I know we have a number of members who are vets and worked in comms. Did anyone ever get to see or operate one of these systems?

The size of this and some of the material requirements are staggering. Just one of these installations required over 17.5 miles of 7/8" 75 ohm hard line coax. Several more lengthy videos which go into more technical detail are available on YouTube.

We drove by that Elmendorf site about ten years ago, it's impressive. I've also seen them in Maine and on Okinawa, but those may have been Navy sites.

I've seen the Elmendorf Elephant Cage a few times. Never up close though; only driving past. Richardson/Elmendorf has some other big antenna things too. I don't know anything about them though, so they may not actually be exceptional. They look like giant spider webs suspended from towers. There are two or three in one spot, with a centralized control structure.

I've driven by the one in Germany, but not been on site.

Nice tribute to the Technology and the people who worked with it.

I never heard of it. Looked like some beautiful RF workmanship.

Very interesting! We had a FRD-10 on Adak Island in the Aleutians. It was still active when I was there (early 90's) and belonged to the Naval Security Group Activity (NSGA). We called it the "Dinosaur Cage". The FRD-10 was smaller than the FLR-9 depicted in the video, but they were impressive nonetheless.

We had an elephant cage antenna system when I was stationed in San Vito dei Normanni Air Station, Italy. Circa 1985, base has been closed for quite a while now.

Golf course was laid out around it, the locals would protest (small groups) from time-to-time since they thought the individual poles were missiles.

We had some hvac equipment out there to support the guard shack and some electronic gear. Security Police liked to roust our guys if they were working there and the cops had an alert, made 'em run a couple hundred yards clearing the area. We'd retaliate by shutting the chiller off to their barracks for a few days.

I suspect the site might get pretty exciting during a lightning storm!

That’s one big-ass loop antenna. I have a much smaller one that works great. Can’t imagine the reception those get.

^^^^

Years ago, I did some pretty extensive experimenting with delta loops for 20m and 15m.

They were amazing performers compared to my standard dipoles for those same bands. That was for a single delta loop.

How I would love to get a few hours with an R-390 connected to that Elephant Cage.

Mine is a 160M. Works great from 20-160. What I love about it is the lack of noise. It is remarkably quiet.

Snapped the wire the other day though during our wind event. Got it spliced back together and soldered and it is as good as new, although I did order a new wire just in case. 560-some feet. I did trim this one down to about 530ish to get it as close to resonant on as many bands as I could without needing a tuner.

HOA wouldn't even notice, would they?

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
I've driven by the one in Germany, but not been on site.

My older brother was stationed there.

I believe there was one in central IL. I sprayed fields around it a couple times. Farmer said it was a radio antenna from the war.

Only ting I could think of was some sort of old carting track with all the light poles and clean ground.

quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
I believe there was one in central IL...

Could this be the same site?

https://lswilson.dewlineadventures.com/streator/

I spent from 1971 to 1978 working at CDAA (Circularly Disposed Antenna Array) sites at NSGA (Naval Security Group Activity) Clark Air Base PI, NSGA Misawa Japan, and NSGA Winter Harbor, ME.

NSGA no longer exists, altho certain ratings with in the Cryptologic Technician rate still survive and AFAIK all the Wullenweber CDAA's have been torn down.

Oddball side note: When I worked for Lockheed Martin as an armorer, we got sent to the NRA Small Arms Instructor course in Norfolk, Va. The actual range was some distance from our lodgings in Norfolk and we were transported back and forth every day. About the third day I noticed foundations at regular intervals. After a bit of thought, I realized they were antenna bases and the range was at the old NSGA site at Northwest VA!

Good video. Makes me want to run down to the Titan Missile Museum and plug into their Discone antenna.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:

quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
I believe there was one in central IL...

Could this be the same site?

https://lswilson.dewlineadventures.com/streator/

It would have been closer to UI in Champaign county I believe but Piatte and Dewitt are possible. I sort of recall communicating with submarines being the use case? It’s been at least 40 years I bet.

There used to be a slightly smaller version of that on the Collins Radio campus that covered multiple square blocks here within the city limits of Cedar Rapids. It could have contained a small herd of buffalo without problem. It was razed when Collins expanded and put multiple buildings on the site. My understanding is a somewhat larger remote antenna farm was located about 60 miles East of the city which provides backup for some government comm systems and output for some of Collins Aerospace development projects.

I was stationed at RAF Chicksands and they had one but we weren’t allowed to get too close to it. It was a great assignment, a small quiet base.