Wouldn't mucking about in the marshlands with
heavy equipment to rip out hundreds of poles and
metal antennae cause far more ecological damage
than just leaving them in place to rot? Who came
up with this dumb idea--a government contractor looking for a nice contract?
I wonder if any hams or pirates ever made use of
the HF antennae after AT&T left. Quite a ground plane!
Many times I listened to WOO and similar AT&T
Long Lines HF stations back in the day for
entertainment. What caused that spooky "whale sound" artifact?
-Ed Cummings
At 12:15 PM 11/5/2015, Richard Cuff wrote:
Hi everyone - See the note below...the US Fish &
Wildlife Service is considering some shoreline
pole removal for AT&T's WOO shore-to-ship
transmitter site in New Jersey; this site was
also used for VOA broadcasts from 1944 onward.
Public comment is invited; see the link down
near the bottom of the message.. Also - we
should have an update on the 2016 Fest
information within the next week; watch this
space! Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From:
Cultural Resources, FW5 <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 3:12 PM Subject:
Public comments sought for anticipated adverse
effect on historic properties To:
[email protected] Dear North American Shortwave
Association: The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
proposes a pole removal project in the tidal
marshlands of the Good Luck Point (Ocean Gate)
and Manahawkin units of Edwin B. Forsythe
National Wildlife Refuge in Ocean County, New
Jersey. The undertaking will contribute to
saltmarsh enhancement funded by the Disaster
Relief Appropriations Act of 2013. The proposal
is for hundreds of poles to be removed, in
addition to cables, wires, metal towers, and
concrete blocks. The goal of this action is to
enhance coastal marsh habitats by increasing
marsh resiliency from impacts of large storm
events and other ecosystem stressors. The poles
are part of inactive shortwave antenna fields
associated with AT&Tâs ship-to-shore shortwave
communications system, which was in operation at
the sites from the early 1930s until 1999. The
wires connecting the antenna poles were removed
by AT&T prior to the creation of the National
Wildlife Refuge units. Good Luck Point in
Berkeley Township, Ocean County includes a
shortwave transmitter building and antenna
field. The municipality owns the shuttered
building, while the poles of the inactive
antenna field are on Refuge land. Under the call
sign WOO, the shortwave facility at Good Luck
Point (known as Ocean Gate) was a renowned
transmitting station, which helped broadcast
Voice of America around the globe after 1944 and
enabled communication with ships at sea
throughout the twentieth century. The historic
property is eligible for listing in the National
Register of Historic Places. The proposed
project will remove approximately 340 wooden
poles from the inactive antenna field, along
with several metal antennae. Manahawkin in
Stafford Township, Ocean County includes the WOO
companion site, which consists of a shortwave
receiving station and antenna field. Via
Manahawkin, shortwave communications from ships
at sea were linked to Americaâs telephone
network from the 1930s until 1999. The entire
Refuge unit is within a conservation easement to
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which does
not own the building. The historic property is
eligible for listing in the National Register of
Historic Places. The proposed project will
remove approximately 113 wooden poles from the
antenna field. Several metal antennas will be
removed, as well. Because both of the historic
properties represent well-preserved examples of
nationally significant shortwave facilities,
they have been determined eligible for National
Register listing. Consequently, the proposed
removal of poles from the antenna fields will
cause an adverse effect under Section 106 of the
National Historic Preservation Act. A mitigation
program is being developed in consultation with
the New Jersey State Historic Preservation
Office. In accordance with Section 106 of the
National Historic Preservation Act, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service seeks public comment
on the anticipated adverse effect. The public is
invited to submit comments concerning the
projectâs effects on the historic properties
to [email protected] . The public comment
period ends on November 15, 2015. Additional
information is available via this Web link:
http://www.fws.gov/refuge/edwin_b_forsythe/
Thank you for your interest. -- U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service Cultural Resources Program
Division of Refuge Field Support Northeast
Regional Office 300 Westgate Center Drive
Hadley, MA 01035-9589
_______________________________________________
Swlfest mailing list [email protected]
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swlfest
To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail
to
[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe,
or visit the URL shown above. For more
information on the Fest, visit:
http://www.swlfest.com http://swlfest.blogspot.com
_______________________________________________
Swlfest mailing list
[email protected]
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swlfest
To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to
[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe, or visit the URL shown
above.
For more information on the Fest, visit:
http://www.swlfest.com
http://swlfest.blogspot.com
