Stop researching stuff like this, I now have 42 layers of aluminum foil on my head to block out this site as well as HAARP , 5 G , MI-5 , CIA , FBI , MERPS and a whole long list of others that I can't tell you about lest they find out that I'm blocking their transmissions. . .. .
Hi Lewis. I found this report interesting and disturbing. De-Commisioning of these Antenna Arrays maybe reconstructed one day, considering our potetial WW3 developing?. 😮💨🤥😌
may wanna check around area 51... ive seen this type of build around there. thought it was like a portable setup for water tanks. were they can raise the sides up like maybe made out of rubber or something. but seein this video iam thinking they were this type of thing. seen 3 of them..
Very interesting how technology of spy craft has changed over time. I wonder if the level of background noise increasing contributed to abandoning them? Such RF polluters as fluorescent lights, high output - high efficiency lamps, garage door openers, supermarket automatic door opener sensors and in our area (San Diego Gas & Electric) meters with self-reporting radio transmitters.
I was there on Wednesday. I was standing on one of the old concrete foundations. I was a child in the early 80's and me and my dad would drive past this quite often (we lived nearby) You could clearly see it from the roadside and you could see its lights at night from a good distance away. It was a truly massive structure. We didn't really know what this thing was or what it did and one of the local rumours was that it was the 3 minute warning system. Knowing that we were in the height of the cold war and having american military aircraft flying over our house was just "the norm" growing up, this antenna had a really eerie feeling to it. Also it was completely out of bounds to the average joe as well. Where I was standing on Wednesday, if I did that 30 years ago, I probably would have been shot or most certainly arrested. Today, it's a public footpath and anyone can visit its remains. To think that something that was so top secret and mysterious, you can now download the manual and spec for it freely on the web.
I spent a year in Karamursel Turkey working inside the Elephant Cage. For a 18 year old who had never been outside Houston, Texas before, this was a magical time me and will never forget it. After Turkey, I went to the USS Belmont (AGTR-4) which was the sister ship of the USS Liberty (AGTR-5) and a bigger edition of the USS Pueblo (AGER-2). Left the service after that.
We lived in Karamursel, Turkey during 1967-68, just down the road from The Elephant Cage there. We were there when the USS Liberty was attacked during the 6 Day War. The cage was the largest structure in the area.
This is a great bit of history. I was in the USAF and in 1978 I was sent to RAF Chicksands for a TDY assignment. On the weekends, I liked to explore the local countryside a bit. One day, I saw the large antenna from on local roads and snapped a photograph from a distance. I never thought I would come across a youtube video that would clear up all my questions of that very mysterious structure. Thank you for sharing this wonderful piece of history.
My father was a radio operator at the AN/FLR-9 at San Vito dei Normanni Air Station, 7 miles west of Brindisi, Italy. It was the very best years of my youth. We lived "on the economy" in downtown Brindisi. I went to a local Italian school and made great local friends. I love Brindisi.
I was stationed there in the 6950th ESG from 1989 to 1993 (if I remember correctly) and I reenlisted in the building in the center of the Elephant Cage. I was stationed in Misawa with the 6920th from 1986 to 1989. It was nostalgic and fun seeing this. The stories I could tell....but can't lol
I worked at the Flair-9 (Elephant cage) site in Germany at Augsburg in 1983-85. I actually worked at the satellite communications site that supported the site next door. As far as I can tell, the Augsburg site is the last remining Project Iron Horse (official military designation) site standing intact as the Alaska site is now gone. I also heard that the German government is still operating the site or at least the antenna as an NBC news article mentioned that the Germans were listening to Russian communications with it during the invasion of Ukraine. The antenna is built on a WW2 German airbase, the same one that Hess flew out of in his flight to England. There are still old German buildings on the base and there is an old underground facility that is sealed up. There is a reunion scheduled for this group in August of this year. I plan to go.
Yeah, USAF there 1977 - 79 but our mission was tactical VHF and our antennas and radios were in the mountains along the borders looking into EGER and CZ, then microwave relayed encrypted back to us in Augsburg - actually we were out in the country by the village of Gablingen. I hated taking the trick busses out there day after day - it was a pretty anti-military time and there was a certain amount of incidents in Europe during the 70's. I felt much safer in Sinop Turkey on the Black Sea in 1973 - 74. We had a pretty neat Flair--12 there (VHF), about the size of a giant watertower...
So glad this video came up in my RUclips suggestions. I was assigned to the 6920th at Misawa from 82-83. I lived and worked on "The Hill" Some rally good memories of Japan which included many festivals,
My dad worked at Clark AFB in the Philippines with their elephant cage. He was a cryptologist breaking both Vietnamese and Russian Cyphers. His information was passed directly to the NSA. We witnessed first hand the POWS being released as they arrived at Clark AFB in Feb 1973. There are videos of it on RUclips. I am somewhere in the crowd with my family welcoming them back. We moved back from the Philippines in the Fall of 1974.
I copied a lot of signals through the FLR-9's at Clark AB and Chicksands. Only one issue with this video, though... the radio intercept operators did not work in the "roundhouse," or the circular building inside the antenna. There may have been a couple of receivers out there but that's basically where some of the DF equipment was housed, sending signals through cables housed in a tunnel to the operations buildings. The DF operator in the operations buildings sat in front of a big scope which looked like a radar screen in an old movie, and it gave the direction of the signal. But for the most part there was nobody sitting out in the roundhouse, or at least when I was there. Only if equipment needed worked on or checked, usually.
Correct Building 600 was where the operational gear and staff was. Only the goniometers were at the centre of the array. That's unlike some of the other arrays, like at Edzell, where the ops centre was within the array.
Being stationed @Misawa, Japan from 1977 to 1980, I remember the Cage vividly, as I was a Communication Electronics Tech there. That site was run by the NSGA (Naval Security Group Command - NAVSECGRU). At that time, Misawa was an U.S. Air Force base, and the Navy ran the Flight Line (NAF Misawa), with NSGA running the area around the Cage. Was wondering if you were even aware of those sites.
My dad was stationed at Misawa as a radio intercept operator for 6989th Radio Squadron, part of US Air Force from 1957 to 1960. He told me the elephant cage was under construction, but was not completed by the time his tour was done. My dad said Misawa used Hammarlund receivers to intercept voice but also lots of Morse code traffic that lingered after Korean War, encrypted and non-encrypted. My dad passed away many years ago, but he told me lots of cool stories about Misawa and radio stuff. A few years ago, I traveled to Misawa and got to see the elephant cage in person and took some photos. The antenna was demolished in 2014 sadly. When I visited , NSA had just finished building several large radome satellite antennas that was part of the ECHELON and FORNSAT satellite intercept network that was in the news several years ago. Those satellite Radomes were very impressive bits of kit to see in person, but so was that massive Elephant Cage!
I also served the comm shack serving the "spooks" of Misawa AB as well. My time was in the 1990's. Never got near the Elephant Cage, but saw it almost every day.
Great video, truly enjoyed watching it. I was stationed at San Vito in 1977/78 working as a medic in the base clinic. I was friends with many people who worked in the ‘cage’. They were primarily single, just out of high school or in their early 20s and had backgrounds with various foreign languages. they would sit at a terminal for eight hours a day, just typing in whatever they heard on their headphones. It was all very monotonous as there was no decision making or dramatic real-time secret mission stuff, everything was typed in and transmitted to other locations for analysis. We had a very large mental health department - imagine sitting there doing that eight hours a day… San Vito was this small American city in the middle of an Italian olive grove, on the ‘heel’ of the Italian Adriatic coast. It was located in the Italian farming region and was filled with vineyards and olive groves. It was pretty remote, with Naples being the nearest large city three hours away. It had all the bare necessities with the BX/post office, the dining hall, the clinic, NCO club and the dormitories. I remember, shooting skeet beside the “elephant cage“ and passing the time at the local MWR gun club. It was a great tour for me but the sole mission was always to support the elephant cage.
That's kind of how it was at Chicksands. My unit (6950th ESG) was the main purpose of the whole base, everyone else was there to support our mission. Luckily, though, it wasn't very remote. We could hop on a train and be in London within about half an hour or so.
Brilliant video. I used to live in Stotfold, near to Chicksands in Bedfordshire, and have fond memories of seeing the Elephant Cage from a distance. It certainly was an impressive sight for those of us interested in radio technology and signals intelligence. Thank you for producing and posting this video and all of your other fascinating videos.
I was stationed at San Vito die Normanni (not San Vino) Air Station west of Brindisi, Italy in the‘60s as a morse intercept operator, and spent many hours listening via the FLR9. Also there was voice and elint that was compartmentdized. The job is now done by satellite.The contract to demolish ours may still be seen on the Web (you get the scrap if you do the work). Originally dipole wire antennas were used, and I found the ceramic egg and plate insulators abandoned in the dirt. Now the station is repurposed and the spot where the guard shack stood is bare, but can still be seen on Street-view. The station perimeter was open, but the intercept compound was fenced. The climate their was identical to my hometown of Sacramento, but I would have preferred my first pick of Chicksands. I was never inside the center building, but imagine the equipment there was minimal (amps, etc.), with all the receivers and people in a large adjacent building (just to the east at Elmendorf). We had 120VAC power, but I imagine they just rearranged the transformer secondaries to get 240 after the station was returned to Italy.
Was stationed USAFS Augsburg. Once you are standing next to one of the pylons you realize how big this thing is. We had, I'm sure the others as well, had a tunnel from the roundhouse out to the operations building for all the cabling. Made that trip through the tunnel more than once.
The antenna array at former USAFS Augsburg is still in use today! .. The site is maintained by German intelligence service BND. It was said in a hearing in front of German Bundestag a few years ago that they still use the antennas for intelligence gathering. But it's still a restricted area, so no tourists allowed, sadly ;) .. To my knowledge it is the last FLR 9 site that is in operation worldwide.
@@LuckyFlesh 33S (and then 33M) myself in mission. Anyone ever hide in the "alcove" halfway thru the tunnel and just happed to grab your arm as you go by?
There is one like that in WV called the Timberland Site. It was abandoned for a while, but now the NSA is doing something with it. That radial antenna is gone now, there are satellite dishes instead. It is in the "radio dead zone" where the big Greenbriar satellite is also located.
I used to work for the FCC here in Puerto Rico. There was an elephant cage direction finder antenna operated by the Navy. I use to work in their facility in Sabana Seca getting HF signal direction azimuth from the antenna. We moved from there at around 1991 or 92 because i remember getting azimuths from iraquí jammers in the first iraquí war. Any way there were multiple stations in the states an some times the system got input from multiple stations in the world. The station is not there anymore. In 1992 the FCC got its own station a Doppler one. Thank you for your channel.
I served at the USASA Augsburg Station in the mid 70s. It has great memories. We are having a USASA Augsburg Reunion this year (2023) in Augsburg. Not much of the Kaserne are left. I’m not sure if the Bundesnachrichtendienst (German Intelligence), that took over in 1998, is still using the AN/FLR-9 Antenna or not. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
It looks like they are still using it, at least they keep it in perfect condition. ;) You are planning a reunion again this year? I was there last time reporting for local television. Great that you keep the connection to this part of the world, where you served!
I remember listening thru the one in Augsburg, Germany on a clear night & I was able to pick up terrible sounding, faint Morse Code. It was coming from Vietnam. The FLR-9s were fantastic to use.
Some of their transmitters were so bad, I had to have one hand on the R390 dial to tune up and down the band chasing the signal and the other on DF display to get a bearing!
When I was at Clark AB, I used to listen to Vietnam all the time! It was there, though, that I heard my first numbers station. I had read about numbers stations before joining the Air Force, but had never heard one since I hadn't become a shortwave listener yet. But I was monitoring a frequency close to 8300 KHZ when I kept hearing what I thought was Chinese music. Tuned up to 8300 and that's when I heard New Star. Of course at the time I had no idea what it was, but I still remember the Chinese music at the beginning. It wasn't until later when I was at Chicksands and had a SW receiver of my own and started hearing numbers stations a lot that I realized what I had heard.
@@RetiredRadioChaser I'll never forget the "whoop whoop whoop" sound of those Vietnamese CW transmitters. Sometimes their CW sounded like chickens clucking. They must have been using some old WWII radio gear which hadn't been worked on since then.
@@dx1450 They either built their own radios or had radios built in China. The chirping sound was, if I remember correctly, due to a slight change of frequency as the transmitter was keyed. This was in addition to some of them just drifting in frequency.
Archaeologists in 2023: Stonehenge was built in ancient times as a place of worship. Archaeologists in 6023: Chicksands most probably was built as a place of worship.
Our Dad was stationed at the one in San Vito Dei Normanni Air Station from 84-90. I spent about 6 months there and finished up High School before I went off to join the Marine Corps. I also spent time at the one in Turkey when our ship was in dry dock in Gulcok Turkey for repairs, it had been abandoned and being a snoop I went and checked it out it was still standing in 1987 for the most part.
2:14 - - (old FRD 10s) - - 2:26 - - array has 3 rings of antennas; each ring receives rf signals for an assigned portion of the 1.5 to 30 MHz radio spectrum. 2:38 - - outer ring normally covers the 2 to 6 MHz range (band A), (as well as reduced coverage down to 1.5 MHz); (2:56 - - has 48 monopole elements); 2:47 - - center ring covers the 6 to 18 MHz range (band B); (3:04 - - 96 monopoles); 2:52 - - inner ring covers the 18 to 30 MHz range (band C); (3:12 - - 48 antennas)
There was one of these, or a similar variant, north of Imperial Beach, visible from the Chula Vista, CA company where I worked. From Wiki, I believe it was an AN/FRD 10, now called the "Silver Strand Training Center". The array was still standing in 2011 but was gone by 2020 when I left the area. AAh, I see the '10 is covered in another video. Very good.
There was a small elephant cage on Okinawa run by the Naval security group, up on the hill above the Army Field Station "Torii Station" in Sobe. A look at Google maps shows no signs of it, at all. Circa 1978-1980 while I was stationed there.
I always wondered about that Augsburg array. When I was stationed in Stuttgart, every flight mission to Augsburg or Munich, we'd see that array. All our S2 would say: "They can hear a mouse fart in the Antarctic".
Looking forward to the FRD-10 video. I was aware that there were differences between the AN/FDR-10 and AN/FLR-9 but had never got around to investigating the details.
My Vietnam Vet friend said he decoded morse and did other sigint for US Army and worked at an elephant cage during the vietnam conflict. (I forget where but near to vietnam) He called it an "Elephant cage" all of the time. He claims to be the 1st person who knew the American prisoners were being released from Vitnam camps, Hanoi Hilton etc via a code intercept that he made.
I don't know if I believe that, because the Vietnamese messages were all sent in cipher code. He'd have to have had a key to actually be able to read it.
@@dx1450my dad worked at Clark AFB in the Philippines with their elephant cage. He was a cryptologist breaking both Vietnamese and Russian Cyphers. We witnessed first hand the POWS being released as they arrived at Clark AFB in Feb 1973. There are videos of it on RUclips. I am somewhere in the crowd with my family welcoming them back. We moved back from the Philippines in the Fall of 1974.
I can imagine that in 1000 years the humans of that time will find these sites and think there’re some sort of religious ceremonial site used by us primitive humans.
Years ago there was a dual array on the east coast near a national quiet zone or area. Today, it's a listening post manned by the USAF, but is affiliated with the NSA.
I served in the Foreign Service in Manila and would see the Clark array when going there to shop at the commissary and PX. I assumed from its design it was for radio intercepts / direction finding.
I was living in clophill in 87 and you could see the antenna aray , at the time i read the novel the fourth protocol and in this book a Russian agent pulled of the road very near my home town in yorkshire to send a radio message and the signal was intercepted at chicksands .
The site of the one at the former Clark AB is the relocation site of a government-operated park (which includes that amphitheater). There's a site somewhere containing photos, and I'd like to share the link, but it seems I'm not allowed to post links here. (Sorry for the earlier attempt.)
Imagine in thousands of years when history is forgotten and archaeologists find the remains of these. Maybe they will think they were temples or something, having no idea what they actually were. Just like we have no idea what many ancient sites were actually used for, and are pretty much guessing. Like the pyramids. Who knows what technology they had back then which has been lost, or withheld.
Many thanks for a great video!! The elephant cage at Chicksands always intrigued me, I thought it was some kind of ultra SW transmitter for submarines so this video nicely clears up that notion!! I believe there was an attempt to preserve it which failed due to the presence of "lead based paints" on the structure. Shame really because it was such a landmark and the eerie glow of the sodium lights on perimeter always gave an air of mystery to the place!!!
I think there were rumors that Chicksands was a secret submarine base, supposedly the subs sailed up the Flit River! Which was laughable because there at Chicksands the Flit River was maybe 20 ft. across. Good luck getting a sub up that!
I worked for a civilian service contractor out at NSGA Skaggs Island, just past Mare Island Naval Station. We had a AN/FRD-10 installation just visible from Hwy 37, and some other antenna setups spread across the base. Skaggs closed in 1993, a year before Mare Island, and eventually ended up as part of the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge (so, no the general public can't drive out there). All the base buildings were torn down in the late 2000's and the only antenna still out there is the VORTAC airway nav beacon (still in operation; you can just barely see it from the hwy) on the air charts as SGD.
I passed through Elmendorf a few times back in the 1990s flying the KC-135 and remember seeing this array as we were approaching the airfield. I assumed it was a LORAN station (those were still in operation back then). Had no idea it was an intelligence facility.
Loved this episode! My father was a radio operator for USAF 6922nd Security Wing during the late 60's at Clark AFB in the Philippines. He told us they would always tell the new guys the elephant cage was were they put any elephants that wondered onto the base. He thought it hilarious since there were no elephants in the Philliphines, but eveyone was gullible enough to beilieve it. He said their duties included tracking Chineese aircraft that encroached and sometimes crossed the border into Vietnam, as well as Chineese military communication sites, which were often mobile. He said they were pretty unique since they could do direction finding, but they would often triangulate with other listening posts, such as Tiwan where he also spent time. Cheers!
I was stationed in The Great Dismal Swamp on the border of Virgina and North Carolina. There is a huge circular antenna similar to these you have shown here.
I live a few miles north of where the Chicksands array was, and I miss seeing it as I drive along the A600 near Haynes. It would have been fun to make use of it now, my HF antennas can't compete and I am down in the Great Ouse valley to boot.
Yes!!! I knew you would do one on this after we exchanged comments about Chicksands, I think towards the end of last year! Great stuff! I remember driving past Chicksands and seeing it as a kid and being absolutely in awe and enthralled of it. It looked frightening…
Thank you so much for this video. Brings back so many memories and I was wondering what, if anything was left. I might be a bit biased but this is definitely a favourite. We just need part 2 of your dangers of amateur radio “documentary”! 😜
I worked at San Vito during Kosovo War in 2001. The base had already mostly been shutdown when we showed up. I always thought it would have been cool to work there with the giant antenna array.
I did training by AN/FRD-10 number 4. They had a mess of strange antennas there. I used to joke that every time we drove the van over the antenna line we lost some of our sperm count. Haha
I used to race at Houghton's conquest from 86' till around 93 but had seen it before as my dad was an electrician and worked at quite alot of US air force bases and boy there used to be alot around where I grew up.
This elephant gage is in Scotland, also see my My Tour of Duty at RAF Edzell and a radio amateur license issued by waterloo bridge house a place I was in contact with for many years during my time with PYE PMR systems.
There were once four and is still at least one of these on Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. I was in a national guard artillery unit and we would shoot our guns out there and wondered what the hell they were, but weren't allowed to ask. 40°11'56"N 113°10'37"W
There was one in Augsburg Germany. United States Army Security Agency (USASA) Field Station Augsburg was the site of a Wullenweber AN/FLR-9 (V8) radio direction finder, established during the Cold War. Field Station Augsburg was located on Gablingen Kaserne, near the village of Gablingen just north of Augsburg in Bavaria, West Germany. It was one of nearly 20 field stations positioned strategically around the world by the U.S. Armed Forces during the Cold War. Field Station Augsburg opened in 1970 and closed in 1998, at which time it was turned over to the German government.
ohhhh interesting! I wonder if thus is where Johnny Cash was stationed when he interecepted the message that Stalin was dead? Mike Rowe had a great episode on his podcast about how Johnny Cash had been that guy when he was in the air force before he started performing country music.
I used to live near Chicksands and always wondered if our Monday night Top Band AM net on 1920kHz would knock out their operations whilst we were on the air !
Another one of your videos that I said to myself “damn that was great” after watching. I know a guy that travels the world building stuff like this for the US military 😂. All the best my friend!
lol nice video ringway....although you didnt mention the array located in san diego california which was demolished in 2015.I know it was a FRD-10 but still an elephant cage ;) I use to drive by it every time I would go swimming at the silver strand. It was amazing because on one end of the beach you'd have navy sailors going thru BUDS training, and at the other you'd have this gigantic circle cage that looked like some kind of sci-fi death beam machine :)
Thank you for this video, i have always wondered what this massive ring of wire and steel trusses was, just off the side of the B2 leading north out of Augsburg, whenever i was travelling through there. I suppose now i know the answer to that. I wish they would give guided tours around the complex to see how the inside of the facility looked like and operated, however the last time i checked, they wont let anyone in. There are rumors that the BND is still operating it as a listening station, however i highly doubt that. Either way, its fascinating to see everytime i pass by there.
I had a look around Edzell in the early 2000's and the elephants cage seemed largely intact. There was also another compound nearby with a large security fence. Think it was full of computer mainframes perhaps? I remember the electrical outlets had both the British style sockets alongside the US style. I'd love to hear more memories of Edzell. (Looking at photos I have one of a painted mural with the words "Classic Wizard")
@@gavinstirling7088 if going down the pan from the top of A/Field, it was USAF only min speed 30 mph. They played with the stuff under the white round things😉😉😉🤔 Best regards Martin
Classic Bullseye - The US Navy's Ears On The World
ruclips.net/video/zVKy6g0YQdU/видео.html
Stop researching stuff like this, I now have 42 layers of aluminum foil on my head to block out this site as well as HAARP , 5 G , MI-5 , CIA , FBI , MERPS and a whole long list of others that I can't tell you about lest they find out that I'm blocking their transmissions. . .. .
Hi Lewis. I found this report interesting and disturbing.
De-Commisioning of these Antenna Arrays maybe reconstructed one day, considering our potetial WW3 developing?. 😮💨🤥😌
may wanna check around area 51... ive seen this type of build around there. thought it was like a portable setup for water tanks. were they can raise the sides up like maybe made out of rubber or something. but seein this video iam thinking they were this type of thing. seen 3 of them..
The one near Udorn Thailand
I served 3 tours there in the mid 70’s
Very interesting how technology of spy craft has changed over time. I wonder if the level of background noise increasing contributed to abandoning them? Such RF polluters as fluorescent lights, high output - high efficiency lamps, garage door openers, supermarket automatic door opener sensors and in our area (San Diego Gas & Electric) meters with self-reporting radio transmitters.
I was there on Wednesday. I was standing on one of the old concrete foundations.
I was a child in the early 80's and me and my dad would drive past this quite often (we lived nearby) You could clearly see it from the roadside and you could see its lights at night from a good distance away. It was a truly massive structure.
We didn't really know what this thing was or what it did and one of the local rumours was that it was the 3 minute warning system. Knowing that we were in the height of the cold war and having american military aircraft flying over our house was just "the norm" growing up, this antenna had a really eerie feeling to it. Also it was completely out of bounds to the average joe as well.
Where I was standing on Wednesday, if I did that 30 years ago, I probably would have been shot or most certainly arrested. Today, it's a public footpath and anyone can visit its remains.
To think that something that was so top secret and mysterious, you can now download the manual and spec for it freely on the web.
Thanks for the info!
Were you affected by the 1991 eruption that caused it to be decommissioned?
That's a very interesting story thanks for sharing. It does make me wonder what other "top secret" technologies are now effectively redundant.
I spent a year in Karamursel Turkey working inside the Elephant Cage. For a 18 year old who had never been outside Houston, Texas before, this was a magical time me and will never forget it. After Turkey, I went to the USS Belmont (AGTR-4) which was the sister ship of the USS Liberty (AGTR-5) and a bigger edition of the USS Pueblo (AGER-2). Left the service after that.
Thanks for the info!
We lived in Karamursel, Turkey during 1967-68, just down the road from The Elephant Cage there. We were there when the USS Liberty was attacked during the 6 Day War. The cage was the largest structure in the area.
This is a great bit of history. I was in the USAF and in 1978 I was sent to RAF Chicksands for a TDY assignment. On the weekends, I liked to explore the local countryside a bit. One day, I saw the large antenna from on local roads and snapped a photograph from a distance. I never thought I would come across a youtube video that would clear up all my questions of that very mysterious structure. Thank you for sharing this wonderful piece of history.
I was stationed at Chicksands in the early 90's. It was a great assignment. I listened to a lot of signals through that antenna.
SSD?
My father was a radio operator at the AN/FLR-9 at San Vito dei Normanni Air Station, 7 miles west of Brindisi, Italy. It was the very best years of my youth. We lived "on the economy" in downtown Brindisi. I went to a local Italian school and made great local friends. I love Brindisi.
Brindisi was soooooo beautiful! Grapes Grapes and more Grapes!
We were there from 1974 to 1977- I was 11 to 14 at that time. Loved it!
I was stationed there in the 6950th ESG from 1989 to 1993 (if I remember correctly) and I reenlisted in the building in the center of the Elephant Cage. I was stationed in Misawa with the 6920th from 1986 to 1989. It was nostalgic and fun seeing this. The stories I could tell....but can't lol
It's a work of art, a Stonehenge for the 20th century.
Definitelyn
5000 years from now, they'll probably wonder on what religious rituals and star alignments they do at the site.
I worked at the Flair-9 (Elephant cage) site in Germany at Augsburg in 1983-85. I actually worked at the satellite communications site that supported the site next door. As far as I can tell, the Augsburg site is the last remining Project Iron Horse (official military designation) site standing intact as the Alaska site is now gone. I also heard that the German government is still operating the site or at least the antenna as an NBC news article mentioned that the Germans were listening to Russian communications with it during the invasion of Ukraine. The antenna is built on a WW2 German airbase, the same one that Hess flew out of in his flight to England. There are still old German buildings on the base and there is an old underground facility that is sealed up. There is a reunion scheduled for this group in August of this year. I plan to go.
Thanks for the info!
Yeah, USAF there 1977 - 79 but our mission was tactical VHF and our antennas and radios were in the mountains along the borders looking into EGER and CZ, then microwave relayed encrypted back to us in Augsburg - actually we were out in the country by the village of Gablingen. I hated taking the trick busses out there day after day - it was a pretty anti-military time and there was a certain amount of incidents in Europe during the 70's. I felt much safer in Sinop Turkey on the Black Sea in 1973 - 74. We had a pretty neat Flair--12 there (VHF), about the size of a giant watertower...
Rudolf Hess never flew to England...
@@krashd Scotland... whatever.
@@GeeWit Augsburg, 74-76. If you worked in the grapes, I wired that in 76
So glad this video came up in my RUclips suggestions. I was assigned to the 6920th at Misawa from 82-83. I lived and worked on "The Hill" Some rally good memories of Japan which included many festivals,
My dad worked at Clark AFB in the Philippines with their elephant cage. He was a cryptologist breaking both Vietnamese and Russian Cyphers. His information was passed directly to the NSA. We witnessed first hand the POWS being released as they arrived at Clark AFB in Feb 1973. There are videos of it on RUclips. I am somewhere in the crowd with my family welcoming them back. We moved back from the Philippines in the Fall of 1974.
Despite all my rage I'm listening to the elephant cage
I copied a lot of signals through the FLR-9's at Clark AB and Chicksands. Only one issue with this video, though... the radio intercept operators did not work in the "roundhouse," or the circular building inside the antenna. There may have been a couple of receivers out there but that's basically where some of the DF equipment was housed, sending signals through cables housed in a tunnel to the operations buildings. The DF operator in the operations buildings sat in front of a big scope which looked like a radar screen in an old movie, and it gave the direction of the signal. But for the most part there was nobody sitting out in the roundhouse, or at least when I was there. Only if equipment needed worked on or checked, usually.
Correct Building 600 was where the operational gear and staff was. Only the goniometers were at the centre of the array. That's unlike some of the other arrays, like at Edzell, where the ops centre was within the array.
Dad was with 2167th Comm Squadron Chicksands 62-64 , Uncle Jack with the 6950th Electronic Security group , Mum was from Bedfordshire
Thanks for the info!
Being stationed @Misawa, Japan from 1977 to 1980, I remember the Cage vividly, as I was a Communication Electronics Tech there. That site was run by the NSGA (Naval Security Group Command - NAVSECGRU). At that time, Misawa was an U.S. Air Force base, and the Navy ran the Flight Line (NAF Misawa), with NSGA running the area around the Cage. Was wondering if you were even aware of those sites.
My dad was stationed at Misawa as a radio intercept operator for 6989th Radio Squadron, part of US Air Force from 1957 to 1960. He told me the elephant cage was under construction, but was not completed by the time his tour was done. My dad said Misawa used Hammarlund receivers to intercept voice but also lots of Morse code traffic that lingered after Korean War, encrypted and non-encrypted. My dad passed away many years ago, but he told me lots of cool stories about Misawa and radio stuff. A few years ago, I traveled to Misawa and got to see the elephant cage in person and took some photos. The antenna was demolished in 2014 sadly. When I visited , NSA had just finished building several large radome satellite antennas that was part of the ECHELON and FORNSAT satellite intercept network that was in the news several years ago. Those satellite Radomes were very impressive bits of kit to see in person, but so was that massive Elephant Cage!
Misawa NSGA 1987-1990 here.
I also served the comm shack serving the "spooks" of Misawa AB as well. My time was in the 1990's. Never got near the Elephant Cage, but saw it almost every day.
The elephant cage there is gone now. It was there when I was a kid in the mid to late 2000’s but my dad went back in 2013 and said it was gone.
We lived at Misawa from 1973 to 1975. My dad was stationed there with NSGA and worked in the Elephant Cage. We were in Karamursel also.
Great video, truly enjoyed watching it. I was stationed at San Vito in 1977/78 working as a medic in the base clinic. I was friends with many people who worked in the ‘cage’. They were primarily single, just out of high school or in their early 20s and had backgrounds with various foreign languages. they would sit at a terminal for eight hours a day, just typing in whatever they heard on their headphones. It was all very monotonous as there was no decision making or dramatic real-time secret mission stuff, everything was typed in and transmitted to other locations for analysis. We had a very large mental health department - imagine sitting there doing that eight hours a day… San Vito was this small American city in the middle of an Italian olive grove, on the ‘heel’ of the Italian Adriatic coast. It was located in the Italian farming region and was filled with vineyards and olive groves. It was pretty remote, with Naples being the nearest large city three hours away. It had all the bare necessities with the BX/post office, the dining hall, the clinic, NCO club and the dormitories. I remember, shooting skeet beside the “elephant cage“ and passing the time at the local MWR gun club. It was a great tour for me but the sole mission was always to support the elephant cage.
That's kind of how it was at Chicksands. My unit (6950th ESG) was the main purpose of the whole base, everyone else was there to support our mission. Luckily, though, it wasn't very remote. We could hop on a train and be in London within about half an hour or so.
Thanks for the video. It brings back memories of my time at San Vito in 1971-1973 as a computer operator.
Brilliant video. I used to live in Stotfold, near to Chicksands in Bedfordshire, and have fond memories of seeing the Elephant Cage from a distance. It certainly was an impressive sight for those of us interested in radio technology and signals intelligence. Thank you for producing and posting this video and all of your other fascinating videos.
Thanks for the info!
I was stationed at San Vito die Normanni (not San Vino) Air Station west of Brindisi, Italy in the‘60s as a morse intercept operator, and spent many hours listening via the FLR9. Also there was voice and elint that was compartmentdized. The job is now done by satellite.The contract to demolish ours may still be seen on the Web (you get the scrap if you do the work). Originally dipole wire antennas were used, and I found the ceramic egg and plate insulators abandoned in the dirt. Now the station is repurposed and the spot where the guard shack stood is bare, but can still be seen on Street-view. The station perimeter was open, but the intercept compound was fenced. The climate their was identical to my hometown of Sacramento, but I would have preferred my first pick of Chicksands.
I was never inside the center building, but imagine the equipment there was minimal (amps, etc.), with all the receivers and people in a large adjacent building (just to the east at Elmendorf).
We had 120VAC power, but I imagine they just rearranged the transformer secondaries to get 240 after the station was returned to Italy.
Was stationed USAFS Augsburg. Once you are standing next to one of the pylons you realize how big this thing is. We had, I'm sure the others as well, had a tunnel from the roundhouse out to the operations building for all the cabling. Made that trip through the tunnel more than once.
Thanks for the info!
The antenna array at former USAFS Augsburg is still in use today! .. The site is maintained by German intelligence service BND. It was said in a hearing in front of German Bundestag a few years ago that they still use the antennas for intelligence gathering. But it's still a restricted area, so no tourists allowed, sadly ;) .. To my knowledge it is the last FLR 9 site that is in operation worldwide.
I was stationed there as well, 05K, it was a great posting and an amazing time to serve!
"Made that trip through the tunnel more than once."
I worked in the roundhouse for a while (as a 33p) and always hated that trip.
@@LuckyFlesh 33S (and then 33M) myself in mission. Anyone ever hide in the "alcove" halfway thru the tunnel and just happed to grab your arm as you go by?
Not a single one of you thought to say, "I wish I had one of these in my backyard"???
I sure do.
We’re all thinking it though
I've long wished to have the real estate to put one of these on. Was the best antenna system I've ever used.
I don’t have a backyard.
I love that i found your channel, its fantastic content you produce. Thank you; having no knowledge previously on the topic i find it all fascinating
Thanks Stuart!
There is one like that in WV called the Timberland Site.
It was abandoned for a while, but now the NSA is doing something with it. That radial antenna is gone now, there are satellite dishes instead.
It is in the "radio dead zone" where the big Greenbriar satellite is also located.
I used to work for the FCC here in Puerto Rico. There was an elephant cage direction finder antenna operated by the Navy. I use to work in their facility in Sabana Seca getting HF signal direction azimuth from the antenna. We moved from there at around 1991 or 92 because i remember getting azimuths from iraquí jammers in the first iraquí war. Any way there were multiple stations in the states an some times the system got input from multiple stations in the world. The station is not there anymore. In 1992 the FCC got its own station a Doppler one. Thank you for your channel.
My duty in the US Air Force took me into the elephant cage at Elmendorf, AFB Alaska during the Vietnam war.
My dad was also stationed there during the Vietnam war!
Thanks for presenting that interesting history. It brings back some great memories for us Cold Warriors. ASA Lives!
Thanks!
I served at the USASA Augsburg Station in the mid 70s. It has great memories. We are having a USASA Augsburg Reunion this year (2023) in Augsburg.
Not much of the Kaserne are left. I’m not sure if the Bundesnachrichtendienst (German Intelligence), that took over in 1998, is still using the AN/FLR-9 Antenna or not. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Thanks for the info!
It looks like they are still using it, at least they keep it in perfect condition. ;) You are planning a reunion again this year? I was there last time reporting for local television. Great that you keep the connection to this part of the world, where you served!
Ramasun Station in Thailand was closed in 1976, not 1975.. I was there.
We received many K-9s from the Station routed to Korea 1976
I remember listening thru the one in Augsburg, Germany on a clear night & I was able to pick up terrible sounding, faint Morse Code. It was coming from Vietnam. The FLR-9s were fantastic to use.
Thanks for the info!
Some of their transmitters were so bad, I had to have one hand on the R390 dial to tune up and down the band chasing the signal and the other on DF display to get a bearing!
When I was at Clark AB, I used to listen to Vietnam all the time! It was there, though, that I heard my first numbers station. I had read about numbers stations before joining the Air Force, but had never heard one since I hadn't become a shortwave listener yet. But I was monitoring a frequency close to 8300 KHZ when I kept hearing what I thought was Chinese music. Tuned up to 8300 and that's when I heard New Star. Of course at the time I had no idea what it was, but I still remember the Chinese music at the beginning. It wasn't until later when I was at Chicksands and had a SW receiver of my own and started hearing numbers stations a lot that I realized what I had heard.
@@RetiredRadioChaser I'll never forget the "whoop whoop whoop" sound of those Vietnamese CW transmitters. Sometimes their CW sounded like chickens clucking. They must have been using some old WWII radio gear which hadn't been worked on since then.
@@dx1450 They either built their own radios or had radios built in China. The chirping sound was, if I remember correctly, due to a slight change of frequency as the transmitter was keyed. This was in addition to some of them just drifting in frequency.
"But what were these iron henges used for?"
"We think they served a religious purpose."
- Time Team, 1000 years from now, probably.
For sure
Archaeologists in 2023: Stonehenge was built in ancient times as a place of worship.
Archaeologists in 6023: Chicksands most probably was built as a place of worship.
Our Dad was stationed at the one in San Vito Dei Normanni Air Station from 84-90. I spent about 6 months there and finished up High School before I went off to join the Marine Corps. I also spent time at the one in Turkey when our ship was in dry dock in Gulcok Turkey for repairs, it had been abandoned and being a snoop I went and checked it out it was still standing in 1987 for the most part.
Thanks for the info!
What type of receivers were used?
@@hermesva R390's
2:14 - - (old FRD 10s) - - 2:26 - - array has 3 rings of antennas; each ring receives rf signals for an assigned portion of the 1.5 to 30 MHz radio spectrum.
2:38 - - outer ring normally covers the 2 to 6 MHz range (band A), (as well as reduced coverage down to 1.5 MHz); (2:56 - - has 48 monopole elements);
2:47 - - center ring covers the 6 to 18 MHz range (band B); (3:04 - - 96 monopoles);
2:52 - - inner ring covers the 18 to 30 MHz range (band C); (3:12 - - 48 antennas)
There was one of these, or a similar variant, north of Imperial Beach, visible from the Chula Vista, CA company where I worked. From Wiki, I believe it was an AN/FRD 10, now called the "Silver Strand Training Center". The array was still standing in 2011 but was gone by 2020 when I left the area. AAh, I see the '10 is covered in another video. Very good.
There was a small elephant cage on Okinawa run by the Naval security group, up on the hill above the Army Field Station "Torii Station" in Sobe. A look at Google maps shows no signs of it, at all. Circa 1978-1980 while I was stationed there.
That one was torn down in 2007 and the land returned.
Spent 3 years at the site at Misawa from 1970 to 1973. Great duty station!
Thanks for the info!
I always wondered about that Augsburg array. When I was stationed in Stuttgart, every flight mission to Augsburg or Munich, we'd see that array. All our S2 would say: "They can hear a mouse fart in the Antarctic".
Cheers!
Looking forward to the FRD-10 video. I was aware that there were differences between the AN/FDR-10 and AN/FLR-9 but had never got around to investigating the details.
Cheers Mike
Little-known fact: Stonehenge was the first one ever built, & was designated AN/FLR-1.
It sure was!
My Vietnam Vet friend said he decoded morse and did other sigint for US Army and worked at an elephant cage during the vietnam conflict. (I forget where but near to vietnam) He called it an "Elephant cage" all of the time. He claims to be the 1st person who knew the American prisoners were being released from Vitnam camps, Hanoi Hilton etc via a code intercept that he made.
Thanks for the info!
Ramasun Station, Thailand?
I don't know if I believe that, because the Vietnamese messages were all sent in cipher code. He'd have to have had a key to actually be able to read it.
@@dx1450my dad worked at Clark AFB in the Philippines with their elephant cage. He was a cryptologist breaking both Vietnamese and Russian Cyphers. We witnessed first hand the POWS being released as they arrived at Clark AFB in Feb 1973. There are videos of it on RUclips. I am somewhere in the crowd with my family welcoming them back. We moved back from the Philippines in the Fall of 1974.
I was stationed at San Vito 90-92, then RAF Chicksands 92-94...Best dang years of my life.......met and worked with some wonderful people...
I can imagine that in 1000 years the humans of that time will find these sites and think there’re some sort of religious ceremonial site used by us primitive humans.
Years ago there was a dual array on the east coast near a national quiet zone or area. Today, it's a listening post manned by the USAF, but is affiliated with the NSA.
Thanks for the info!
Worked there for three years from '88-'91. Good times. Thanks for the video.
I served in the Foreign Service in Manila and would see the Clark array when going there to shop at the commissary and PX. I assumed from its design it was for radio intercepts / direction finding.
I deeply respect your engagement work! All hail the Algorithm! 😄
Much appreciated!
I was living in clophill in 87 and you could see the antenna aray , at the time i read the novel the fourth protocol and in this book a Russian agent pulled of the road very near my home town in yorkshire to send a radio message and the signal was intercepted at chicksands .
I visited chicksands when it was still an operational usaf base. They had an open day with airshow.
Awesome!
We got the idea from Germany in WWII days... used to one in Imperial Beach(CA), and another at Skaggs Island (SF Bay Area)
Those were an/fed-10’s not flr-9’s
ruclips.net/video/zVKy6g0YQdU/видео.html
The site of the one at the former Clark AB is the relocation site of a government-operated park (which includes that amphitheater). There's a site somewhere containing photos, and I'd like to share the link, but it seems I'm not allowed to post links here. (Sorry for the earlier attempt.)
Imagine in thousands of years when history is forgotten and archaeologists find the remains of these. Maybe they will think they were temples or something, having no idea what they actually were. Just like we have no idea what many ancient sites were actually used for, and are pretty much guessing. Like the pyramids. Who knows what technology they had back then which has been lost, or withheld.
We do speculative geology already.
Maybe thats what Stonehenge was... 😁
When I took basic archaeology at university, the professor said that same thing. If they can't figure out anything else, it's a shrine of some sort.
@@rutabagasteu it's ritual!
Not going to happen. RF will be with us forever, but transmission protocols may change
My love of history and the amazing content you provide always seem to go hand in hand in some way.
Thanks!
Thank you for another excellent video.
Thanks Peter
Many thanks for a great video!! The elephant cage at Chicksands always intrigued me, I thought it was some kind of ultra SW transmitter for submarines so this video nicely clears up that notion!! I believe there was an attempt to preserve it which failed due to the presence of "lead based paints" on the structure. Shame really because it was such a landmark and the eerie glow of the sodium lights on perimeter always gave an air of mystery to the place!!!
I think there were rumors that Chicksands was a secret submarine base, supposedly the subs sailed up the Flit River! Which was laughable because there at Chicksands the Flit River was maybe 20 ft. across. Good luck getting a sub up that!
I worked for a civilian service contractor out at NSGA Skaggs Island, just past Mare Island Naval Station. We had a AN/FRD-10 installation just visible from Hwy 37, and some other antenna setups spread across the base. Skaggs closed in 1993, a year before Mare Island, and eventually ended up as part of the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge (so, no the general public can't drive out there). All the base buildings were torn down in the late 2000's and the only antenna still out there is the VORTAC airway nav beacon (still in operation; you can just barely see it from the hwy) on the air charts as SGD.
I passed through Elmendorf a few times back in the 1990s flying the KC-135 and remember seeing this array as we were approaching the airfield. I assumed it was a LORAN station (those were still in operation back then). Had no idea it was an intelligence facility.
Thanks for the info!
I remember first hearing about Chicksands on the Internet about 1994. Great video again!
I love what you did with the aerial photos at the end of the video
Tom Clancy would be proud of your attention to detail in the description of these antennas.
Thank you!
Excellent video! I liked the end transitions from one site to another!
Thanks!
Loved this episode! My father was a radio operator for USAF 6922nd Security Wing during the late 60's at Clark AFB in the Philippines. He told us they would always tell the new guys the elephant cage was were they put any elephants that wondered onto the base. He thought it hilarious since there were no elephants in the Philliphines, but eveyone was gullible enough to beilieve it. He said their duties included tracking Chineese aircraft that encroached and sometimes crossed the border into Vietnam, as well as Chineese military communication sites, which were often mobile. He said they were pretty unique since they could do direction finding, but they would often triangulate with other listening posts, such as Tiwan where he also spent time. Cheers!
Sleepy? That was just round the corner from my childhood home. Plenty of base personel lived in our village.
I was stationed in The Great Dismal Swamp on the border of Virgina and North Carolina. There is a huge circular antenna similar to these you have shown here.
I live a few miles north of where the Chicksands array was, and I miss seeing it as I drive along the A600 near Haynes.
It would have been fun to make use of it now, my HF antennas can't compete and I am down in the Great Ouse valley to boot.
Cheers!
At last I've found the ultimate magnetic loop antenna for my shortwave listening, looking at my backyard and wondering how to scale it down a bit...
Haha imagine!
😂😂😂😂
Was an 05H hog in Berlin in mid 70's. We didn't have an elephant cage but we had 5 as part of our DF net.
"In God we trust. Everyone else we monitor."
Very interesting Lewis. I’ve never heard of these but now looking forward to the next video
Thanks stu!
Yes!!! I knew you would do one on this after we exchanged comments about Chicksands, I think towards the end of last year! Great stuff! I remember driving past Chicksands and seeing it as a kid and being absolutely in awe and enthralled of it. It looked frightening…
Where did you live as a kid? My old neighbour used to sell flower displays at the base. Sad it closed (by that, I mean the US moved out).
@@LoremIpsum1970 Bedford
@@lordtherapeutics Ah, ok. Flitwick...once upon a time...
I visited Chicksands in the early 1970s. I didn't get anywhere near the antenna, but it could be seen easily.
Thanks for the info!
Thank you so much for this video. Brings back so many memories and I was wondering what, if anything was left. I might be a bit biased but this is definitely a favourite. We just need part 2 of your dangers of amateur radio “documentary”! 😜
Maybe it wasn’t exactly the same type of antenna, but they used to have a thing that looked just like this at Helemano on Oahu. I saw it many times.
It’s amazing the lengths people would go to get Radio Caroline.
Kenny Everett's competitions always had great prizes like caravans.
I worked at San Vito during Kosovo War in 2001. The base had already mostly been shutdown when we showed up. I always thought it would have been cool to work there with the giant antenna array.
I did training by AN/FRD-10 number 4. They had a mess of strange antennas there. I used to joke that every time we drove the van over the antenna line we lost some of our sperm count. Haha
Cheers!
Good joke, but these were receiving antennas, all of them...minimal risk to the family jewels.
I used to race at Houghton's conquest from 86' till around 93 but had seen it before as my dad was an electrician and worked at quite alot of US air force bases and boy there used to be alot around where I grew up.
This elephant gage is in Scotland, also see my My Tour of Duty at RAF Edzell and a radio amateur license issued by waterloo bridge house a place I was in contact with
for many years during my time with PYE PMR systems.
We used to have one here on Oahu too. Now replaced by the NSA building. XD
The array at Chicksands was also known as "Ironhenge".
I used to visit Chicksands on their July 4 open days until 1996.
Nice one Simon! Good to hear from you
Thanks - loving the channel.
There were once four and is still at least one of these on Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. I was in a national guard artillery unit and we would shoot our guns out there and wondered what the hell they were, but weren't allowed to ask.
40°11'56"N 113°10'37"W
Thanks for the info!
@@RingwayManchester My Pleasure.
There was one in Augsburg Germany. United States Army Security Agency (USASA) Field Station Augsburg was the site of a Wullenweber AN/FLR-9 (V8) radio direction finder, established during the Cold War. Field Station Augsburg was located on Gablingen Kaserne, near the village of Gablingen just north of Augsburg in Bavaria, West Germany. It was one of nearly 20 field stations positioned strategically around the world by the U.S. Armed Forces during the Cold War. Field Station Augsburg opened in 1970 and closed in 1998, at which time it was turned over to the German government.
From the air, they look like a high tech version of Stonehenge.
Definitely!
Super interesting, thanks!
Thanks!
ohhhh interesting! I wonder if thus is where Johnny Cash was stationed when he interecepted the message that Stalin was dead? Mike Rowe had a great episode on his podcast about how Johnny Cash had been that guy when he was in the air force before he started performing country music.
I used to live near Chicksands and always wondered if our Monday night Top Band AM net on 1920kHz would knock out their operations whilst we were on the air !
Interesting stuff Simon!
In speaking with a VQ9 stationed in Diego Garcia they had a similar antenna array there.
They did Dave. See this one mate ruclips.net/video/oocXxWIiiN0/видео.html
Unbelievably massive. Thanks for covering this.
Thanks!
thank you for these videos
Ramasun Station in Thailand was operated by the US Army.
Thank you for the superbe research and fascinating content, you certainly dig some odd stuff up!
Thank you!
Another one of your videos that I said to myself “damn that was great” after watching. I know a guy that travels the world building stuff like this for the US military 😂. All the best my friend!
Amazing! Cheers mate
I’m reminded of the blurred circular antenna at El Pichacho, Gran Canaria, which is sideband S2S plus. Maritime rfdf
lol nice video ringway....although you didnt mention the array located in san diego california which was demolished in 2015.I know it was a FRD-10 but still an elephant cage ;) I use to drive by it every time I would go swimming at the silver strand. It was amazing because on one end of the beach you'd have navy sailors going thru BUDS training, and at the other you'd have this gigantic circle cage that looked like some kind of sci-fi death beam machine :)
Check tonight’s video ;)
I know exactly where this is. I was stationed there. JBER, AK.
That is some cool cold wat technology! Thanks for doing a piece on them!
This is very interesting! I never knew such antenna systems existed. Thank you for your research!!!
Thank you!
I got a photo of one here in Missouri. There is no info on what it is and there is one they tore down outside belton, MO.
Thank you for this video, i have always wondered what this massive ring of wire and steel trusses was, just off the side of the B2 leading north out of Augsburg, whenever i was travelling through there. I suppose now i know the answer to that. I wish they would give guided tours around the complex to see how the inside of the facility looked like and operated, however the last time i checked, they wont let anyone in. There are rumors that the BND is still operating it as a listening station, however i highly doubt that. Either way, its fascinating to see everytime i pass by there.
Thanks for the info!
Don't know why you would doubt it because it is true.
My K-9 I handled in South Korea began his career guarding Thai Station with Elephant Cage.Champ Y070 1972-84..
I worked at NSGA EDZELL same stuff
You could see it from the A90, looked crazy weird when the sunlight bounced off it.
I had a look around Edzell in the early 2000's and the elephants cage seemed largely intact. There was also another compound nearby with a large security fence. Think it was full of computer mainframes perhaps? I remember the electrical outlets had both the British style sockets alongside the US style. I'd love to hear more memories of Edzell. (Looking at photos I have one of a painted mural with the words "Classic Wizard")
@@gavinstirling7088 if going down the pan from the top of A/Field, it was USAF only min speed 30 mph. They played with the stuff under the white round things😉😉😉🤔
Best regards Martin
The modern version of this is the Pine Gap base in Australia. The antennae are a bunch of white spheres.