Looking at the length of the individual broadband "dipoles" I can see how it could have covered 14 mhz and caused problems.
From the pics, it appears to be about 24 dipoles high X 16 dipoles wide. Truly remarkable.
From a rough calculation, I figure about 34 dbi gain. That's about 22db over a 3 el Yagi... :-)
As a far as using it for ham use, I'll bet the horizontal beamwidth was no more than 4 degree wide at the 3db points. The vertical "cigar" pattern would be about 2 degrees wide, skimming the horizon. Maybe they cud add some skewing by phase steering, but it would be pretty narrow.
Pick the city you wanna talk to, and hope that propagation is EXTREMELY low angle. Since the optimum vertical angle on 20M for DX often ranges from about 12 to 25 degrees or so, this array wud be good for band openings and closings - and that's about it. But you cud hear stuff NOBODY would have a prayer of hearing for a period of time...
I'll guess there was a narrow geographical window for incoming missles that they were trying to cover... from a quick look, is it beaming Northwest? That would rule out China and Alaska incoming. Maybe northern Europe or USA from the NW?
(Look at the shadows, roads from (pic to pic) and the aerial view as evidence for direction it is beaming.)
T
