I have been trying to work out my Project Phoenix long range communications plans and would appreciate insight and ideas.
Some thoughts I have had.
Satellites
I believe within the Morrow canon is the description of a single base with a Morrow project communications satellite mounted solid fuel rocket. I am going to take that one step further by having a base on an Island of Costa Rica (Isla Nublar
) used as a rocket launch facility once the project decides to go active. Being closer to the equator helps with the launch, It also seems like a good place for an alternate communications HQ given it would be unlikely to be destroyed unless there was a security breach.
Another possibility is a heavily EMP shielded satellite which is launched but remains dormant (with a cover story of failed activation) until the project decided to activate it. This has many unpleasant variables attached to it but it might be much easier than building a launch base in secret.
Balloons
At each of my regional facilities I am considering having a tethered large high-altitude balloon carrying a wind power generator and the equivalent of a small communications satellite. This seems like an elegant solution but I am not sure to what degree this would be harder to use than a satellite. Given this has not been applied in the real world yet I think it might have issues I am not thinking about.
Civilian Broadcast Equipment
One of my major project plans is to both distribute hand cranked radios and to begin broadcasting on civilian frequencies. I know that AM can travel a huge distance so my regional bases should be able to cover all of the lower 48.
If anyone has any other ideas or comments please post them.