• Matt Blaze@federate.socialOP
    4·
    3 months ago

    There were three AT&T radiotelephone sites in the continental US, each with its own transmit and receive antenna farms: Ocean Gate, NJ (shown here, serving the North Atlantic), Miami (serving the Caribbean and the Gulf), and Point Reyes, CA (serving the Pacific).

    All the sites have by now been razed, either for redevelopment or as nature preserves. The antennas are mostly gone now.

    • Matt Blaze@federate.socialOP
      2·
      3 months ago

      Ships on the high seas still occasionally make some use of shortwave radio, but its importance has greatly diminished over the last few decades. The Coast Guard still maintains a “watch” on emergency shortwave frequencies, listening for distress calls, but most transoceanic ships are now equipped with more modern, higher-bandwidth satellite communications systems.

        • Matt Blaze@federate.socialOP
          1·
          3 months ago

          I should note that while the site had a number of discone antennas like this one, they were mostly there as backups in case the main antennas (including truly massive wire rhombics pointing toward various oceanic regions) or transmitter combiners failed. The old Bell System did not mess around.

          • Lot⁴⁹@mstdn.social
            1·
            3 months ago

            @mattblaze@federate.social Often felt that if AT&T leadership had been visionary, instead of focused on charging you $1.50/month for a long handset cord, there’d be no Internet or cable teevee.

          • Matt Blaze@federate.socialOP
            1·
            3 months ago

            Here, by the way, is what I believe was the last published frequency list and schedule for the High Seas service. (A souvenir of my last visit to the station before it went off the air.)

          • jbaggs@infosec.exchange
            1·
            3 months ago

            @mattblaze@federate.social It makes sense they’d use something more omnidirectional / lower gain, and broad spectrum for backups.

        • Jake Miller@federate.social
          1·
          3 months ago

          @mattblaze@federate.social Wow! That’s really interesting, thanks! I wonder if we are going to regret being dependent on satellites for all comms in the next decade or so - the risk/threat profile seems to have changed since 1999.