NARS Site 42

Iceland / Austurland / Hofn /
 demolished, tropospheric scatter station
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Constructed in the early 1960s as a dual-purpose Troposcatter radio communications relay site in the North Atlantic Radio System (NARS), Site 42 shared its location with the USAF/NATO Radar Station at Hofn from 1961 through its 1992 closure.

Forming part of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS), Site 42 was linked to Site 41 at Keflavik, Iceland and Site 43 at Tórshavn, Faroe Islands by 235 and 292 mile shots respectively. Equipped with a pair of 120ft antenna for the Keflavik shot operating at 50kw, the Tórshavn shot was accomplished by a pair of 60ft antenna operating at 10kw. The site also served in a secondary role as a relay site for transmissions originating along the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, which stretched West along the 60th parallel from the DYE-5 Site at Keflavik to the COB-1 Site at Nikolski, Alaska.

With the advent of satellite communications rendering the troposcatter communications system obsolete, the Site 42 was shut down along with the rest of the NARS system in 1988. Remaining idle through the end of manned operations at Hofn Air Station, the troposcatter antennae and support buildings were razed along with the rest of the Air Force Station in the mid-1990s, though the concrete footings for the billboard antennae and feed horns still remain.
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Coordinates:   64°14'38"N   14°57'50"W
This article was last modified 9 years ago