Why America's Forgotten Microwave Skyway Network is still standing | Abandoned

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America's first wireless communication network, known as the Microwave Radio Skyway, launched in the 1950s and transformed our ability to communicate long-distance. Over half a century later, however, technology has advanced to the point that vast amounts of old infrastructure, including hundreds of towers, have simply been abandoned. In today's video, we will look at what remains.
Chapters:
00:00 - How your grandparents made wireless phone calls
00:47 - The history of long-distance “Relay” communication systems
03:18 - The History of early telephone technology
05:36 - The Unexpected side effects of telephone technology
07:47 - Nikola Tesla’s World Wireless system
09:00 - How Guglielmo Marconi successfully implemented wireless communication
10:22 - America’s first wireless communication system
13:40 - How AT&T’s Microwave Skyway Network Changed the World
15:37 - When fiberoptic wires replaced Microwave networks
16:55 - What remains of AT&T’s abandoned skyway network
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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Ryan Socash
Editor - Sebastian Ripoll
Host - Ryan Socash
» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.

[@ITSHISTORY]

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[@barrycaplin1394]

Thumbs down for having a sponsor and many more if I could for the low life act of interrupting your content to spew garbage. Welcome to ranks of garbage youtubers!

[@ChristianConservativ]

I can't believe you left out Cher Ami on the carrier pigeon part, or the Carrington Event on the telegraph, or the Japanese Ku-Go “Death Ray” weapon, or the Transatlantic telegraph cable, or the Transatlantic communications cable, or even the Moscow-Washington hotline and there are several others but I guess you would lose the attention of the audience. Oh and the "Talkies".

[@Charlie-Oooooo]

So why ARE unused microwave towers still standing? Too much money to take them down? Or left up as potential backup if some future crisis occurs? Or planned to be re-purposed for something else?

[@ChristianConservativ]

@@Charlie-Oooooo Too much money to take them down and some are planned to be re-purposed for something else.

[@Charlie-Oooooo]

@@ChristianConservativ thank you for replying sir. They sure did build them to last!

[@ethanlamoureux5306]

The title of this video promised us one thing: “Why America's Forgotten Microwave Skyway Network is still standing.” And after having watched a video which spends 18 minutes reviewing the history of communications, we still don’t know.

[@daveh2612]

They’re still standing because a) no expense was spared constructing them and b) because they are typically too costly to demolish or dismantle. Some sites have been repurposed for cellular or muncipal communication, WISPs etc

[@americanpatrol4603]

I was wondering the same thing. I hate being click-baited and won't be watching anything else from this guy.

[@a1973stang]

Just saved me some time. 👍

[@ripwednesdayadams]

Thanks for saving me from wasting my time.

[@specialed6357]

He said cause it was built into building designs. Another words not easily removed, so they're just left alone.

[@mercuryfusion8325]

As somebody who to this day works on microwave networks.....these are still in use by hundreds of entities in the US alone. They are used in places where laying fiber optic cables would be cost prohibitive or is flat out not allowed (through national parks, etc). This equipment is still manufactured and progressing and is now capable of supporting speeds up to 10Gbps.

[@Emily_M81]

I design word docs for circuits using them sometimes and I hate them lol. They're inventoried in our TIRKS database in all kinds of bullshit ways and we basically have to get told by an engineer a carrier we need to use is some microwave between mountains XD

[@mercuryfusion8325]

@@Emily_M81 They function great, but we do all our own documentation in house lol. Hybrid circuits are always a PITA though, I much prefer pure microwave networks overall. As soon as you start introducing fiber inbetween on the circuits it gets way too messy and complicated (from a monitoring standpoint).

[@HappyHermitt]

I've worked many cell sites linked on mw.

[@jamiesuejeffery]

I live in the desert west of Nevada, grew up in Idaho. Yes. Many of these are still in use. Some are now smaller than they used to be. I am now an ham radio operator. We use similar microwave radios to jump from mountain to mountain for our repeater network. Telecoms still use these older system.

[@deepspacecow2644]

How good do those e-band links handle rain?

[@mikekwayne]

When I was born in 1961, Dad took a job with a team that service, upgraded, and installed new Skyway towers. It was one of several teams. Teams had to live in travel trailers of a maximum length, so they could drive in any state by day or night. We were always moving from one tower to another. The teams became VERY close knit. Even after Dad quit when I started school, he kept in touch with old team members for decades.

[@brandonblack8735]

Nice story. I think the social aspect of government projects is one of the most undervalued benefits they often bring. The relationships forged during these projects are still paying off till this day. Just the Apollo program alone is still paying back this country. Traveling as a youngster must have been quite the adventure during that time period.

[@toomanyuserids]

My father worked on these, not on site but tuning things in the office. We'd go on a road trip and he knew every tower would be on I-80...

[@scumpoozie]

I worked for a WISP before owning my own. We used one of these in a rural South Louisiana area. Truly remarkable how NO expense was spared in every facet. I had the pleasure of talking for 45minutes with an older Gent that managed this Long Lines Site. These were an overlooked factor in this Nation's infrastructure.

[@watchthe1369]

much like the concrete arrows for the early airmail......

[@lisamiller8174]

As someone who worked at MCI for a number of years, I can appreciate this video. However, there was no mention of MCI. Who contributed much to microwave communications. They also won their case against AT&T, thereby breaking up that monopoly. Also, no mention of Hedy Lamarr, whose work contributed to telecommunications.

[@grayrabbit2211]

"That's Hedley" - Mel Brooks

[@Johnny_Socko]

@@grayrabbit2211 I love Mel Brooks, but I hate that he turned that highly accomplished woman into a punchline.

[@grayrabbit2211]

@@Johnny_Socko That punchline made me look up who the real person was and I was quite amazed. I don't think she gets enough recognition.

[@dwightpries8330]

MCI, as in Micro Communications Inc? With offices in Manchester, NH at Grenier Field? If so, you may have worked with my dad, Walter.

[@firewalker1372]

MCI huh, wow that’s a name I haven’t heard in many many many years. That and cellular one, I even remember the jingle. 😂.

[@tfmn218]

I'm curious where you found the term "Skyways"? Every website and document I've ever seen on the AT&T microwave network referred to them as the "Long Lines".

[@hugh007]

Long Lines was a branch of AT&T Bell System. It connected the various local companies to each other and internationally. It also carried network radio and TV programs across the country. I worked for them in the analog days into the fiber and digital days. It was discontinued by the court ordered divestiture, and its functions absorbed into AT&T.

[@andythekitsune]

Trans Canada Skyway is what Bell Canada called the system

[@wyliesdiesels4169]

yup the correct name is AT&T Long Lines NOT skyway

[@bkbroiler8069]

As a member of the analog age I can attest that making a phone call 40 years ago was almost exactly the same as today on your pocket computer. We just had to remember the numbers and dial them

[@thatyoutubeguy7583]

Pocket computer. Never heard cell phones be called that

[@jamescameron6819]

Often had way better connections back then. Way more reliable

[@wzpu3283]

​@@thatyoutubeguy7583"handheld computer with telephony"

[@michaelw6277]

I remember that my grandpa had a pocket calculator that could be programmed to hold names and phone numbers. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

[@JustinVodden]

I call it a pocket computer too

[@tedmoss]

I was a radio engineer for APS in Arizona back in 1967 after I got out of the USAF. We still used tubes then, but over several years converted to transistor equipment. The old tube equipment was made by RCA and called CW-20 microwave relay. Our system ran all over the state on the mountain tops. You really had to know a lot of different things like snowshoeing and climbing towers (280 ft). Back then we worked by ourselves which was a little dangerous, things have changed a lot now.

[@fordson51]

Everything you said is true, but you missed a detail. Marconi's 1901 transmission was transatlantic, but it did not originate in Newfoundland. It originated in Wellfleet, MA on Cape Cod where Marconi build his station to send radio messages across the Atlantic. Newfoundland was suppose to just be a relay station, but when the message was first sent it was found to be going directly to Cornwall and bypassing the Newfoundland station.

[@ron.v]

I don't disagree but what he says is misleading. It shows he clearly does not understand much of what he's talking about as if he only read it from various internet websites and created his narration therefrom. See my lengthy comment (above) for details.

[@glennso47]

The “operator “ on Rowan and Martin Laugh In. Ernestine “One Ringy dingy. Two ringy dingies.”

[@jim2lane]

Ernestine as played by Lily Tomlin 😉

[@glennso47]

@@jim2lane Thank you for sharing the name of the actress.

[@jim2lane]

@@glennso47 that was always one of my favorite skits on that show 🙂

[@Scottocaster6668]

Ps: Kudos to this comment section, it has tons of information on these towers not covered by Ryan. Good Work Guys! 👍

[@SeanLamb-I-Am]

Railway semaphores weren't used in the way that is suggested in the video, as in sending individual letters to be decoded further down the line. The telegraph, once it was introduced, was used to transmit complex native-language messages, initially via morse code. Railway semaphore signals were more equivalent to street traffic lights. They were signals to the train drivers to tell them the status of the track ahead of them and had only a few aspects that roughly equate to Stop, Caution and Go. Generally, there was one pole for each track approaching the signal gantry, with multiple semaphore arms for tracks that had points for diverging routes.

[@vijayanchomatil8413]

Nevertheless, the fact that they were handed down to a different industry (railroads) is a valid point.

[@towertone]

a few notes- AT&T sold all of their towers, including cell. Many of these are retrofitted with cell antennas. Many were built to withstand hurricanes, power outages and floods so they will likely still be around for 50 more years. MCI started off as Microwave Communications, INC and also had network of these. Microwaves are point-to-point, so the curvature of the earth limits their distance depending on height of dishes (which reduces reliability), elevations of site and of course anything in the way, even trees.

[@theabbottagencylive5210]

I have been to a site with its building still standing after the Washington IL EF 4. I can certainly say that the whole being resistant to hurricanes is and strong weather is right.

[@dominicm2175]

It’s always been my understanding that the original ATT microwave tower network connected military bases across the US to communication hubs.

[@dominicm2175]

Clickbait..the video has literally nothing to do with the title until the last minute or so….the title should be “ History of telecommunications in the US.

[@towertone]

@@dominicm2175 I had hoped for more discussions about the towers themselves, freqs used, Traveling wave tubes, yada yada

[@edletain385]

I remember having a farmer dig up a 50K pair cable that was at the time the main trunk between Edmonton and Calgary (not his fault, the location was not marked properly, a discrepancy between planned and 'as built'). service was rerouted via the nearest microwave tower but it didn't have the same capacity. Some poor outside plant guys spent many hours in a wet muddy field under a tent splicing it back together. That tower is still standing, hosting many cell antennas. Fibre replaced the copper long ago.

[@jim2lane]

The horn antennas shown at 10:45, 11:13 and 11:33 did collect microwave transmissions, however, these were used for astronomy and satellite communications, not for early terrestrial communications experiments. The one shown at 10:45 is the Holmdel Horn Antenna in NJ which is now a national landmark. It was instrumental in the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) which is a key piece of supporting evidence of the Big Bang theory

[@meh11235]

Big bang is false … the dishes were comms systems … they date back to the 30s when wireless was being tested by the agency.

[@Nobody85746]

Wave guides, sorry it was my thing 😢

[@MitzvosGolem1]

Dr Penzias CMBR noise. True

[@The-Friendly-Grizzly]

Holmdell was also the US station for Telstar, the very first “live” communications satellite. The other station was in Goonhillie (so) Down in Scotland. I recall seeing the first live telecast from Europe.

[@Scottocaster6668]

Wow, look at you guys with more info than Ryan Socash! 👍

[@bretthibbs6083]

these were also known and the long lines and they were used more than just for phones they were also used in the broadcasting industry too for news and the government also used these as back up comms. Also the majority of these sites had bunkers for the equipment that was bomb proof. As far as I know there is a tower in the St Cloud mn area as well as the one on top of the Qwest building in downtown Mpls.

[@albertowen1025]

This is an excellent upload! Brings me back to a time when the "Great Monstrosity" ruled our skyline, a 300-foot microwave tower, back in the 1970s, in the town I grew up in Florida. Every time I went by it, I knew one day I would be working for the Bell System. Upon graduation from high school in 1984, I decided that my skills and knowledge would be well enough to apply for an apprentice installer's position, and sure enough, I interviewed for an opening and was hired on the spot. I worked there until 1989, when I was hired by AT&T and stayed there for 15 years when I decided to enter college. Needless to say the old microwave tower was by then just a skeleton of what it once was...but this video reminded of the "good old days" of the Bell System and the job I used to do. THANK YOU!!

[@grayrabbit2211]

Microwave transmissions are still used in the telecommunications systems in the USA today. My own office has to separate microwave links on the roof at two different frequency bands which provides our internet and phone connections to the outside world. Many cell towers are connected to the rest of the world via microwave, especially in rural areas. And for awhile we were using microwave-linked Aerostats (blimps) for cell and internet service on Fort Myers Beach after Cat 5 Hurricane Ian completely destroyed the phone & cable cos in the area.

[@Elfnetdesigns]

Also literally your homes WiFi router is a microwave transceiver for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

[@Google-McGoogle]

Popcorn 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿

[@domgag1756]

Actually lots of these tower are still in use. It's for rural wireless internet providers.

[@user-wl8yu7hi1h]

Semaphore is still used in US Navy. At least one signalman is required on every ship.

[@ChrisBullington]

For decades I've wondered what that odd extremity on top of that building in downtown Los Angeles is. Thank you for solving a long standing riddle.

[@Johnny_Socko]

Yes, that is the microwave tower atop AT&T's switching center. It was the tallest structure in that part of town before Bunker Hill was redeveloped with the big skyscrapers in the 1980s. I always thought it was so odd & mysterious when I was a little kid.

[@johnley8168]

It's nice for you to share history that I lived through. I'm amazed sometimes that young people have no idea about things I take for granted.

[@TheJstewart2010]

One of my Dad's brothers worked for the telephone company in rural western PA. He said that aligning the microwave transmitters and receivers between two widely separated towers could be quite an ordeal.

[@safetymikeengland]

In 1979, I was an enlisted soldier in the US Army, trained as a radio operator / teletype operator / - it was called MOS O5C at the time. Part of that job was called radio relay - we had line-of-site radio sets and we would receive a message from one direction and retransmit it in the opposite direction, basically performing the same function as one station on the old semaphore-relay network.

[@deepbludude4697]

Very cool video. In 1982 I hired on with RCA as a tech working on the Missile Test Project, We supported, microwave, submarine cable and HF/VHF as well as a new Satcom link for uploading and transmitting data from the Shuttle and other USAF/USN space projects I got to work up and down the range before they closed majority of the sites. It was fun, hard work, harder partying, great people that had a get it done work ethic. I feel so blessed to have been involved.

[@toyyoda3710]

Wow ... Mind Blown! ... Rest in peace Corning. We loved Corningware and i had no idea (Probably forgot) that Corning had so much to do with the development of fiber optics. I still remember getting my Popular science magazine in the mail in the 1980's as a young teen talking about how amazing fiber optics was but at the time in 1984 (My best guess) it was mainly used for decorations and toys.

[@spacecowboy2483]

Corning is far from dead, it is alive and kicking, bringing glass to a lot of areas of modern technology. For instance, guess who developed the high resistance glass used for smartphone screens, a.k.a. gorilla glass? You guessed it!

[@LlyleHunter]

I miss Corning’s art glass maker Steuben Glass very much. Some of their pieces were legendary like the Nautilus. As a child my family and I took a tour of Corning Glass in the early sixties and it was mind blowing ( along with glass blowing .)

[@boardnski156]

Corning Inc. is very much alive. Steuben glass is still a thing too.

[@toyyoda3710]

@@boardnski156 I will give you some time to catch up... unless some other company came along and bought them out in the last 7 days... i think we have to bid farewell the the great, historic company of our past... I have no information on Steuben glass

[@drlong08]

Not sure why anyone thinks Corning is dead. I was meeting with their Board regarding negotiations on Fiber Optic lines for our broadband project that was about 20 million in budget and they were very well positioned to assist. They may not make kitchenware but they are doing pretty well in the internet and communications markets.

[@TheBaldr]

Most news vans had remote microwave transmitters and that is how they did remote across town live broadcasts.

[@AddieDirectsTV]

Still do. But we tend to use cell-based backpacks now.

[@Iamdarthplague]

I live in northern Ohio and I have always wondered what those towers were! I had theorized that perhaps an inter-war radar facility but had no proof. Ive examined the Castalia, Birmingham, and Lorain towers but have never gotten inside. Thank you for explaining what the towers are and their function!

[@daveh2612]

If you search AT&T long lines you’ll find a wealth of information about these microwave towers.

[@iriquoispliskin7185]

You said there's one in Lorain? Where at? I'm near there and I'd love to take a look

[@Iamdarthplague]

@@iriquoispliskin7185 its technically Birmingham.

[@mishmashmedley]

@@Iamdarthplague then tell @iriquoispliskin7185 where it is... that's what he asked for, just saying "it's birmingham" doesn't answer "where can i go to see it?"

[@worldofbrandan]

@@iriquoispliskin7185 41.415230, -82.144528 good luck, as of 2021 it's hiding behind the tree line

[@slamdvw]

I vaguely remember the commercials for, I believe it was US Sprint - "Calls so quiet you can hear a pin drop." I only assume it was because of the noise of the microwave link vs a fiber link. Pretty wild, microwave was king,... then almost overnight - obsolete.

[@steveshoemaker6347]

l am in my 80's and i have seen some of these changes.....Thanks so much..... Shoe🇺🇸

[@carolinaeric8500]

I actually have a relative who worked for Bell Labs, as a matter of fact he invented micro mirror switching technology for fiber optics. Basically it’s where cables connect from what I understand and where the signal needs redirecting from connection to connection. Anyway, this video was extremely informative I thought and I’ve seen several of these towers before with the horns on them and always wondered about them

[@Ramblin_DMC]

I love looking fot these towers whenever I travel somewhere new. I'm fortunate to be able to see a massive one from my place of work in Milford, MI.

[@JoeFeser]

Thank you for talking about this technology. You did a lot of research and I appreciate it

[@spoonified52]

There is actually one of these towers not to far from me, what amazes me is I still see people up there on a semi regular basis doing maintenance. While it doesn't seem like it is currently active, I do wonder if it is kept in operating state for an emergency backup for critical communications.

[@tfmn218]

Many of the towers do have secondary transmitters on them for various reasons and customers. The only reason the horn antennas remain is the excessive cost to remove them. Many other KZbin videos of the interior of the transmission buildings show they have had all their original equipment removed.

[@BBQDad463]

Thank you for this video. Fascinating!

[@mackpines]

I recall seeing an array of these huge antennas on top of a building in Portland, Oregon a few years ago. Always assumed they were for radio or TV. Never would've thought they were for telephones.

[@mercuryfusion8325]

They are likely used for data not just telephones, still in use today with modern capabilities.

[@joshschoonover6429]

The microwave relays system was also used to broadcast TV coast to coast, too.

[@benjurqunov]

I don't get into downtown Portland much lately, but I noticed those horn antennas were finally removed a couple years ago.

[@ThundercatDarklion]

Awesome Video!!!! An microwave relay tower that was at the AT&T office building in Downtown Rockford Illinois was torn down. The white strobe during the day and red flashing light at night can be seen quite an distance and I used it as an landmark. Now two new radio repeater towers was put up by the railroads in the rail yards and their white strobes / red flashing LED lights now can be seen.

[@AM-dc7pv]

Great documentary! Always good to know how we got to where we are. The progress we've attained in and what was achieved in implementing such scientific discoveries into our every day lives from their humble roots as just what began as bemusings, wonderings and thoughts of really visionary individuals brought to the forefront is very interesting.

[@michaelterrell]

Check out the 'White Alice Network'. It was an 'Over the horizon' phone system, in Alaska to provide phones to all military bases. It is mostly gone, but some photos and articles are on line. I used it in the mid '70s, from Ft. Greely/ It also carried our two Teletype circuits, and out network fee for our AM radio station.

[@shdwbnndbyyt]

I learned that radio waves and microwaves cause headaches for me in the late 1970's early 1980's... whenever I drove along a certain eastern interstate, and crested the mountains into a broad vallye with a row of these microwave towers on the east and west ends of this valley... and the interstate highway between them, I would get blinding heachaches, barely able to keep my eyes open and on the roadway, until several minutes later when I crested the next set of mountains and entered the next valley. Since I am now essentially retired, no more cell phones or wifi for me, my house has LOUSY TV/Radio/Cell phone reception... it is quite wonderful not having constant low grade headaches.

[@uploadJ]

re: "radio waves and microwaves cause headaches for me in the late 1970's early 1980's." Not really likely. Those 'beams' from those antennas are highly refined, focused, to point at a station some 15 to 20 miles distance. Its not like a broadcast tower that sends a signal all over the land for reception by everyone.

[@jimboscomp]

As someone who operates a WISP, I was always mesmerized with that tower at the top of Topanga (I grew up in Southern California). I always wanted to buy it and turn it into a funky home, and central base of my operations!

[@willskol]

Homing pigeons were used for carrying messages. Carrier pigeons were hunted for their colorful feathers which were used on hats etc., and eventually all were killed.

[@scampeezo]

I believe you are referring to Pigeons (Ectopistes migratorius) which were extirpated by the end of the 19th century.

[@texan-american200]

I remember seeing a microwave array on the corner of our ATT building in downtown Houston and always wondered what they were when i was growing up. I'll have to revisit the the area and see it's still there.

[@daviddimit2257]

I have a Map of the system from 1960 and its way more than 100 Towers, its thousands!. They were spaced every 30-40 miles across the US. most abandoned or sold off to tower companies that lease to cell providers> Fiber has replaced most of them.

[@CurCam713]

We used to see these towers in the middle of towns here in the South. I guess they were connecting the Central Offices of Ma Bell. My father became a telecomm tech at some point before he left the USAF. He contracted to do telecom work and we lived in Iran in the 70s when a microwave system was setup to relay between the "listening posts" at the edge of the Soviet border down to Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf. There were many sites in remote, dangerous areas. Later he worked for Datran which competed with Ma Bell here in the states with a system of towers between Washington, DC and Houston. I got to see some of the equipment in the buildings. It was later when I became a tech that I learned more about what was really going on with these systems and the digital data transferred via the Datran system. I think the Datran system was later sold to Sprint.

[@optical_ideas]

When i was young i always wondered what these horn like structures with white panels on these towers are, now i know, thanks 🙂

[@jsl151850b]

*Thanks! Converting an abandoned tower into a home would have a great view.*

[@thomthumbe]

The horn antenna at 11:24 doesn’t and never did have anything to do with communications or telephone. It is a horn antenna at the Green Bank Observatory in Green Bank, WVA and was used for radio astronomy purposes. It was used to detect clouds of hydrogen in outer space. It is still there, but hasn’t been used for many years (like most of the rest of their antennas). Last time I walked up to the horn, it was covered in overgrown vegetation and simply rotting away. 😩

[@kenharbin3440]

Cool video,, learned something, thanks. There is an abandoned microwave tower on Blue Mountain that I like to hike to. Incredible view from the top. Got to climb it in winter though, otherwise it's a giant wasps nest.

[@HappyHermitt]

Theyre still in use in many different ways.. From Cell Towers to Railroad companies to pwer substations, etc. Ive worked on them a good bit

[@mbiehl2]

In my home town in southern Illinois there is an AT&T Central Office that had a microwave tower on the top of the building. Back in 2014/2015 AT&T removed the tower because it was no longer using it and it was getting too costly to maintain. It was interesting watching crews take it down and scrap the steel and receivers.

[@US_Joe]

Funny that you illustrated a tech sorting through a copper ca while talking about fiber. Good episode - Thank You👍👍👍

[@sporkfindus4777]

I loved Nikola Tesla's work in Sparks alongside his brother. I think "This Town ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us" was a message to Edison.

[@emmettwong4118]

It’s amazing how technology has advanced for long distance communication. Today we have the ability to communicate and command spacecrafts launched over 40 years ago and traveling beyond our solar system.

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

ALL UR VIDEOS ARE AMAZING BUT I REALLY LIKED THIS ONE

[@kaiyack]

Long lines sites had bunkers and were hardened.

[@TheMattC9999]

There is one of those towers right down by Richwoods Missouri where we go off roading. I'm tempted to climb it every time we're down there

[@mattjohnson1775]

Man those old microwaves were still in service in the late 90s. The wave guides always reminded me of the kitchen microwave ovens. We were just putting up repeaters on towers with the old school wave guides that resemble a steampunk cornacopia. Lol

[@alphonsobutlakiv789]

There is one in the state park in my village in NY, and in the last 10 years years the removed the equipment from the top, but the tower is still abandon. Making it a viewing tower for the park I fell is best for this one.

[@freebird7284]

we had one of these (14:20) towers nearby, i as a kid always thought it had something to do with TV broadcasting.

[@MrBen527]

Cool vid! I always wondered what those towers were.

[@user-kh6mk4gg8y]

Another Gem of Information...thank you...have Schools in the US picked up on the value of your Channel to assist their Curriculum Needs?...?...dgp/uk

[@stellamcwick8455]

you should have mentioned that fiberoptic communication also required the invention of LASER technology to work over long distances.

[@wilsjane]

Although fibre optics go back a long way, no one seems to have realised that it was only following the Roswell incident in 1947, we miraculously discovered that by using pulsed light, they could transmit data. To this day, no one on this planet has claimed to have INVENTED the system.

[@r66fplaysgames]

Haven't been able to watch the video yet, as of writing this comment, but know that there is an old AT&T Long Lines microwave tower on US 24 highway East of Dover, MO.

[@joaopedroalbernaz]

AT&T Long Lines

[@innrwrld]

I used to see one of these in a rural north Georgia area. It looked as though they had since used the upper half of the tower for regular cellular transmitters while the microwave were lower down.

[@craigbrowning9448]

In 1954, Bell Labs developed the first Solar Panels for use with remote microwave relay stations.

[@freetolook3727]

Btw, signal flags are still used in the military particularly the Navy. How else to communicate during communication blackouts where any type of electronic signal is a dead giveaway.

[@hotgluegun]

There's one in my hometown. It took me 10 years to find out what it was! Bunker, tower, antennas, and I even see some wires to the antennas still there!

[@billynomates920]

Enjoyed that.

[@thecianinator]

Holy cow! I live right by one of these things and I didn't even know!

[@k.b.tidwell]

When I saw the thumbnail I was transported back to the 1970's, when one day I was riding in the back seat of my grandfather's car on the way south to Birmingham, Alabama. I saw one of these towers a few miles north of B'ham, and asked him what it was. He told me it was a microwave tower, but that was the extent of his knowledge. Since nobody had microwave ovens yet at that time, to my young brain it was nebulous science fiction, but I remember thinking that the big square units on it were probably some sort of repurposed television sets. That tower stood for many, many years, and now that I think about it...I can't remember when it actually came down. It was always there...and now it's not.

[@drlong08]

Imagine this being setup point-to-point, much like an updated fire signal network (visual line of site) We still use MW towers for emergency comm networks and they still have this limitation of topography and signal strength. Still, this type of system has several options for back ups and redundancy vs. other more 'modern' systems. Glad to have worked a few emergency network comm systems in my time for EOS and County Sheriff users.

[@ginamiller6015]

Interesting video! This network of towers was also known as ATT Long Lines. There’s one in a rural location not too far from where we live. It’s a very interesting installation that was definitely built to last. The horn antennas are still on the tower, and appear intact. All the copper feed lines have been removed. The tower has been retrofitted with an assortment of cellular antennas. The sign on the building reads American Towers, LLC the current owner.

[@rupe53]

There is one of these towers in Norwalk Ct that is about 300 ft tall. These days it's littered with cell phone and other local communications gear.... mostly at a lower height than the original gear.

[@markiangooley]

A friend now dead worked on this system for a while, I think, or some sort of microwave relay. He mentioned something about long-distance transmission of live TV signals as well as telephone. I had only one decent conversation about it with him and now of course it’s too late.

[@LuMaxQFPV]

@4:32 that's probably not a photo from the USA. I realize it's a stock photo, but as a geeky guy into this kind of stuff, I had to mention.

[@bower31]

I'm already familiar with the long lines system, if only you had answered the question in the title within that 18 minutes

[@Scottocaster6668]

Im 56 and i literally grew up in the best era. I had old school lifestyle and now, all the instant "luxuries" of whats going on today with technology. Not to mention the music we all grew up with!

[@iqoverlord]

There is/was a microwave tower located near a AT&T building in downtown greenville SC. I remember it alway being there since I was a child. I was born in 1975 but I definitely remember noticing it in 1980..

[@GoingtoHecq]

There's a tower in the Florida Keys that I have driven past many times. Somewhere south of Islamorada, maybe around the Key's Bass pro Shop?

[@crosslink1493]

A few of those towers still exist on some of the mountaintops around the Los Angeles area. I never was sure if they were still in use or not until I started seeing these types of YT videos and working with local emergency response services (who still use some of them to some extent to this day AFAIK).

[@AutoDudes]

I actually work at an underground bunker for AT&T. It’s still owned and operated by AT&T. It was built back in the early 60s during the Cold War era. Although it does not use communication microwave anymore (obviously) it does still a decent bit of fiber and telephone equipment.

[@james5460]

I remember driving by some in NYS north of the city... up on ridges and mountains... they were a sign we were getting out into the boonies.

[@markusgeimer3099]

It's funny how everything rolls back around. Start with wires, then went to radio and microwaves, and now back go fiber optic cables.

[@fourtyfivefudd]

I just drove past one on the edge of the town of Warsaw in New York. It was real low to the ground and next to the road and had no gate around it, so I doubt it would have been apart of the redundant microwave communication network, but it was still cool to see one of those

[@fuzz3711]

I’ve seen that one many times on 20-A and wondered if they are the same thing!

[@ronaldwojtylko4375]

Vast numbers of these "relay" towers were purchased by companies such as American Tower which is a Communications tower rental company that primarily leases space on towers to the cellular carriers.

[@glennso47]

There is one of those towers in downtown Rockford, Illinois. As far as I know it is no longer in use.

[@timothystockman7533]

Most of the pictures you show of horn antennas are apparently of the AT&T Earth station built for Telstar at Andover ME and of the Holmdel Horn at Bell Labs in NJ which was used for the Echo satellite balloon experiments. The Cosmic Microwave Background was discovered in the mid-1960s by engineers using the Holmdel Horn, which was seen as a remnant of the Big Bang which created our universe. Unfortunately, this historic antenna structure is in danger of being demolished by land developers. You do show a few pictures of the original Skyway towers, as well as the more familiar AT&T microwave towers which followed them with their distinctive Hogg Horn antennas. Although AT&T decommissioned most of their microwave relay network, replaced by fiberoptic cables, and often removed the Hogg Horns, many of these towers are still in use for various modern wireless systems. One aspect which you don't mention is AT&T shortwave radio stations, which were used to transmit telephone calls thousands of miles, for example, between North America and Europe, before the first transatlantic telephone cable TAT1 became operational in 1956. Shortwave radio was also used in the high seas service, allowing ships and aircraft at sea to make and receive telephone calls; this has been replaced by satellite services.

[@panatypical]

People still don't know Jack about telephone etiquette. Even businesses, they ask who you are before they introduce themselves....

[@GrnArrow092]

There's one of these in my city. When I was a kid, I was told it's a radio antenna for transmitting music from the station to peoples' receivers. The tower is old and I never thought it was part of a microwave communications network. The building its attached to is still being used by AT&T, but I wonder now if the tower itself is abandoned or still in use. It doesn't look like it's seen a fresh coat of paint in years.

[@mikmik9034]

Jump to 18:05, prior is just history of communications. All worth listening to.

[@victoredwards5714]

I live near the I-80 corridor in Ohio. My high school was/is located about a mile from one of these towers. I always remember looking off in the distance trying to understand why it looked so much different than all the modern cell phone towers. We use to pretend that it actually contained a hidden ICBM missile. The interesting thing about the towers in my area, they are made entirely from local sandstone quarried out of the earth. As far as I know the towers are still in use today with new updated antenna gear, not sure what types of signals they transmit.

[@ericmoeller3634]

there is one of those in my town right behind a att building in the middle of downtown i always wonder what it was for now i wonder what the building is being used for it still has a sign by a solid metal door that say att and has their logo on it

[@jebj1]

Their main hub is near my house in Pennsylvania. It's a few acres full of satelite dishes that then connects to the towers. We used to ride along the tree cuts on our 4 wheelers.

[@mattalbrecht7471]

Scary thought: advances in technology, using dense wave multiplexing via ciena multiplexers, DISA shoves 10 to 12 OC-192's down ONE pair (one transmit, one recieve) of glass fibers. That's a shitload of bandwidth

[@garthhancock3373]

Bob Moses did a concert on the top of the tower in Topanga CA. Now I know what the hell that tower was used for.

[@TheRealDrJoey]

There was a semaphore telegraph system centuries ago that allowed you to send a message from London to Venice in about 1/2 an hour.

[@Piedog769]

About 10 years ago the AT&T building in Oklahoma City underwent a building renovation and removed their rooftop microwave antenna array.

[@mc3lizard]

This explains why long distance calls were so expensive. It costs a lot of money to build and maintain that network.

[@jamescostello6529]

Actually it was how your congress critters sucked up to AT&T. It was based on the LATA system. Every time your call passed through another system you paid fees and charges. Gainesville to Orlando passed through 7 such exchanges.