Huge Antenna seen
 

Anybody here from southeast Michigan? On Van Dyke near 15 mile Rd.,
there is an Ameritech Building on the east side of Van Dyke. It has a
HUGE rotatable beam, probably log-periodic and all-band. I am guessing
the main boom is over 60 feet long. Has anybody else seen it? I wonder
what they would be using a HF antenna for? It looks a lot like the
antenna near Bethany OH, if that is any help. I am also guessing this
antenna is out of use nowadays. I used to monitor High Seas phone
traffic, but never realized there may be a receiving station in our
vicinity. Also used to hear Great Lakes phone services on HF and got one
of their very last verifications around 7 years ago, them telling me
they were being supplanted by cell and satellite services. Possibly this
was part of a similar network.

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:59:38 -0400, (RM MS) wrote:

Anybody here from southeast Michigan? On Van Dyke near 15 mile Rd.,
there is an Ameritech Building on the east side of Van Dyke. It has a
HUGE rotatable beam, probably log-periodic and all-band. I am guessing
the main boom is over 60 feet long. Has anybody else seen it? I wonder
what they would be using a HF antenna for? It looks a lot like the
antenna near Bethany OH, if that is any help. I am also guessing this
antenna is out of use nowadays. I used to monitor High Seas phone
traffic, but never realized there may be a receiving station in our
vicinity. Also used to hear Great Lakes phone services on HF and got one
of their very last verifications around 7 years ago, them telling me
they were being supplanted by cell and satellite services. Possibly this
was part of a similar network.

Those are getting to be pretty standard at any U.S. government
facility that uses HF. I have a collection of photos of those from
all over the West.

Maybe it is,or was,something to do with Great Lakes,Ship Traffic.Only
guessing.
cuhulin

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:59:38 -0400, (RM MS) wrote:

Anybody here from southeast Michigan? On Van Dyke near 15 mile Rd.,
there is an Ameritech Building on the east side of Van Dyke. It has a
HUGE rotatable beam, probably log-periodic and all-band. I am guessing
the main boom is over 60 feet long. Has anybody else seen it? I wonder
what they would be using a HF antenna for? It looks a lot like the
antenna near Bethany OH, if that is any help. I am also guessing this
antenna is out of use nowadays. I used to monitor High Seas phone
traffic, but never realized there may be a receiving station in our
vicinity. Also used to hear Great Lakes phone services on HF and got one
of their very last verifications around 7 years ago, them telling me
they were being supplanted by cell and satellite services. Possibly this
was part of a similar network.

http://www.antenna.it/military/630-lp-10...2.htm

The strange thing about that antenna is that it is not really up that
high. It does look like an HF log though. Maybe the employees had a
ham radio club there.

Ever see the 100 or so foot high tower a guy has in his 30 ft x 30 ft
backyard near 11mile road and Schoenerr? The tower base must cover
half the yard. Would cut down on grass mowing.

Jim

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:59:38 -0400, (RM MS) wrote:

Anybody here from southeast Michigan? On Van Dyke near 15 mile Rd.,
there is an Ameritech Building on the east side of Van Dyke. It has a
HUGE rotatable beam, probably log-periodic and all-band. I am guessing
the main boom is over 60 feet long. Has anybody else seen it? I wonder
what they would be using a HF antenna for? It looks a lot like the
antenna near Bethany OH, if that is any help. I am also guessing this
antenna is out of use nowadays. I used to monitor High Seas phone
traffic, but never realized there may be a receiving station in our
vicinity. Also used to hear Great Lakes phone services on HF and got one
of their very last verifications around 7 years ago, them telling me
they were being supplanted by cell and satellite services. Possibly this
was part of a similar network.

In article ,
RM MS wrote:
Anybody here from southeast Michigan? On Van Dyke near 15 mile Rd.,
there is an Ameritech Building on the east side of Van Dyke. It has a
HUGE rotatable beam, probably log-periodic and all-band. I am guessing
the main boom is over 60 feet long. Has anybody else seen it? I wonder
what they would be using a HF antenna for? It looks a lot like the
antenna near Bethany OH, if that is any help. I am also guessing this
antenna is out of use nowadays. I used to monitor High Seas phone
traffic, but never realized there may be a receiving station in our
vicinity. Also used to hear Great Lakes phone services on HF and got one
of their very last verifications around 7 years ago, them telling me
they were being supplanted by cell and satellite services. Possibly this
was part of a similar network.

The FAA is fond of antennas like that. A backup communications
network for air traffic control, I think. There is/was one at
the FAA radar in Discovery Park (formerly Fort Lawton) in Seattle.

Mark Zenier Washington State resident

This antenna is on a tower above an Ameritech building. Ameritech is
what's left of the old Michigan Bell. It is not a government agency,
while Bethany was.

Yes, I have seen the one on Schoenherr and 11. I drive (fly) the 696
every day on my way to the Tech Center. There is another one off 12
mile. I'll take another look at the oe you mentioned. I am sure they
both are amateur radio beams. Still intrigued by the Ameritech one,
though. Wonder how to find out its purpose?

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 14:21:24 -0400, (RM MS) wrote:

This antenna is on a tower above an Ameritech building. Ameritech is
what's left of the old Michigan Bell. It is not a government agency,
while Bethany was.

This doesn't change the fact that they are being installed at most
government facilities that use HF. Oil companies, NGOs, etc. use them
as well.

Why not just ask Ameritech,what is the purpose of that Antenna.They will
probally tell you,unless it is a super duper secret or something.
cuhulin

In article ,
(RM MS) wrote:

Anybody here from southeast Michigan? On Van Dyke near 15 mile Rd.,
there is an Ameritech Building on the east side of Van Dyke. It has a
HUGE rotatable beam, probably log-periodic and all-band. I am guessing
the main boom is over 60 feet long. Has anybody else seen it? I wonder
what they would be using a HF antenna for?...

Here is info provided by the station's engineer:

"The building is called the Warren Main Central office... This is the
site of [SBC] Emergency Operations Center. The tower and antenna are
part of the SHARES/NSEP radio service [...] When all else fails, the HF
radio will work. The Log Periodic antenna covers 6.4 MHz to 30 MHz. It
is on an 85 foot self supporting Rohn tower. The rotator is also
something to drool over. It communicates to the control box over a two
way wireline, so it could be located anywhere. There is a wire delta
loop antenna located below the beam that covers 2 MHz to 30 MHz.
The radio equipment is manufactured by a company called Trans-America.
The transceiver is a commercial rig that is FCC type accepted for this
service, (plus) a 1KW solid state Linear by Trans-America. The radio is
integrated with a PC and will perform ARS or automatic reporting
service. This is a system that automatically sets up a frequency/link
on an automatic basis. It finds the best frequency band/frequency for
the traffic. It is designed for non-trained users. However,
(operators) in Illinois and I have no problem using the equipment and
passing traffic (using this equipment). The site in Sterling Hts (was)
the primary site when we were Ameritech. Now that we are part of SBC,
the primary site is in Hoffman Estates, Ill. But, there is a least one
station in each state."

Hope you found this useful.

Chuck Reti WV8A
Detroit MI

A very nice antenna and radio equipment.I bet it cost a pretty penny.
cuhulin