There is a place not so far from here that I have driven by for years. On the top of a hill in the Boone Co Iowa countryside. It has a large 4 legged tower with
odd horn shaped antenna pointing East and West. Today I found out what it is, and why I am surprised.
Back in the day long distance phone conversations Criss crossed the nation by way of microwaves, and towers set up to repeat them roughly 40 to 50 miles apart. Many of those sites are gone today with the change in communication technology. But the site near me was one of only 70 sites worldwide that combined a Military communications system called AUTOVON and that was the real reason it was there.
I found it on Becon search
Number 5 on the outdoor list is a 65,000 square foot underground data center that is 50ft in the ground? Holy sh1t!
Locals say it is 4 levels underground. All of this was bult in 1968. Was used until the mid 90's I am told.
And it is all hardened with thousands of yards of concrete and spring suspended floors to survive a nuclear attack!
Here is a You Tube of a similar AUTOVON installation that I think is 50,000 sq/ft.
This one has 2 500Kw diesel gen sets to run that damn thing! That is locomotive type power! Who knows perhaps the Russians would have targeted this in a nuclear war?
Just an interesting bit of local history that had I driven by and wondered about. Turns out it had national relevance. Today there is an active cell tower there ironically.
odd horn shaped antenna pointing East and West. Today I found out what it is, and why I am surprised.
Back in the day long distance phone conversations Criss crossed the nation by way of microwaves, and towers set up to repeat them roughly 40 to 50 miles apart. Many of those sites are gone today with the change in communication technology. But the site near me was one of only 70 sites worldwide that combined a Military communications system called AUTOVON and that was the real reason it was there.
I found it on Becon search
Number 5 on the outdoor list is a 65,000 square foot underground data center that is 50ft in the ground? Holy sh1t!
Locals say it is 4 levels underground. All of this was bult in 1968. Was used until the mid 90's I am told.
And it is all hardened with thousands of yards of concrete and spring suspended floors to survive a nuclear attack!
Here is a You Tube of a similar AUTOVON installation that I think is 50,000 sq/ft.
This one has 2 500Kw diesel gen sets to run that damn thing! That is locomotive type power! Who knows perhaps the Russians would have targeted this in a nuclear war?
Just an interesting bit of local history that had I driven by and wondered about. Turns out it had national relevance. Today there is an active cell tower there ironically.
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