[MRCG] Visit to the Stanford Dish antenna

[Geoff Fors]

Carmel Valley was the Jamesburg AT&T Long Lines station and it was sold by 
AT&T in 2004 for $ 2 Million when AT&T switched to fiber optic. It was built 
in 1968 for telephone relay and TV links. Nixon's visit to China was 
televised through it as were Apollo landings.  When it was sold, everything 
was still there including the last half-full coffee cups of the AT&T 
engineers left as they walked out for the last time.  Initially the owner 
allowed hams to use the antenna for moonbounce but things eventually fell 
apart and that ended. The 20,000 square foot hardened building was stripped 
of all equipment and the Caterpillar Diesel generators sold off, and the 
owner has been trying to sell subdivided sections of the property.  It was 
too costly to demolish the building or the 11 story dish so there they sit. 
The owner is attempting to flip the property for something like twice what 
he paid, but as far as I know, without success.

Around 2005 a ham friend and I were given permission by the owner to salvage 
whatever we wanted from the place over a weekend.  Unfortunately we were not 
the first and about the only thing left was endless FDM multiplex equipment 
from the 1980's and a complete step by step telephone exchange capable of 
serving a small city.  I did take quite a few photos which will eventually 
make it to my website.

Geoff
WB6NVH
Monterey



----- Original Message ----- 
From: JAMES FALLS
To: West Coast Military Radio Collectors Group
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2022 11:26 PM
Subject: Re: [MRCG] Visit to the Stanford Dish antenna


There was/is an abandoned Cold War one up Carmel Valley that was activated 
briefly for moon-bounce ops. I think they used a conventional all-band SSB 
transceiver for the VFH.

Anyone recall this? The property was to be repurposed as a vineyard/winery. 
The bunker proved very difficult to demolish because it was designed to 
withstand a nuke.

Jim Falls K6FWT

> On Jun 24, 2022, at 16:34, john j mulhern <gini2john at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> It was used to reset a satellite command receiver accidentally turned off 
> during testing - a major oops
>
>
>
>
>
>> On Jun 24, 2022, at 4:24 PM, MICHAEL BITTNER <mmab at cox.net> wrote:
>>
>> Tim, Thanks for posting this Stanford Dish video.  It sure brings back 
>> memories.  I was a student there at the time living in a spare room in a 
>> professor's house within site of the dish as it was being built.  The 
>> mesh was being applied by students armed with vise-grip pliers to twist 
>> the wire holding the mesh onto the frame.  After it was completed, my lab 
>> professor, well known ham Oswald (Mike) Villard, regaled us with accounts 
>> of using the dish with a 6-meter Gonset Communicator.  Mike, W6MAB
>>
>>>> On June 24, 2022 at 5:45 PM Tim <timsamm at gmail.com 
>>>> mailto:timsamm at gmail.com > wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>   Military Comms related? (Well, SIGINT anyway...) Yes! Plus Apollo 
>>> etc...
>>>   You's might find this interesting...I did!
>>>   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj3ZuphVxsE
>>>
>>>   Tim
>>>   N6CC
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