[Milsurplus] Navy space radar stn.s

[Bob W7AVK]

George and all - Check out http://www.essd.sri.com/rsed/oth.html  Might this
be the it.  Its my understanding there were several systems.  Most of which
are QRT/

73  Bob  W7AVK



aGEnuine ham wrote:

> Gents:
>
> Well, somewhere I have a nameplate off one of the receive antenna arrays
> which was located in Raymondville, TX and removed in the early 60s.
> Receive site hardware all went to the local PBS TV station (KLRN), and
> included miles of  6" hardline along with lots and lots of antenna
> elements.  Only trouble was the hardline outer conductor was aluminum
> instead of the copper used on TV coax, and the then chief engineer
> wouldn't touch the stuff, having had his share of problems in another
> system with aluminum corrosion.  It all went to the scrap yard in the 70s
> IIRC.
>
> Transmitter was located in Laredo, TX, and was a GE channel 12 TV
> transmitter.  It was donated to Bexar County Civil Defense, and decorated
> the basement of Municipal Auditorium for years.  They had no clue what to
> do with it.
>
> I would check the accuracy of the information you have been given, as
> none of those sites still exist.  The ROTHR (HF over the horizon rarar)
> sites which went in in the 90s in VA, TX and PR use a mile long linear
> array of 16' tall (I think) monopoles, and is the only 'big' system the
> Navy still operates.  The system which replaced NAVSPASUR was still in
> operation a couple of years ago, but it uses dishes inside radomes, and
> was also in danger of being shut down last I heard.  BTW, ther were a
> half dozen university based surveillance arrays built back in those days,
> often with government money for research and development.  Because of the
> funding sources, the operators tended to be very evasive about what they
> were and who operated them.  However, most of them were eventually
> described in IEEE and other places.
>
> Gerorge W5VPQ
>
>