The VLF Transmitter Cutler is the United States Navy's very low frequency (VLF) station at Cutler, Maine. The station provides communication to the United States strategic submarine forces. The antenna consists of two completely separate arrays designated the north array and the south array. Each array consists of six diamond shaped panels supported by 13 towers. The system was designed to allow transmission by one array (single) or both arrays (dual). Antenna maintenance is performed during the summer months by transmitting on one array while working on the other array, which is grounded. This allows continuous transmission, crucially important since the Navy closed Annapolis, the only other East Coast station. The region where the two arrays come close together is called the bow-tie area. There are two panels and three towers from each array in this area. The fields on the grounded array are highest in the bow-tie area due to proximity to the active array. The present station operating procedure, based on a past RADHAZ survey, does not allow work on the bow-tie area towers or panels while transmitting on the other array. There is an ongoing tower painting project at Cutler scheduled for completion over the next few years. Under the present station policy, completion of this project would require several months of total downtime, now unacceptable. The objective of the four-panel tests was to provide VLF Cutler with the capability of performing the special painting project and normal maintenance on the bow-tie area towers of an inactive array while transmitting with the other array. A secondary objective was to determine the antenna operating parameters which had not been measured since changing to 24.0 kllz.
