  The Galactic disc is opaque to radio waves from extragalactic sources with
frequencies nu less than ~3 MHz. However, radio waves with kHz, Hz, and even
lower frequencies may propagate through the intergalactic medium (IGM). I argue
that the presence of these waves can be inferred by using the Universe as our
detector. I discuss possible sub-MHz sources and set new non-trivial upper
limits on the energy density of sub-MHz radio waves in galaxy clusters and the
average cosmic background. Limits based on five effects are considered: (1)
changes in the expansion of the Universe from the radiation energy density (2)
heating of the IGM by free-free absorption; (3) radiation pressure squeezing of
IGM clouds by external radio waves; (4) synchrotron heating of electrons in
clusters; and (5) Inverse Compton upscattering of sub-MHz radio photons. Any
sub-MHz background must have an energy density much smaller than the CMB at
frequencies below 1 MHz. The free-free absorption bounds from the Lyman-alpha
forest are potentially the strongest, but are highly dependent on the
properties of sub-MHz radio scattering in the IGM. I estimate an upper limit of
6 * 10^4 L_sun Mpc^-3 for the emissivity within Lyman-alpha forest clouds in
the frequency range 5 - 200 Hz. The sub-MHz energy density in the Coma cluster
is constrained to be less than ~10^-15 erg cm^-3. At present, none of the
limits is strong enough to rule out a maximal T_b = 10^12 K sub-MHz synchrotron
background, but other sources may be constrained with a better knowledge of
sub-MHz radio propagation in the IGM.
