That was one of the stated purposes. They thought that they would be able to communicate with deeply submerged submarines with something more than 3 letter codes using ELF. They also thought they would be able to communicate further distances by reflecting the signals off of the ionosphere. They also thought they could disrupt warheads on re-entry. There was a lot of ideas about this place. I guess when you are getting the government to fund such a project it's going to need a lot of things it can pivot to when the original idea fails.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
jlj 7y ago
HAARP isn't the same type of installation as the Soviet example in the article. It is a radio transmitter, not used for radar. Alaska had the "dew line" which was an installation similar to the Soviets for detection of ICBM's. It covered the perimeter of the horizon towards Russia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distant_Early_Warning_Line https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distant_Early_Warning_Line Clear AFB in Alaska has (maybe had) an operational radar station that looks very similar to the Russian one. Saw it in person a few times driving by as a kid. Not sure if it still exists or was upgraded with something smaller.
- dylan604 7y ago
  Sorry, wasn't trying to compare HAARP to Woodpecker by like for like purposes. I was mentioning more on totally odd radio installations cloaked in conspiracy.

johnbrodie 7y ago

I went there too, trip of a lifetime. Of course, the disaster tourism angle makes it hard to get too excited, especially if you've spent time in Ukraine and spoken with the people affected. Either way, the pictures do not do justice to the true scale of this thing. You come around the corner of an old single lane road through the woods and suddenly you can see part of it. It just keeps on getting larger and larger looking as you get closer. Our tour was allowed to climb up a few levels, but most of us chickened out at the first platform.

ar4herjer5hjr5 7y ago

There is a now-defunct Soviet-equivalent to HAARP called Sura Ionospheric Heating Facility, as well as facilities in Ukraine that contain similar arrays of antennae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sura_Ionospheric_Heating_Facility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sura_Ionospheric_Heating_Facil... http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/10/abandoned-ionospheric-research-station.html http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/10/abandoned-ionospheri... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpN3KXLgCz0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpN3KXLgCz0 (location not disclosed, but this Youtuber makes several videos of abandoned sites around Ukraine)