Anvil Mountain WACS Site

 place with historical importance, tropospheric scatter station

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Built in 1957 and going online in January of 1958, the Anvil Mountain White Alice Communications System (WACS) site (Callsign AVM) was a troposperic scatter telecommunications relay site in the USAF telecommunication network. Linking the Air Force Stations at Northeast Cape to the West and Granite Mountain to the Northeast via 126 and 136 mile shots using two pairs of 60’ antennas, the site was later equipped with a pair of 30ft parabolic microwave transmitters to augment for the Northeast Cape shot. One of the few stations built without onsite dormitory space for its entire compliment due to the proximity of Nome, the site had a central 6,720sqft equipment and power building serving the antenna array.

Operational until 1979, the site was shut down and essentially abandoned by the Air Force, which performed site remediation in the late 1990's as part of Operation Clean Sweep. Excluded from this process were the four 60ft antennae, which have been preserved by the Nome Common Council and Sitnasuak Native Corporation. Following the demolition of the remaining Bethel WACS antenna, these four transmitters became the final WACS antenna in existence.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGDuAZ6ye_k

Links:
www.whitealice.net/
www.kadiak.org/wacs/wacs.html
www.northernlightsnome.com/files/June_08.jpg
www.kicy.org/photoalbum/iditarod06/musher02