[600MRG] Hawes Radio Antenna, Barstow CA.

[Edward R Cole]

I read thru the whole journal..quite long but interesting.

I lived on the west side of Barstow from 1971-76 (town of Lenwood) 
which maybe 8-10 miles south of Hinkley (unsure of the distance after 
so many years).  I guess I must have seen the tower but it had faded 
from memory.  4-corners (Kramers corner) was where I would turn north 
to head to Red Mountain community (popular rock hunter and historical 
area).  I think  that road took you toward Inyokern, as well.

Like so many that were "stationed" out in the desert, driving out and 
exploring was a past time (desert rat).  I bought a 1966 white 
suburban in 1974 which was my rat vehicle.  It was retired Santa Fe 
RR truck and suited my little family for rugged and cheap to bash 
around in.  I even towed a 27-foot trailer across the US in summer of 
1976 with it.

I worked for Philco-Ford at Goldstone on some other 'big 
antennas".  In fall of 2001, I took a tour out at Goldstone to 
revisit and see what had changed...a lot.  25 years had passed (in 
2001) and I could not even find my way around Barstow so much had 
changed.  Kind of had the same feelings that Jon Tolley wrote on a later visit.

Kind of hard to realize that 35-years have gone by since I left 
California for the north country.  Wish I had taken more pictures.

Thanks, Paul.

73, Ed - KL7UW
pretty neat seeing the shielded loop Rx antenna, too.

At 06:10 AM 4/13/2015, Paul Signorelli wrote:



>Not exactly 600 Meters but close...Did you ever see the 1226 foot 
>high vertical antenna near Barstow, CA ?Called the Hawes Radio 
>Facility at Hinkley, CA. i saw it a few times but now it is gone.a 
>friend of mine worked there... There is a nice Wickipeda item about 
>the Hawes Antenna.
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawes_Radio_Towerand the 
>systemshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivable_Low_Frequency_Communications_System 
>http://www.pe.com/articles/-739600--.html Pictures of the 
>Transmitter and other details of the site are shown in the external links.
>This one is good:
>http://www.mojavetreks.com/Hawes%20Journal%20Page%201.html
>and this one has a picture looking down from the top:
>http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA_PalmdaleN.htm#hawes
>
>Some of the largest VLF and TV towers are 400 to 600 meters tall.The 
>Hawes antenna was 374 Meters high.Almost as high as the Empire State 
>Bldg.My 480 Khz antenna  is only 10 Meters high but it has a big top 
>hat.Paul  wa2xrm
>
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73, Ed - KL7UW
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