Ground Air Transmit Receive

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Ground Air Transmit Receive (GATR) control sites [1] were the radio stations of a Burroughs 416L SAGE Defense System of the United States Air Force.

They were deployed to automate ground-controlled interception using manned interceptors. Generally located near or, in some cases, on an Aerospace Defense Command radar station, a GATR site was used for the Ground to Air Data Link Subsystem to communicate command guidance via HF/VHF/UHF voice and TDDL [2] to vector F-106 Delta Dart and other suitably equipped aircraft [3] that had been dispatched by teams in Weapons Direction rooms of SAGE Direction Centers. Maintenance was done by the 304x4 Ground Radio Maintenance career field, [4] with initial technical training at Keesler Air Force Base. [5] The sites included the RCA AN/GKA-5 Time Division Data Link (TDDL) equipment, [6] that fed a two-channel AN/FRT-49 Electronic Guidance Signals Transmitting Set, [7] employing Varian klystrons [8] to deliver 20 kilowatts output power (early sites used the 100 watt, single-channel AN/GRT-3 instead. [9] The aircraft receivers were either Hughes AN/ARR-60 or SLI AN/ARR-61 Airborne Radio Receivers [10] of the Hughes MA-1 Fire Control System. [11]

Most GATR/SAGE sites are now Formerly Used Defense Sites (e.g., the 6-acre (2.4 ha) site supported by Oakdale Air Force Station, Pennsylvania) that were closed by the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. [12]

Sites

USAF Ground Air Transmit Receive sites
Sector [3]
DC
GATR #
Coordinates
Support AFS, etc.ST
Washington
DC-04
R-16
34°45′33″N076°51′20″W / 34.75917°N 76.85556°W / 34.75917; -76.85556 [ citation needed ]
 Z-117 (Roanoke Rapids) VA
Bangor
DC-05
R-25 Z-15 (Topsham) [3] ME
Detroit
DC-06
[ specify ] Z-20 (Selfridge AFB) MI
Montgomery
DC-09
R-tbd   Z-249 (Dauphin Island) AL
Duluth
DC-10
 Z-29 (Finley) ND
Seattle
DC-12
 Z-tbd (Makah) WA
Sault Sainte Marie
DC-14
 Z-66 (Sault Sainte Marie) MI
Los Angeles  
DC-17
R-22 Z-15 (Lompoc) CA
Los Angeles
DC-17
R-tbd Z-74 (Madera) CA
Los Angeles
DC-17
R-tbd Z-59 (Boron) CA
San Francisco  
NCC-18
R-19  Z-38 (Mill Valley) CA
San Francisco
NCC-18
  Z-96 (Almaden) CA
Minot
NCC-19
  n/a (Minot AFB) ND
Great Falls
DC-20
R-27  Z-27 (Fortuna) ND
Great Falls
DC-20
  Z-177 (Dickinson) MT
Phoenix
DC-21
 Z-181 (Ajo) AZ
Patrick
DC-09
 Z-211 FL
Z-tbd (Cut Bank) MO
Sioux City
DC-22
 Z-133 (Hastings) NE

The San Francisco Z-38 (Mill Valley) site differed from Manual Air Defense Control Centers that networked Permanent System radar stations, NORAD Control Centers had simpler C3 equipment (e.g., for the "austere SAGE area" in the Zone of the Interior) than the Direction Centers' AN/FSQ-7s such as the General Electric AN/GPA-37 Course Directing Group with AN/GPA-67 Time Division Data Link equipment through transmitters to the AN/ARR-39 "SAGE Datalink Receivers" used in the F-86L Sabre Interceptor, which was the SAGE variant [10] —an F-86D Sabre Dog with equipment for day/night/all weather operations. For example, by 1965, "Hamilton AFB and Richards-Gebaur AFB…operated as Remote Combat Centers (Hamilton had remote input from Reno Sector and Richards-Gebaur from Sioux City Sector)". [18]

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References

  1. ↑ "USA Support Oakdale". epa.gov. Archived from the original on 2012-06-25.
  2. ↑ "Re: Speaking of AUTOVON" (coldwarcomms message). Yahoo.com. September 21, 2007. Retrieved 2013-02-18. A previously referenced AT&T training manual on SAGE/BUIC/AUTOVON phone systems does list all the AUTOVON/SAGE Switching Centers & includes their General Purpose (AUTOVON) NNX, their SAGE NNX, and … For example, Delta, Utah had 890 for AUTOVON, 764 for SAGE
  3. 1 2 3 "Topsham AFS". Cold War Relics. 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2013-02-19. the SAGE block house was bulldozed in 1985. (image of entrance sign with arrow: "Bangor North American Air Defense Sector")
  4. ↑ "Minot GATR, ND Personnel Roster". radomes.org. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  5. ↑ Blackburn, Charles A (2012-06-23). "[anecdote posting]" (PDF). AFdasf.org. Retrieved 2014-02-24. Keesler for 304x4 training; GATR sites in Cut Bank, MO and Hastings, NE…last assignment to Andrews AFB GAR site at Brandywine, MD
  6. ↑ "AN/GKA-5 TDDL". www.radomes.org.
  7. ↑ "AIR FORCE - MIL-T-26439A - TRANSMITTING SET, ELECTRONIC GUIDANCE SIGNALS AN FRT-49( ) | Engineering360". standards.globalspec.com.
  8. ↑ "QRZ News July 2010" (PDF). k3ir.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-25.
  9. ↑ "Makah GATR 1977". www.radomes.org.
  10. 1 2 "AN/ARQ to AN/ARY - Equipment Listing". www.designation-systems.net.
  11. ↑ "F-106 Delta Dart Automatic Flight Control System". www.f-106deltadart.com.
  12. ↑ "Federal Register/Vol. 63, No. 91/Tuesday, May 12, 1998/Notices" (PDF). gpo.gov. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Selfridge AAB TOPO". 57thbombwing.com. Archived from the original on 2014-03-28.
  14. ↑ "Recent Photos of Selfridge AFB, MI". www.radomes.org.
  15. 1 2 "Madera Air Force Station Ground Air Transmitter and Receiver (GATR) Site". wikimapia.org.
  16. ↑ "Almaden Air Force Station Ground-to-Air, Transmit/Receive Site". wikimapia.org.
  17. ↑ "Information for Minot GATR, ND". radomes.org. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  18. ↑ NORAD/CONAD Historical Summary, 1965B
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