I have watched numerous ICBM silo videos and they always seem to get an EAM activation alert. How is the EAM alert triggered is there some type of tone on the HF frequency ?
EAM Alert Activation ?
- Thread starter carbineone
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No, the EAM is a coded message. If the code says to launch, a launch is made.
marksmith
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I think on the contrary, for submarines it is very low frequency tones as opposed to HF. Requires an antenna array the size of football fields.
Mark
536/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/
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Mark
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prcguy
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Listen to 11.175MHz and you will hear EAMs. You can receive some of the VLF submarine stuff with a good quality active antenna in a quiet neighborhood but some of the submarine comms are in the low audio range like 76Hz and that would be a challenge to receive.
prcguy
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n0nhp
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There was a great deal of dramatization done in those movies from the 50s and 60s. I don't think they wanted the public to know how boring sitting alerts were.
Bruce
Bruce
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Because of the nature of these kinds of operations most of the data on specifics is inferred. It is easy to find documentation that talks about EAMs and how they fit in the command authority / infrastructure, it is much harder to find specifics. And the people who know are not supposed to talk about it.
On HF there are no tones for an EAM, the message is sent by voice. Research the “HF-GCS” (High Frequency Global Communication System) and you will find lots of information on it, some info is good, others not so much. (edit) For example if you run into information that discusses how often the term Skyking is said during a message (a statement along the lines of more Skykings in a given message means more important information) run, don't walk, that is pure bunk.
For VLF the information is less well understood. Because of the bandwidth and frequency the messages are almost certainly digital of some kind, but the format is not something I have ever really seen defined.
Regardless, as far as I can tell for US systems there is ALWAYS a human (or two) in the loop. So after the message is received (whatever format) a human makes the decision to shoot. And just because an EAM is sent does not mean a thing. There are probably test messages, general status messages, and padded messages, all sent on the system. And because you don't know what the messages say you can't tell the important ones from the mundane.
T!
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It is digital and encrypted. It has been a number of years since I worked in submarine broadcast spaces, but I doubt much has changed, as they had just upgraded from old technology.
Very accurate.
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That's what the E6s do. They fly out over the ocean and extend a long wire antenna that's super long to communicate with subs.
Hooligan
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I'm assuming you're referring to the 'deedle deedle deedle'warble tone that you'd hear in the footage. That was coming from the Primary Alerting System, a (mostly) hardline hotline that would cause the tone to sound at the appropriate facilities whenever someone picked up the PAS handset at am emergency action console.
The noise itself wasn't sent out over the HF circuits during an EAM broadcast on HF but sometimes you'd hear alert tones or the emergency actions controller saying "klaxon klaxon klaxon" on special VHF/UHF channels that were monitored by the Alert Force.
You can find recordings of the PAS Alert/Warble tone (they've had a couple, but everyone likes the classic one) on line.
As for EAMs, there's just a lot of BS out there regarding them. An Emergency Action Message is a very high priority broadcast for some or all strategic alert forces even if it is a null or training message, because of the possibility that it *may* be a 'Flash' or 'Flash-Override' precedence message. An actual Emergency War Order would be transmitted as an Emergency Action Message, but an EAM doesn't have to be an EWO.
Actually Cutler VLF Station is still around here in Maine. The antenna array is hugh and its not digital last I heard. I only caught it once because it doesnt have a set schedule when they broadcast.
Speaking of EAM's.....I have read at least one Air Force publication that stated shortly after 911 North Dakota Air Force Base was designated as "The" Andy back up facility. The publication went on to state that NDAFB was so designated as to eliminate the threat of a "decapitation" strike against Andy. Apparently, a LOT of money was spent making this happen.
That said, I have never confirmed ANY comms as originating from NDAFB nor have I stumbled across any call signs that may be associated with NDAFB. To confuse matters more, a visit to the NDAFB web site does not mention (that I saw) any HF-GCS capabilities and or responsibilities. I have the AF publication somewhere and will post the specific info in this thread shortly.
Any Ideas on NDAFB anybody?
That said, I have never confirmed ANY comms as originating from NDAFB nor have I stumbled across any call signs that may be associated with NDAFB. To confuse matters more, a visit to the NDAFB web site does not mention (that I saw) any HF-GCS capabilities and or responsibilities. I have the AF publication somewhere and will post the specific info in this thread shortly.
Any Ideas on NDAFB anybody?
Hooligan, thank you for an informed answer.
+1 for Hooligan. EAM's and EWO's are very different.
(Then the keys start coming out, and the MCCC and DMCCC start reading and......
You will learn more reading about E-$B's and sites like Jim Creek Navy Base.)
Real life is not a Tom Clancy novel, or a one hour episode of 24 as most people seem to think.
(Then the keys start coming out, and the MCCC and DMCCC start reading and......
You will learn more reading about E-$B's and sites like Jim Creek Navy Base.)
Real life is not a Tom Clancy novel, or a one hour episode of 24 as most people seem to think.
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