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AN/FPS-24 Radar Tower, Mt (cdn.masto.host)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/photography@fedia.io
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AN/FPS-24 Radar Tower, Mt. Umunhum, Los Gatos, CA, 2024.All the pixels, but without messing up your TV reception, at flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/53#photography

A large monolith-like building, with vents but no windows, atop the summit of a mountain.
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[–] [S] 1 point 9 months ago (2 children)

From 1958 through 1980, this incongruous four level (82 foot) monolith was the centerpiece of the "Almaden Air Force Station", a long-range radar site that was part of NORAD's SAGE early warning system. The blast-hardened concrete building served as the platform for an FPS-24 radar system, a massive 120 foot wide reflector that emitted a 5 megawatt VHF pulse, continuously rotating at 5 RPM.Notoriously, the powerful radar signal disrupted TV and radio reception throughout the San Jose area.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)

    It's unclear if the SAGE system would have actually been effective in tracking incoming bombers, which presumably would have employed radar jammers and other countermeasures. Fortunately, we never found out.The huge rotating antenna (not shown) was removed shortly after the site's decommissioning in 1980, but the building, a prominent local landmark visible from downtown San Jose, has been preserved.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 9 months ago

    I have mixed feelings about these cold war relics. On the one hand, they're artifacts of what was perhaps humanity's most dangerous folly to date, locking the world in a deadly game where the stakes only went up with each round. This doesn't seem like something to commemorate or celebrate.On the other hand, these objects, many now destroyed or decayed, serve as visible evidence of just how close to oblivion we are willing to go. And looked at from the right angle, they have stories to tell.

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