Is The Isle of Skye (UK) Being Used As A Testing Ground For A SHTF Senario ?

Just my 2 cents worth:
I was at Ground zero. (as they say)

On the second day of the "break", all the mobile network were down. except orange network, anyone know why that is? Lots of hearsay were going around, most of them involving cable being cut, who/why, nobody knows.
I don't know about broadford hospital being unaffected, but surgery office in kyle phone line were affected. They have to buy orange sim card just so they can use a phone! Computer NOT working for them either.

Broadband line were actually running, line speed is working as it should in multiple locations. But no server authentication. (probably at edinburgh/perth?) Card machine is actually working but very unreliable. It took multiple times for the transaction to go through.
Dial up internet was working, although same as card machine. i was able to check email and bbc news site. Basically the phone line works but appeared to be under strain. Phoning local number gets nowhere, but phoning further afield works fine. It probably means local phone routing were messed up.

BBC news said that the cable cut end was 20m off the shore, I was at the local view point at 6pm (low tide at 2.30pm), I DID NOT see anyone/van/engineer/police/military/coastguard anywhere along the lochcarron loch,
the alleged cable cut area..... The rumor that day was that BT was estimating the repaired finish time to be Tuesday the following week! But it came back on that evening at 8.15pm. BT network status page mentioned the repaired finished at 9.30pm. Assuming BT was "actually" working after the low tide, it would mean they were
working "underwater" to repair the damage? My scanner was not picking up any extra chatter that day.

I did see the BT emergency Van driving around the area. The local police was also finding lack of phone line troubling. They were advising people to "contact" local council worker if they can not get through the phone.

Someone with more knowledge can perhaps put all these information together and come up with a "proper" explanation?

Originally posted by dreamquest
Just my 2 cents worth:
I was at Ground zero. (as they say)

On the second day of the "break", all the mobile network were down. except orange network, anyone know why that is? Lots of hearsay were going around, most of them involving cable being cut, who/why, nobody knows.
I don't know about broadford hospital being unaffected, but surgery office in kyle phone line were affected. They have to buy orange sim card just so they can use a phone! Computer NOT working for them either.

Broadband line were actually running, line speed is working as it should in multiple locations. But no server authentication. (probably at edinburgh/perth?) Card machine is actually working but very unreliable. It took multiple times for the transaction to go through.
Dial up internet was working, although same as card machine. i was able to check email and bbc news site. Basically the phone line works but appeared to be under strain. Phoning local number gets nowhere, but phoning further afield works fine. It probably means local phone routing were messed up.

BBC news said that the cable cut end was 20m off the shore, I was at the local view point at 6pm (low tide at 2.30pm), I DID NOT see anyone/van/engineer/police/military/coastguard anywhere along the lochcarron loch,
the alleged cable cut area..... The rumor that day was that BT was estimating the repaired finish time to be Tuesday the following week! But it came back on that evening at 8.15pm. BT network status page mentioned the repaired finished at 9.30pm. Assuming BT was "actually" working after the low tide, it would mean they were
working "underwater" to repair the damage? My scanner was not picking up any extra chatter that day.

I did see the BT emergency Van driving around the area. The local police was also finding lack of phone line troubling. They were advising people to "contact" local council worker if they can not get through the phone.

Someone with more knowledge can perhaps put all these information together and come up with a "proper" explanation?

Hey here dreamquest thank-you so much for the post this is very valuable information coming from someone else on Skye that backs up the information my friend has provided ... not only valuable but very interesting ... like you I also look forward to someone coming forward with a proper explanation for what you have just added

Whilst stumason is clearly very knowledgeable about the subject from a technical point of view I have to confess I find the points VoidHawk has put forward very believable and I'm inclined to favour some of the things he has said >>>NOTE TO VoidHawK

Man I would of loved to be up there at the time with a Scanner, Laptop with a packet detector and see if I could reverse engineer how they disabled the internet, I got an idea of how to take down the internet using a certain protocol that routers use. Which is what i imagine the military to use

Also i imagine the phone would of had some sort of PSTN jamming on them which is odd because the only way i would know how to do that is a broadcast of junk traffic and for that you need access to the PSTN mainframe.

Video of Joint Warrior:

News Report

Army Video

More about the actual mission

reply to post by dreamquest


It could have simply been a card failure and not a break, both can induce a "loss of signal" alarm which may lead people to think there is a break. Maybe that is why you didn't see anyone on the cable itself, they probably OTDR (Optical Time Delay Reflectometre - detects losses on a fibre span) it, saw no break or diagnosed the card itself as having failed.

Who know's, why not call BT and ask for an RFO? Their obliged to give you one, as are all telco's.

And yes, I know people are more likely to believe the more fanciful and exciting, no matter how impossible they are. All I can do is try...

Originally posted by definity
Man I would of loved to be up there at the time with a Scanner, Laptop with a packet detector and see if I could reverse engineer how they disabled the internet, I got an idea of how to take down the internet using a certain protocol that routers use. Which is what i imagine the military to use

Also i imagine the phone would of had some sort of PSTN jamming on them which is odd because the only way i would know how to do that is a broadcast of junk traffic and for that you need access to the PSTN mainframe.

Video of Joint Warrior:

Honestly... Do you know what the military does in war zones to take out comms? It bombs the crap out of the exchange.

Nothing fancy, no magical protocols, no "junk traffic on the PSTN mainframe" (which by the way is clearly a load of bollocks you just made up), just a nice big 2,000lber through the roof. Does the job nicely and is a bugger to repair, would take months. Look at Sebia, Iraq etc.

Some Extra info:

Yesterday I finally managed to track down the horde of BT engineers currently repairing the broken sections of cable.
We have some chat regarding the incident, when I mentioned that the conspiracy theory: submarine/government experiments
cutting the cable. Firstly they weren't surprised and said that they have heard similar things form others. But in this case, someone DID cut the cable. Someone managed to track down the cable off the shore, decided to steal the copper inside, there were two cables, one with copper, one with optical cable. They cut the copper cable off (I was shown a similar length of copper
cable, and it was thick! This brute of a cable cannot be cut with a hacksaw or even with an electric saw. You need industrial strength power saw, like those used on railway. Which means those stealing the cable are very well prepared), but halfway through the second cable realized that it was NOT cooper inside, decided to do a runner. Damages have already been done! Thus
causing all the havoc that we experienced last week.

Regarding the "cutters", rumors have it that someone/s did get caught, currently waiting for a full investigation. I hope they get
put away for a long time. Considering the mess they created. but what is the highest penalty for theft? Police is offering £1000 for anyone with info regarding the theft, but I don't think there will be any taker.

The engineers are properly repairing the broken section with permanent means. Each night they switch over a new cable that has been repaired correctly. Apparently last week was just a temporary fix. They are doing a good job. let's hope it continues!

Having spoken to many people regarding this incident, most of them WEREN'T surprised that even IF big brother was indeed behind this. I have heard even more outrageous stories, but in this case, a simple and easy cable theft was the caused.
Cable theft has been occurring all over the country recently, we just experienced it first hand. So a submarine did not cut the cable after all!

One last thought for all of you, if one cable is all it takes to take down most communication system. What if the whole internet got cut off? Where will we be......

Originally posted by dreamquest
Some Extra info:

Yesterday I finally managed to track down the horde of BT engineers currently repairing the broken sections of cable.
We have some chat regarding the incident, when I mentioned that the conspiracy theory: submarine/government experiments
cutting the cable. Firstly they weren't surprised and said that they have heard similar things form others. But in this case, someone DID cut the cable. Someone managed to track down the cable off the shore, decided to steal the copper inside, there were two cables, one with copper, one with optical cable. They cut the copper cable off (I was shown a similar length of copper
cable, and it was thick! This brute of a cable cannot be cut with a hacksaw or even with an electric saw. You need industrial strength power saw, like those used on railway. Which means those stealing the cable are very well prepared), but halfway through the second cable realized that it was NOT cooper inside, decided to do a runner. Damages have already been done! Thus
causing all the havoc that we experienced last week.

Regarding the "cutters", rumors have it that someone/s did get caught, currently waiting for a full investigation. I hope they get
put away for a long time. Considering the mess they created. but what is the highest penalty for theft? Police is offering £1000 for anyone with info regarding the theft, but I don't think there will be any taker.

The engineers are properly repairing the broken section with permanent means. Each night they switch over a new cable that has been repaired correctly. Apparently last week was just a temporary fix. They are doing a good job. let's hope it continues!

Having spoken to many people regarding this incident, most of them WEREN'T surprised that even IF big brother was indeed behind this. I have heard even more outrageous stories, but in this case, a simple and easy cable theft was the caused.
Cable theft has been occurring all over the country recently, we just experienced it first hand. So a submarine did not cut the cable after all!

Thanks so much for this on the spot update ... excellent work

One last thought for all of you, if one cable is all it takes to take down most communication system. What if the whole internet got cut off? Where will we be......

This is exactly why I think TPTB will have been interested to see how things unfurled and how people coped and reacted ... even if they weren't responsible they will have gained some good intel for future reference

It's good that people are alert to what's going on around them and everyone should remain vigilant as they search for the truth. In this case it would seem to be a straightforward situation ... but I'm so pleased I made the thread and questioned it because I have learned quite a lot from the people who have taken the time to reply.

That said I still believe there is more to Skye than we know of ... just not on this occasion maybe !

Woody

Thankyou for the feedback. See, I told you it would be boring and mundane, not the sneaky-beakies playing with their toys.

Originally posted by dreamquest
One last thought for all of you, if one cable is all it takes to take down most communication system. What if the whole internet got cut off? Where will we be......

In the case of Skye, it would seem BT have not protected the cable. For example, C&W (my employer) has two cable between the UK - Isle of Man - Ireland. One goes north of Man, one goes South. It would take a catalogue of faults to bring down our connections. One could understand why they wouldn't protect it however, as it probably isn't worth the cost.

On the mainland, however, it can take a lot before the "internet" get's cut off. There is no such thing as the "internet" though, by the way.

Interesting discussion and excellent OP.

The first thing that came to mind was "why not Foulness Island?"

Foulness is a military owned island on the South East coast, QinetiQ involved there too. They run plenty of weapons tests there.

But to be honest it doesn't sound too different from what you describe. I would imagine there is probably more infrastructure and so on for drills up north rather than south.

Still, I don't think there is anything unusual going on here. I thought it was generally accepted that QinetiQ was American, and of course the CIA would be involved in that, just as the MOD would be involved in Bae Systems. They are both technically front companies in my opinion.

We do need drills, we do need a weapons development and testing area, we do need and have numerous underground facilities all over the UK.

None of this should really be surprising to anyone and IMO there is no mystery here. It's just military and government doing what they do.

reply to post by detachedindividual


Qinetiq is publicly traded, not American owned. The Carlyle Group sold their share in 2007. The UK Government still retains control over the company though through the retention of special shares.

reply to post by stumason


Thats easy. Cable & Wireless Worldwide for £1.04Bn (I actually thought C&WW were worth a lot more than that).

The only device known to man that can "jam" an optical signal on fibre is a bolt cutter

Not true. Boat achors for undersea cables, and spades for underground cables work suprisingly well too. Same principle tho, sever the cable. I have plenty of experience with the latter >.>. My cable company REALLY should have buried the dumb thing deeper.

It has to be said though, that the UK military have past "form" when it comes to testing stuff on unsuspecting populations, and have said publically that they would do so again, if necessary.

For example, in 1942, the UK government introduced anthrax spores to an inhabited Scottish island (Gruinard Island), to monitor how it would spread in the ovine population. It spread so rapidly, and deadlyly (is that a word?), and into the human population, that the entire island had to be abandoned, and classified. It was only declassified in 1997, and even now, its not considered to be 100% safe and visiting is still restricted.

So it wouldn't suprise me if an Isle such as Skye was used for testing stuff, however, in this instance, I don't think it is the case.

Originally posted by BMorris
Thats easy. Cable & Wireless Worldwide for £1.04Bn (I actually thought C&WW were worth a lot more than that).

Indeed, they got us cheap! The only reason is because we have had exceptional right offs, hitting the EBITDA, causing the share price to bottom out. It also didn't help we demerged from C&W International. Both companies together were strong, but apart we're ripe for takeover, which is what I think the exec wanted.

Originally posted by BMorris
Not true. Boat achors for undersea cables, and spades for underground cables work suprisingly well too. Same principle tho, sever the cable. I have plenty of experience with the latter >.>. My cable company REALLY should have buried the dumb thing deeper.

Well, yes, same principle and I was only using the "bolt cutter" as an analogy of a physical break. I did elaborate on that point with the other chappy.

[

I just skimmed through the posts, so it is possible that I missed this already.... (If so, I apologize)

But I find it beyond odd that a location that is populated like these islands don't seem to have any redundancy in their network? Once upon a time, I was an engineer in the wired/wireless industry. So if someone tried to "steal" the fiber thinking it was copper, where is the backup fail safe? As someone already mentioned, a redundant route could be provided by microwave transmission, fiber, or some other type of backhaul. As an engineer, it simply doesn't make sense to me that an island the size of Skye would not have any redundancy in its system....especially if there are hotels and other tourist attractions on the island.

Hey there to all have shown an interest in this thread ... I would just like to amend an error that I made in my OP *blushes

In the OP I said that the SAS had a base on the Isle of Rona ... when it is in fact it is the SBS (Special Boat Service) who have said base ... very similar creature to the SAS except on/in/under water

Woody

reply to post by woodwytch


Great thread as you so seldom grace us with Woodwy, it just validates how I just know this is not something which will happen slowly to the western world, it will come fast and preplanned, it is so important to stay focused on these types of movements as they will herald the intricacies of the real plans and the timeframes if we pay attention and connect the strings.

reply to post by dreamquest


Copper will fetch a good price.

Originally posted by antar
reply to post by woodwytch

 

Great thread as you so seldom grace us with Woodwy, it just validates how I just know this is not something which will happen slowly to the western world, it will come fast and preplanned, it is so important to stay focused on these types of movements as they will herald the intricacies of the real plans and the timeframes if we pay attention and connect the strings.

Hey there antar,

Thank-you for the kind words ... I rarely post in this neck of the woods because I am far from expert in such subjects ... but I often stay in the background and read the threads without contributing ... but this was a senario that piqued my interest enough to start the thread and damn the potential consequence of embarassment ... maybe because I have the friends who live there and I have visited the island myself on numerous occasions it made it a little more personal.

I can definately see the substance behind the logical expalnations that have been put forward but it certainly serves to show that we should remain vigilant of such things because as you said ... if such a plan existed then it would be activated swiftly ... and whether this was or wasn't the case on this occasion we should certainly bear the possibilities in mind because anyone who thinks it wouldn't or couldn't happen is either very naive or very foolish.

Woody

Well if it was a 'test' the result is that: everyone moans about it afterwards. And that's about it. It caused as much chaos as a small slimey stone about 3cm across falling into Loch Ness at midnight. But it did annoy a few folk.