iamhere300
Member
Anyone in the Norman OK area? Got a question about a communications company's building down there.
Norman OK
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n5bew1
Member
I am here in Norman go ahead with your question.
Ken
Ken
iamhere300
Member
I was wondering about an AT&T presence down there, off hwy 9, but I got
some info last night on it. Thanks though!
some info last night on it. Thanks though!
n5bew1
Member
Yeah the old microwave tower south of 9 on SE 48th was part of AT&T's assets they sold off. Some big company bought it and rents space on it now.iamhere300 said:
iamhere300
Member
n5bew1 said:
Actually, this was a building on South Canadian Trail right off 9.
OUSoonerfan3
Member
I believe that is/was a customer service call center.
n5bew1
Member
Oh yeah the old Food Lion grocery store that is a SBC/ATT thingy now.
n5bew1 said:
48th Ave SE and E Post Oak Rd, to be exact. Old AT&T Long Lines site. Part of the route down into Texas. See http://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/longlines.html and http://www.drgibson.com/towers/ .
Built to withstand Russian nukes, they were.
n5bew1
Member
I know I took a tour of the place about 25 yrs ago they had a set of generators with I think 10,000 gallons of diesel and huge racks of wet batteries each one about the size of a 15 gallon fish tank @ 1.5 volts each. This was in the concrete bunker basement of that place.
They had huge rack mounted panels with a multitude of plug jacks that they could plug in
and listen to a multitude of long distance phone calls at random.
They had huge rack mounted panels with a multitude of plug jacks that they could plug in
and listen to a multitude of long distance phone calls at random.
iamhere300
Member
Yep, the site at 48th is still used by AT&T for a small government
contract, called nightwatch. Air to Ground for the military.
AT&T and now American Tower call the location the "Noble" tower.
It was a microwave junction, not on the route to TX, but on the
route that went east/west, talking to Asher, Spaulding, McAlester, and
on to Alexander AR (Junction south of Little Rock) to the East,
To the west it talked to Middleburg, Washita, and on to the
Amarillo area.
To the north, it talked to OKC, where it could go anywhere.
It was one of many site built to handle traffic if the downtown
site was taken out by nuclear attack. Always about 15-30 miles outside
of town (or more) It did not normally terminate traffic just pass it on.
A very similar site building wise was the Mounds OK site, about 15 miles
south of Tulsa, which was not only a junction on the OKC to KC route,
and the Tulsa to Dallas route, but was one of the MAJOR autovon sites,
handleing most traffice for the Air Force CONUS bases. (Shut down in
1-13-93 when the last links to Tinker AFB and Cheyenne Mt were
turned down)
Decon showers, big gensets, cool places, but AT&T had lots of sites that
were hardened even more.
contract, called nightwatch. Air to Ground for the military.
AT&T and now American Tower call the location the "Noble" tower.
It was a microwave junction, not on the route to TX, but on the
route that went east/west, talking to Asher, Spaulding, McAlester, and
on to Alexander AR (Junction south of Little Rock) to the East,
To the west it talked to Middleburg, Washita, and on to the
Amarillo area.
To the north, it talked to OKC, where it could go anywhere.
It was one of many site built to handle traffic if the downtown
site was taken out by nuclear attack. Always about 15-30 miles outside
of town (or more) It did not normally terminate traffic just pass it on.
A very similar site building wise was the Mounds OK site, about 15 miles
south of Tulsa, which was not only a junction on the OKC to KC route,
and the Tulsa to Dallas route, but was one of the MAJOR autovon sites,
handleing most traffice for the Air Force CONUS bases. (Shut down in
1-13-93 when the last links to Tinker AFB and Cheyenne Mt were
turned down)
Decon showers, big gensets, cool places, but AT&T had lots of sites that
were hardened even more.
iamhere300
Member
n5bew1 said:
Now that helps greatly. Thank you so much!
I really appreciate the help.
iamhere300
Member
OUSoonerfan3 said:
For now.
Thanks! I appreciate it.
Long Lines site in Noble/Norman
Thanks for the info. There is an older map that shows a N-S route through "Norman", but based on what you said, that may be a different facililty. Was it?
See the 1960 map and the 1966 map.
There is also a description of the Oklahoma City site.
Update: Amrican Tower site info for Noble
iamhere300 said:
Thanks for the info. There is an older map that shows a N-S route through "Norman", but based on what you said, that may be a different facililty. Was it?
See the 1960 map and the 1966 map.
There is also a description of the Oklahoma City site.
Update: Amrican Tower site info for Noble
Last edited:
Chaos703
Member
I've been a frequent visitor to the Mounds site for 20 years. Never been inside. I just like to hang out on the hill and listen to my scanner. Great reception up there. Really creepy.
I "stumbled" across the site late at night during a full moon. It was a very large, captivating and spooky sight in the moonlight. It made quite an impression on me.
Here's a picture if the site. I found it on the Astronomy Club of Tulsa's website. The tower is on the same hill top as their observatory (small white building on the right).
I "stumbled" across the site late at night during a full moon. It was a very large, captivating and spooky sight in the moonlight. It made quite an impression on me.
Here's a picture if the site. I found it on the Astronomy Club of Tulsa's website. The tower is on the same hill top as their observatory (small white building on the right).
Attachments
Chaos,
The Mounds site has been purchased by a ham in MO who saves parts for "museum" interest, sells more for scrap, and then USES the towers and buildings as leased space. Since he's a ham, he uses local hams as custodians/superintendents or whatever you want to call them.
The Tulsa ARC now has access, and will soon be building a "station" (HF remote controlled over VHF or internet, ultimately) plus putting up some repeaters at the site and some contesting and repeater antennas on the tower.
We'll also be building out some of the space inside for storage, operating desk and conference room.
So if you want to see the inside (mostly stripped, now, but....) I can probably arrange a "tour".
The Mounds site has been purchased by a ham in MO who saves parts for "museum" interest, sells more for scrap, and then USES the towers and buildings as leased space. Since he's a ham, he uses local hams as custodians/superintendents or whatever you want to call them.
The Tulsa ARC now has access, and will soon be building a "station" (HF remote controlled over VHF or internet, ultimately) plus putting up some repeaters at the site and some contesting and repeater antennas on the tower.
We'll also be building out some of the space inside for storage, operating desk and conference room.
So if you want to see the inside (mostly stripped, now, but....) I can probably arrange a "tour".
iamhere300
Member
plaws said:
Yep, the site named Norman was elsewhere, the site in question they called
Noble.
It was an amazing system!
iamhere300
Member
Chaos703 said:
It can be even spookier inside.
I can site there in my truck and talk to stations on 146.52 south of OKC with no
problems. Great coverage.
iamhere300
Member
KD5WLX said:
Watch out for that guy from Missouri... What a nut job...
iamhere300 said:
OK ... so where was "Norman"?
Chaos703
Member
KD5WLX said:
This would be mind-bendingly awesome! How do I avail myself of this gracious opportunity?
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