"That building just looks like a bomb shelter" that's because it practically is. The government and military also relied on these sites for data transmission and thus many of them were built to withstand a nuclear blast in case of war with the Soviet Union. Gotta love Cold War leftovers.
Microwave stations are approx 20 miles apart . The fcc would only allow a 5 watt xmit signal. Any higher would burn trees ,cause cancers etc . The mw was replaced with fiber starting around 1985 or so . Most towers are used by cellular company’s Crown castle and American tower own 99,9% of att’s old infrastructure , I played foneman 40 plus yrs , loved the job
Thanks Robert for your comments. re fcc max pwr 5 watt xmit would be plenty in view of the amount of signal Gain those antennas had. And, I never knew the TX Pwr so thanks. Like most everyone else I ALWAYS wanted to see the inside, but I think it was considered a military secret. I don't think I've ever seen even any recent posts on You Tube that someone might have of the interior showing the equipment. But I do know what the 3.7Ghz to 4.2Ghz radios look like and I imagine that it was rectangular brass waveguide from the radios to the wall of the concrete building.
I disagree on burning tree’s, cause cancer… etc. The frequency bands in use likely were 4GHz, which is non-ionizing. Any idea what your home microwave wattage is?
The fact is; the military piggy-backed off the Bell System with all these towers, coaxial bunkers, etc. when they were built. The microwave and coaxial systems were crucial to have the military's AUTOVON (automatic voice over network) and Echo Fox (aircraft to ground) voice communications connect. How do you think Bell got the unlimited dollars to build hundreds of these sites? (hint: it wasn't from long-distance charges) Bell didn't care about "atomic-hardened bunkers" when they developed their Long Lines system; they just wanted to make telephones work, but the military said they wanted bomb-proof facilities to protect THEIR communications. As you might imagine, no expense was spared at the time. The Army Corps of Engineers then designed and built these installations, where they shared the military's equipment with the telco. Now they're not needed any more, so they're relegated to cellphone towers, fiber-optic connections, wireless internet connection companies, and doomsday preppers.
I’ve always wanted to go inside one of those buildings to see what was inside, I’d love to see old documentation. I’ve been to a modern MTSO some years ago.
If everything is still inside and has not been gutted, you should try to get it into a museum. I used to live in clintonville, wi and never knew they had a microwave tower any longer.
When I lived outside Austin I could see the long line tower in Plflugerville Texas back when Pflugerville was rolling country around it. I was always amazed by it and rather see those towers instead of foreboding looking cell phone towers
The towers have to be close due to line sight so take the direction of the bell and go straight you will find another tower facing it directly in front of that bell because these were directional
there is actually a second tower foundation installed at Coloma, right next to the existing tower. Possibly they were planning on installing a much taller tower at some point.
there was one off of I 287 in Rockland New York that has been stripped of the orange and white paint and the four square dishes on top have been removed sometime around 2010 but the tower is still there
microwave towers were built cross the country at 20 to 25 mile Intervals from coast to coast 80% of long distances calls in the US during the 70's and 80's were carried over these long lines towers
American Tower aquired a majority of the former AT&T longlines sites. On their webpage, they used to have free access to the site database with pictures,site information & site coordinates. As far as I remember the longlines sites stars with 87xx,88xx,89xx. I created a KMZ file for google earth that I still have.....kind of interesting to observe the sites as time goes on, typically the "Western Electric KS-15676" antrennas gets removed & some sites are just completely demolised. Head over to: long-lines.net for more longlines info
That is fascinating! I think the close spacing has to do with these frequencies being so high they are line of sight and even though those towers are huge the curvature of the earth limits distance between towers. Great stuff! 😃👍
the theory is they are still active just turned off.... that can be turned on in the event of nuclear attack... the antenna and microwave horns them selves and that building is nuclear hardened
The one in turnpike in Orlando still in use today had room for about 20 tech's to live underground supplies. Etc. Some of them even the above ground facility could withstand aloft. Solid poured reinforced concrete.
So am I. We have an AT&t communications building right in the middle of the downtown area of my hometown. I remember the horns on a tower behind that building. They had them removed and they had a helicopter crane to remove them.
can you hang microwave popcorn bags from the trees to cook them out there? that would be helpful if the Russians attacked and you didn't have another way to make your popcorn before watching a Netflix movie, right?
NEVER stand in front of a microwave antenna, especially one of those parabolic horns! Even though they're only fed with 5 watts of power, the 15dB gain of the horn multiplies the strength many times, and would be enough to "harm" you.
John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Come to the Father through Jesus Christ today he is the way to heaven and to the father repent today salvation is today repent tomorrow might be to late
