VirtualGlobetrotting: Communication

VirtualGlobetrotting Live View

Satellite Earth Station
skyeye (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: skyeye.
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AT&T international satellite send/receive station designated ETAMWVES.

Secret U.S. Navy Site
jsmjr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: jsmjr.
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Mysterious 4-acre complex described as work a "utility assessment and upgrade" conducted by U.S. Navy under temporary structures at Ohio Drive SW and Buckeye Drive SW
See Washington Post, November 26, 2004, Pg. B1
Navy Keeps A Secret In Plain Sight
Hush-Hush Project Underway by Potomac
By Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post Staff Writer
Shortly after dawn on a recent morning, two dump trucks and a water tanker pulled up to a new, unmarked complex of buildings at East Potomac Park, the grassy peninsula near the Jefferson Memorial. The drivers exited their cabs, knocked at a gatehouse with blacked-out windows and waited for a security guard to emerge from behind a locked door.
A few minutes later, a panel of 10-foot-high security fence slid open, and the trucks disappeared inside, leaving the joggers and cyclists along the waterfront none the wiser about their mission.
What goes on beyond the fence is a mystery. The multi-agency review normally required to erect anything on federal parkland did not apply to the beige, metal buildings. The Navy, which operates the site at Ohio and Buckeye drives SW, calls the work a "utility assessment and upgrade" and volunteers nothing more.
"As a matter of policy, we can't go into the particulars," said a Navy spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Joseph A. Surette.
Frederick J. Lindstrom, acting secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, said it is illegal for him to discuss the matter. He did say the Navy started the work without seeking review from the commission, which oversees the city's Potomac River parklands.
"Let's just say when they're finished, you'll be glad they've done what they've done," Lindstrom said.
Amid the secrecy, theories abound about the four-acre complex, which is dead center in a ring that includes the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, Reagan National Airport and the National War College. Is it a sophisticated sensor station, guarding the 14th Street bridge and other Potomac River crossings? Is it an excavation point for underwater barriers to protect the Washington Channel and Potomac River from submarines? Is it a staging area for Navy Seabees securing underwater cables between the White House and the Pentagon, across the river?
Whatever the case, in a capital where concrete barriers and police roadblocks have become a common and often grating part of city life since Sept. 11, 2001, the Navy compound represents a more ambiguous side to security. It is visible and obscure, hidden in plain sight, billed as temporary but expected to last for years.
And it joins a network of things large and small erected to protect the capital. Wind and radiation tracking instruments sit atop the Federal Reserve. Biowarfare sensors sniff the air in front of the Smithsonian Institution. Antiaircraft systems have been spotted on a rooftop next to the White House and on a Prince George's County riverbank, across the Potomac from Mount Vernon.
For its part, the Navy began work unobtrusively about a year ago on its site near Hains Point, a recreation area known best for its golf course, fishing and "The Awakening," J. Seward Johnson Jr.'s giant sculpture.
The Navy took over the National Park Service land without any announcement. When the agencies that oversee the Mall caught up with the project months later, the hangar-like structures, which cover an excavation area, were visible from Interstate 395.
The agencies' only recourse was to ask the Justice Department to sue the Pentagon. Lindstrom said that was deemed not an option.
After inquiries, senior officials at the Fine Arts Commission and the National Capital Planning Commission were briefed about the security-sensitive project and sworn to silence. The staffs of both commissions, which review many federal agency security requests, were bypassed, and no paper trail was produced.
"The project's sponsors felt it wasn't necessary to bring it to these agencies for their review," Lindstrom said. "It's not quite right -- they should have -- but in hindsight, they did discuss the building and the project and essentially what's entailed there."
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), who has criticized federal security projects for encroaching on life in the District, seldom lets slip an opportunity to make her point. In this case, however, Norton "is aware of what's going on but cannot comment," spokeswoman Doxie McCoy said.
A spokeswoman for the planning commission, Lisa MacSpadden, referred questions to Surette, the Navy spokesman. Surette would not say whether the project is classified or whether it had a name. Nor would he say how much it cost, how many people were on the job or why it was needed. He did say that work under the temporary structures would last about four years, that it complied with local and federal safety and environmental laws and that it would have no impact on traffic.
Mall preservationists say they appreciate the Navy's assurances -- as well as its efforts to protect the nation -- but decry the lack of oversight and public meetings by watchdog agencies.
"What is going on?" said Judy Scott Feldman, head of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, a group of civic and professional organizations in Washington formed in 2000. "Why the Navy would be doing construction is a question . . . And if the Navy is saying it's purely a construction project, then why is it a secret?"
Temporary facilities have a way of outliving their builders, said Feldman, whose group's Web site has posted a photograph of the project.

ATT Comms Bunker
skyeye (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: skyeye.
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A decommissioned AT&T communications center at 2290 Rock Road in Fort Pierce is a massive 7,000 square foot reinforced concrete structure covered with a dome of soil that reaches 40 feet high.

Secure National Security Agency (NSA) site
kjfitz (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kjfitz.
This is an interesting building onthe edge of Fort Meade. It is very secure but flipping to map mode it looks like it isn't actually on Fort Meade like the rest of the NSA Complex.
Map mode says it is on Joseph H Ream Road and Ream was once a director of NSA so I assume it is an NSA site.
BIG airconditioning in back. Perhaps this is a data processing center. The front entrance is fairly fancy. Small parking lot.

Telstar Earth Station Andover (ME)
skyeye (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: skyeye.
Satellite communications facility in northwest Maine.
See:

Samsung Group headquarters at Samsung Town, Seoul.
kuressaare (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kuressaare.
Samsung Group (Korean: 삼성그룹 / Samseong Geurup / [sam'sʌŋ gɯ'ɾup], informally Samsung) is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul. It comprises numerous subsidiaries and affiliated businesses, most of them united under the Samsung brand, and is the largest South Korean chaebol.
Notable Samsung industrial subsidiaries include Samsung Electronics (the world's largest information technology company measured by 2010 revenues), Samsung Heavy Industries (the world's second-largest shipbuilder measured by 2010 revenues), and Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T (respectively the world's 35th- and 72nd-largest construction companies). Other notable subsidiaries include Samsung Life Insurance (the world's 14th-largest insurance company), Samsung Everland (the oldest theme park in South Korea) and Cheil Worldwide (the world's 19th-largest advertising agency measured by 2010 revenues).

ESPN World HQ
mikeb9991 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: mikeb9991.
World HQ of ESPN TV and Radio

Satellite Earth Station
Hawley's principal structures are three 98 ft. diameter (30M) and one 44-ft. (13M) parabolic "dish" satellite antennas, a smaller dish with its own equipment shelter, and an operations building.
See also:
http://long-lines.net/places-routes/Hawley_PA/index.html
http://www.family2remember.com/HWA/HawleySkynet.htm

Satellite Earth Station
Roaring Creek AT&T Long Lines Satellite Terminal has three 30-meter (100-foot) diameter dishes and one smaller. It may be linked to an AT&T facility north of here.

AT&T Facility
AT&T Facility atop Hearthstone Mountain sits just across the border from Pennsylvania. It's connected by road to nearby Site Cannonball, a former government microwave site. Note the AT&T logo painted on the tarmac and the bermed bunker. I don't see any antennas.
http://www.summitpost.org/bear-pond-mountains/431657

Table Mountain National Radio Quiet Zone
kjfitz (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kjfitz.
The Table Mountain National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ), located north of Boulder, Colorado is designated as an area where the magnitude of undesirable radio waves is restricted to minimize radio frequency interference on highly sensitive research projects.
Transmissions observed at Table Mountain include radio emissions from satellites, solar noise, and other radio astronomical sources. Work performed at the site provides information on radio propagation factors affecting the use of radio systems. The emphasis of the research work at Table Mountain is on long-range radio transmission problems and wave propagation studies.
The facilities at the site include two 60-foot satellite dishes. These structures are designed to accommodate temporary research projects, including radio astronomy and reception of weak satellite signals.

Comcast Titan Earthstation
kjfitz (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kjfitz.

Quarry with hidden satellite dishes
Parabellum (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Parabellum.
Zoom in to see Lockheed-Martin's facility inside Baer Aggregates quarry. It's nearly impossible to see the dishes from any local road.

Paumalu Earth Station
doranchak (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: doranchak.
Array of dishes used for satellite tracking/communications.

eBay Headquarters
Elektronaut (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Elektronaut.
The (in-) famous eBay campus in San Jose. This is where the money is made!

Cowboy VOR/DME in Dallas
LoneStarOne (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: LoneStarOne.
Inbound and departing traffic into the many airports of the Dallas/Fort Worth area is neatly sorted along specific routes and altitudes that are based on navigation fixes on three VOR navigation beacons that are more or less arranged across the DFW area- one in Dallas, one at DFW Airport, and one in Fort Worth.
This is VOR/DME antenna named "COWBOY" in Dallas just southwest of I-35E and Royal Lane.
The VOR in Fort Worth is named RANGER and the VOR at the DFW Airport is named MAVERICK.
Link to Maverick below

Television Hill
boothy443 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: boothy443.
Television Hill in Baltimore, transmitter site of 5 out of the 7 major tv stations serving Baltimore. Three transmit from the tri-mast candelabra tower (red color), WBAL, WMAR, WJZ. 2 transmit from the single tower just to the northeast, WBFF, WNUV, which i also think handles communications for the city of Baltimore (i.e. police, fire, public works).
Four of the stations are also physically located on TV Hill, WJZ to the west of the candelabra tower, WBAL to the northeast (also home of WBAL-AM and WIYY-FM) and WBFF/WNUV which share facilities in the black roofed building with the dishes on the roof just southwest of the candelabra tower.

Paramount Pictures Bronson Gate
neotrix (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: neotrix.
Paramount Pictures Bronson Gate at Melrose Ave.

Dallas Fort Worth Airport VOR/DME
jbottero (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: jbottero.
MAVERICK VOR/DME
DALLAS-FORT WORTH, TX
Elevation: 540 ft.
Variation: 06E (2000)
Operational Characteristics:
Type: VOR/DME
Class: H-VORW/DME
Frequency: 113.10
TACAN channel: 078X
Altitude code: H (high)
Hours of operation: 24
Voice: no
Morse ID: - - -
NOTAM facility: FTW

AT&T Tower
The Peru microwave tower was a key east coast relay point for military communications during the cold war, linking Westover AFB and the "Notch" post-attack command center with other bases and with SAC.

Forest Moor
romulusnr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: romulusnr.
Forest Moor is a SIGINT listening station formerly run by the Royal Navy as HMS Forest Moor but since turned over to private ownership, although under contract to continue to provide the Navy with signals.
Forest Moor was the UK companion to the USA's huge Menwith Hill listening station just up the road.

Tuckerton Cable Landing Station
Tuckerton Cable Landing Station hosts the TAT-14 fibre cable which runs
15,000km to Europe.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAT-14

Centrinet bunker at RAF/RGHQ Skendleby
As reported by BBC News at the time of the sale in 2003, the decommissioned emergency command bunker - for use by military chiefs of staff and Government officials in the event of nuclear war - was snapped-up for £400,000 by a specialist computer data security company, Centrinet, with its global operations centre in Lincoln. [www.secret-bases.co.uk]

Hrvatska Radio Televizija (Croatia Radio and Television)
deverettreed (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: deverettreed.

AT&T Triunfo Pass Earth Station
9.0-meter receive-only earth station for analog video and audio
service via INTELSAT Satellites in the arc from 70 to 187 W.L.