UFO Detection & E-M Effects

Secret Project SIGN Report - George E. Valley
Actual page_22
Complete SIGN report 

(Declassified on October 11, 1966, Appendix "C", page 22: Method II -- Direct use of Earth's Magnetic Field):
One observer (incident 68) noticed a violent motion of a hand-held compass. If we assume from this that the objects produced a magnetic field, comparable with the Earth's field; namely, 0.1 gauss, and that the observer found that the object subtended an angle 0 at his position, then the ampere-turns of the required electromagnet is given by:

where R is the range of the object. For instance, if R is 1 Kilometer and the object is 10 meters in diameter, then ni = 1 billion ampere-turns.

Now, if the object were actually only 10 meters away and were correspondingly smaller, namely, 10 cm in diameter, it would still require 10 million ampere-turns.

These figures are a little in excess of what can be conveniently done on the ground. They make it seem unlikely that the effect was actually observed.

Now, the Earth's magnetic field would react on such a magnet to produce not only a torque but also a force. This force depends not directly on the Earth's field intensity but on its irregularity or gradient. This force is obviously minute since the change in field over a distance of 10 meters (assumed diameter of the object) is scarcely measurable, moreover, the gradient is not predictable but changes due to local ore deposits. Thus, even if the effect were large enough to use, it would still be unreliable and unpredictable.

George E. VALLEY, Member Scientific Advisory Board

Only a few oersteds would have to be produced right at the (automobile ignition) coil to accomplish this kind of effect (ignition failure), but when one back calculates, allowing for shielding effects and typical distances, and assumes an inverse-third-power diple field, the requisite H-values within a few feet of the "UFO diple" end, to speak here somewhat loosely, come out in the megagauss range. Curiously, a number of other back-calculations of magnetic fields end up in this same range; but obviously terrestrial technologies would not easily yield such intensities. - James E. McDonald, University of Arizona

Within a variety of contexts in the preceding sections and chapters, the emanation of microwave energy from UFOs has been adduced. These references should be summarized here and examined together to improve the overall perspective of this point. Electromagnetic energy in the range of about 300 to 3,000 MHz, or higher, seemed to be responsible for:

b)      producing a dazzling, white plasma on the surface of UFOs, akin' to ball lightning,

c)      inducing chemical changes that were detected as odors,

d)      turning off automobile headlights by increasing the resistance of their tungsten filaments,

e)      stopping internal combustion engines by increasing resistance of the distributor points and

suppressing the current in the primary windings,

f)      precipitating wild gyrations of compasses and magnetic speedometers and rattling metallic

road signs,

g)      heating of automobile batteries through the direct absorption of energy in the acid,

h) interfering with radio (and television) reception and transmission by inducing extraneous voltages in the coil of the tuned circuit, or restricting the emission of electrons from tungsten cathodes,

i) disrupting transmission of electrical power by induced operation of isolation relays, j) dessicating a small pond and drying of grass, bushes, and the ground by resonant absorption in water molecules,

k) charring or calcining grass roots, insects, and wooden objects at landing sites, 1) heating bituminous highways in depth and igniting the volatilized gases, m) heating the human body internally, n) causing people to feel electrical shocks, and o) inducing temporary paralysis in the witnesses.

In addition, medical experiments have shown that, when pulsed at a low audio frequency this energy was capable of

p) stimulating the auditory nerve directly with the sensation of hearing a humming, or buzzing, sound.

While this evidence is so broad that the loss of a few points would hardly damage the argument, it is all circumstantial. Proof of the suspected radiation would be at hand only through direct, instrumental measurements by qualified personnel. But one despairs of the direct experimental approach in view of the difficulties in assembling the complex and expensive equipment, finding a UFO in the field, and staying in its vicinity long enough to make the measurements. Perhaps, the following episode can fill the present void.

A famous sighting in the fall of 1957 was made from an Air Force B-47 on a training mission over the Gulf of Mexico and the South-Central states. It came to the attention of the Condon Committee rather by accident and was investigated as Case No. 5 . - James M. McCampbell, UFOLOGY