Conference Paper A HF Surface Wave Radar Based Integrated Maritime Surveillance System

While surveillance is an important law-enforcement activity, it is unfortunate that the agency running the big SWR-503 over-the-horizon surface wave HF radar installation chose the center of the Radio Amateur 75 meter band as their operating frequency band. Their intermittent "Canadian woodpecker" noise sometimes interferes with Radio Amateur operations in Canada and the USA, especially with long-distance communications.

It is to be noted that, although the Radio Amateur service is a primary user for the 75 meter radio band in the USA, this is not also true in Canada, where the Service is classed as a secondary user.