Prime Base communications array

[mmartin798]

Originally Posted by tsofian

This would be for the pre and during war mission of recording events and such.

If this is pre-war, then it is a case of data speed versus operational security. But this may also help explain the presence of Krell forces so quickly at Prime Base. Since microwave relay is directional, if you have a network of these relays you will eventually have a number that intersect with the location of Prime Base, or at least its receiver array. This is a security risk, but it makes for a nice hook.

You can imagine a case where it was reasonably close to the start of the war when Krell operatives discovered what looked like abandoned equipment still powered and operating. They then begin to map the relay network. As some point, they find one relay leg pointing off into the high desert. They continue their mapping and find at least one more pointing off into the desert when the war starts. Once the smoke clears, sun shines and snow melts, they send agents to begin investigating the area around the intersecting relay legs.

[cosmicfish]

There are better ways to conceal antennas, including AESA options that provide a directional antenna whose pointing angle is not physically apparent.

Surveillance and SIGINT also require the kind of wavelength and angular flexibility that make the dishes described all but useless - they are fine for picking up a wide-broadcast satellite signal at a specific wavelength, but there would be little of interest on such a channel.