... also, I loved the work the Airmen did each Christmas to place a star on the radar tower. Could see this from my bedroom every Christmas until 1979. Additionally, the radar always added a noise to my AM radio every 7 seconds.... or 15 secs.
Grew up in Scotts Valley in the 70s, I was lucky enough to get to visit the radar station when it was running as part of a summer school class on aviation and aerospace in 1973, almost fifty years ago. We had great schools before prop 13! It was neat to see my hometown from the summit, after that two hour bus ride, with the Monterey Bay and the Santa Lucia range stretching far to the south, and it was amazing and scary to see what the air force was doing for us all up there as the cold war dragged on. It was a coming of age of sorts. I hope to get back up there when I'm in the area again. Great work to restore the mountaintop, btw, and thank you so much for explaining the meaning and origin of the name and the tribe that remain to share them.
I have been hiking for about 8 years now and I got to say this is a great hiking place for beginners! Great view on top. Well, maintained trail. Bikes ok. Walking strollers are ok. Thanks for the awesome video. Love it. Family friendly. No pets allowed.
Drove up there as a teen in the mid 1980s. There was a county gate at the top. We got out to take in he view. A pickup came down from the base on the other side of the gate. Old dude with a shotgun got out and we didn't wait around for him to tell us to leave! Good times.
Combat airspace interception and control REQUIRES maximizing range and (combat) time on station. With Mt. Um's 24/7/365-available, 2nd party, remote fuel managers for EACH of these fuel-hungry engines of all the fighters aloft, the telling razor-thin margins could be immeasurably better used, monitored and conserved - so much so it makes the interceptors viable at all; in the absence of later modern AWACS aerial-borne airspace combat theater radar and support. THIS development with the KC 135's for the Air Force and E-2/C-2 Hawkeye for the Navy replaced Mt. Um's radar base site's raison d'etra and the rest is history. Good tour of duty in those days, I'd wager.
Helmets? wow When my dad was stationed there twice.We as 8 yrs olds would ride the fire trail started by fire dept and helicopter pad we would ride are bikes non professional or Mountain bikes down to the middle base of the mountain still on USAF land by a mp outpost ....No helmet n zoom zoom zoom 😅
There's a serious conflict of interests when the government caters to its own private investment group. (Mid Pen) Its called racketeering. And since the Federal government is the same said "private investment group", they're not going to police themselves.
