View Full Version : Jolly Greeting From Strategic Rocket Forces
Jeff K1NSS
05-29-2012, 05:43 PM
5916
Jeff K1NSS
05-29-2012, 06:18 PM
Tnx! Got the idea from FB friend who happened to say, "I wish I had a QSL from the Woodpecker." By chance I already used Dyatel as a character sometime ago, so he got called back for duty and I pimped out his costume and gave him a Simonize.
In Soviet Russia, wood peckers you.
ki4itv
05-29-2012, 06:25 PM
Nice.
Every time I see a picture of that array, I immediately wonder which came first; all the high density -housing on the faith side of those reflective elements or the two massive arrays hard wired to Chernobyl just down the street.
Cool card!
KG4NEL
05-29-2012, 07:47 PM
In Soviet Russia, wood peckers you.
Only in the morning.
KG4CGC
05-29-2012, 08:10 PM
The freakin' graphics has awesome.
There was another one posted on QRZ years ago (by KI4NGN, I think) which had the Steelyard antenna, superimposed Bear bombers and the words "Ivan says no radio for you tonight!" on it. Would love to find that again.
Nice! You bastid. Wish I could do stuff like that.
kb2vxa
05-29-2012, 09:37 PM
I got a lot of QSLs as WPE2MTN but nothing from WPE2GEP... hmmm.
Jeff K1NSS
05-29-2012, 09:48 PM
There was another one posted on QRZ years ago (by KI4NGN, I think) which had the Steelyard antenna, superimposed Bear bombers and the words "Ivan says no radio for you tonight!" on it. Would love to find that again.
Cool! I'd like to see that too.
Jeff K1NSS
05-29-2012, 09:56 PM
Tnx fer da thumbs up guys. Was thinking a little bit of Russian laquerware, bright colors on black. Wanna see some cool Russian illustration, look up Ivan Bilibin. He illustrated a lot of folk tales,designed sets for the Ballet Ruse, all manner of books. One of my faves, this fish -- A Sturgeon(?), with headlight eyes. Crazy crazy beautiful.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lopixl6FVd1qbcporo1_500.jpg
Jeff K1NSS
05-29-2012, 10:05 PM
I got a lot of QSLs as WPE2MTN but nothing from WPE2GEP... hmmm.
Hey Warren, when that was my PopTronics call I had a 6th grade expense account that did not include QSL cards. I did find a scrap of Masonite on which I painted my call in old primer and set up next to my Ocean Hopper/vintage Majestic tabletop listening post and photographed with my Brownie Star...Mite? Lite? camera. Sure wish I had that photo today, of a short wave kid's grotty little fort.
I got my GEP suffix when I re-upped under the new SWL scheme. What a funny thing that was, like a getting a play driver's license from a Puffed Wheat box. SWL callsign PLUS a square inch of land in Alaska AND a combination whistle, compass and wide spaced 20 meter beam. I totally bought in to the fantasy salted my business letters to shortwave broadcasters with my exclusive alphanumeric, supplemented with enough SINPO code to choke an ENIAC.
Jeff K1NSS
05-29-2012, 10:22 PM
Nice.
Every time I see a picture of that array, I immediately wonder which came first; all the high density -housing on the faith side of those reflective elements or the two massive arrays hard wired to Chernobyl just down the street.
Cool card!
The radiation hazard completely went over my head when I saw the pictures of the Diathermy Arms apartment buildings. Residents must have had their genetic material rattled every which way but loose.
Cool! I'd like to see that too.
Found it. From KD6NIG:5921
Jeff K1NSS
05-30-2012, 03:06 PM
Found it. From KD6NIG:5921
That's really FB! Gotta look up KD6NIG for the story behind the story. TNX OM
kb2vxa
05-30-2012, 08:34 PM
Well Jeff, I used the Masonite to make a peg board to hang tools on and the primer covered rust spots on Dad's car so with money saved I had 500 SWL cards printed with the usual ham crap on the back so reports were letter form stuffed into the same envelope as the card. I wish I still had one to scan and post, on the front was my avatar soldering on the bed with parts scattered all over. Coincidentally one day while doing just that the celluloid, yes celluloid insulation on grandpa's pliers caught fire, instinctively I tossed them bouncing off the wall and under the far side of the bed. I instantly tore the bed apart and managed to put out the flaming box spring before anything serious happened. Thankfully nobody noticed and the pliers were skillfully hidden. Oh, not using the Masonite and paint afforded me money to buy a frame and hang the certificate on the wall. Darn, along with some photos it was lost to time.
It didn't take much to choke an ENIAC so my reports were milled out on an antique Underwood finger buster. Oh, is SINPO code proprietary or open source? I never did find out, it was several decades before my first PC and I never could afford an ENIAC.
Diathermy Arms reminds me of cousin's microwave tale of when he was a civilian engineer installing Dew Line radar at Thule AFB Greenland. The main reflector was supposed to shield the barracks located behind it but proved too short when megawatts of microwave energy first left the horns. Unfortunately that gerbil in a microwave game proved all too true when 4 men were cooked in their bunks.
I'd heard of the Russian Woodpecker but it ceased operation before I got my ticket. Jeff's QSL card piqued my interest, though, so I did a bit of research and found this site. (http://englishrussia.com/2008/04/28/duga-the-steel-giant-near-chernobyl/)
http://englishrussia.com/images/rls_duga/10.jpg
Man, that's a lotta steel!
ki4itv
05-31-2012, 05:22 PM
You should cruise that site fully Carl. I did it yesterday, and there is some really great stuff in there.
Lot's of historical and cultural photo's buried throughout it.
I wound up bookmarking the home page.
I heard the woodpecker quite a bit throughout the 80s as a SWL.
VE7DCW
05-31-2012, 08:59 PM
I'd heard of the Russian Woodpecker but it ceased operation before I got my ticket. Jeff's QSL card piqued my interest, though, so I did a bit of research and found this site. (http://englishrussia.com/2008/04/28/duga-the-steel-giant-near-chernobyl/)
http://englishrussia.com/images/rls_duga/10.jpg
Man, that's a lotta steel!
I had a fair number of QSO's in the early eighties wiped out directly by the woodpecker!! ....... the damn thing had a habit of following the MUF with ease.
I actually caught it direct on 10 meters with the signal pulsing nicely at 60 db over S-9!! Gawd ... now seeing the pictures of Duga-3 and the insane amount of transmitter power and the size and type of antenna system used, and reading it was plugged directly into the Chernobyl reactor,i'm glad the Soviet Union fell......Dayum !!! ....those people were crazy!!! :nuts:
I had a fair number of QSO's in the early eighties wiped out directly by the woodpecker!! ....... the damn thing had a habit of following the MUF with ease.I actually caught it direct on 10 meters with the signal pulsing nicely at 60 db over S-9!! Gawd ... now seeing the pictures of Duga-3 and the insane amount of transmitter power and the size and type of antenna system used, and reading it was plugged directly into the Chernobyl reactor,i'm glad the Soviet Union fell......Dayum !!! ....those people were crazy!!! :nuts:Interesting you say that. The published frequency coverage specs of the Steel Yard array states 7-22MHz; e-plane steering of 60 degrees and h-plane of 70...
VE7DCW
06-01-2012, 11:32 AM
Methinks someone was telling a little fib if it has been claimed that pulsed signal the soviets used did not go beyond 22 MHz! .... I had several 10 meter sessions just hammered by the woodpecker.I admit the signal was'nt long in duration usually about a minute and it was gone.It was bizarre to hear the faint tapping of the woodpecker on the frequency it suddenly left, which I assumed was caused by a harmonic of the frequency it had shifted to. :-?
According to this site, (http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/steel-yard.htm) the Duga-3 radar transmitted "on frequencies variously reported as being between 3.26 and 17.54 megahertz and 4 to 30 MHz"
VE7DCW
06-01-2012, 07:50 PM
According to this site, (http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/steel-yard.htm) the Duga-3 radar transmitted "on frequencies variously reported as being between 3.26 and 17.54 megahertz and 4 to 30 MHz"
They said it had a continous pulse rate of 10,16,or 20 Hz with a bandwidth of 40 KHz at 30 to 40 megawatts of output power applied to the antenna itself!!! Gawd Dayum!!!!! ....... it always knocked the crap out of my radio just pegging my S meter needle to 60db and it just stayed there with the that infernal tapping in the receiver!! I reiterate .....the soviets were crazy!! Not a day went by were I did'nt hear the woodpecker tapping away on one band or another as a direct signal or showing up as excitation harmonic or otherwise!
Now that the plugged got pulled on it and to see what actually was behind that signal,i'm in awe .....and saddened by what a waste it became :(
KG4CGC
06-01-2012, 08:13 PM
I'd be curious to just run the antenna on 20 and 40. QRP!
I'd be curious to just run the antenna on 20 and 40. QRP!
The forward power gain figures for the transmitting antenna were between 22 and 23dBd. Calculate the ERP with 40MW applied transmitter power.
The forward power gain figures for the transmitting antenna were between 22 and 23dBd. Calculate the ERP with 40MW applied transmitter power.
Lots.
KG4NEL
06-02-2012, 03:44 PM
Sounds like it'd be great for a 75m medical net.
kb2vxa
06-03-2012, 06:44 PM
Jumping jigawatts! Can they jump higher than leaping lizards?
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