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   Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jan-2024 04:18:39 JST Matt Blaze

   Ruins of HF Radio Antenna, AT&T WOO High Seas Radiotelephone Site, Ocean Gate, NJ, 2009

   A boatload of pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4141766569

   #photography

   • Embed this notice
     Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jan-2024 04:18:30 JST Matt Blaze

     in reply to

     The high seas service wasn't the only use of shortwave radio by AT&T in the 20th century. Through the early 1970's, they also ran "point to point" radio circuits for international voice long distance trunks (supplementing transoceanic cables). The trans-Atlantic site was located near Princeton, NJ, and is now a nature preserve. I recall finding remnants of some of the antennas hiking there around 1990.

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     Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jan-2024 04:18:31 JST Matt Blaze

     in reply to

     And here's the lovely hand-carved sign from the now-bulldozed KMI receiver site in Point Reyes (now hopefully somewhere in storage).

     AnthonyJK-Admin repeated this.
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     Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jan-2024 04:18:33 JST Matt Blaze

     in reply to

     Here's the final frequency and schedule card for the service, published in 1998 (a year before the service was terminated in 1999).

   • Embed this notice
     Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jan-2024 04:18:34 JST Matt Blaze

     in reply to

     AT&T operated three high seas stations (each with separate transmitter and receiver sites) to serve the North Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific: WOO (Ocean Gate, NJ), WOM (near Miami), and KMI (in Point Reyes, CA).

     All of the sites have by now been razed.

   • Embed this notice
     Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jan-2024 04:18:35 JST Matt Blaze

     in reply to

     The antenna farms for these stations required a significant amount of real estate. Shortwave antennas are very large, with multiple antennas in different orientations to ensure good coverage of the ocean under different conditions. Geographically separated transmitter and receiver sites were required to avoid interference.

     This antenna (one of the smaller ones at the transmitter site) is an inverted "discone" design. It provides nondirectional coverage over a wide range of frequencies.

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     Matt Blaze (mattblaze@federate.social)'s status on Wednesday, 10-Jan-2024 04:18:37 JST Matt Blaze

     in reply to

     This was made with a DSLR and a 24mm shifting lens.

     Through most of the 20th century, AT&T operated a "radiotelephone" service for vessels on the high seas. Ships could contact an operator by shortwave radio to be connected with any landline telephone number they wished.

     The North Atlantic station, callsign WOO, occupied expansive "antenna farms" in marshlands near the shore in central New Jersey.

     Rendered obsolete by satellites, the service ceased operation on November 9, 1999.