forums
new posts
donate
UER Store
events
location db
db map
search
members
faq
terms of service
privacy policy
register
login




1 2  
UER Forum > Archived Canada: Other > 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County (Viewed 4728 times)
Historian124 


Location: South Shore NS
Gender: Male


Historian

Send Private Message | Send Email
721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
< on 5/23/2012 10:12 PM >
Posted on Forum: Infiltration Forums
 
anyone other then me here tell of this

darbycrashin 

Noble Donor


Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Gender: Female




Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 1 on 5/23/2012 10:30 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Yeah, what do you want to know? It's empty, all the equipment is gone.

Assuming this is the same place I'm thinking of.
[last edit 5/23/2012 10:32 PM by darbycrashin - edited 1 times]

Flickr http://flickr.com/photos/klandry
Historian124 


Location: South Shore NS
Gender: Male


Historian

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 2 on 5/24/2012 1:10 AM >
Posted on Forum: Infiltration Forums
 
Posted by sonikgirl
Yeah, what do you want to know? It's empty, all the equipment is gone.

Assuming this is the same place I'm thinking of.


i know the place ur thinking of... ur thinking of the diefenbunker at cfb debert but thats not the one i am refering to....the one i am refering to is still active, is supose to be top secret, and was built at the same time as the diefenbunker at cfb debert. it is run by the 721 communications squadron, based at cfb shearwater in halifax, it is far back into the woods and people that live in the general area dont even know its there. i spoke to an 80 year old man who lived in the area all his life and he had do idea what i was talking about he said " theres no bunker around here" and i said haha thats what you think!

tbeckerson 


Gender: Male




Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 3 on 5/24/2012 2:01 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by Historian124


i know the place ur thinking of... ur thinking of the diefenbunker at cfb debert but thats not the one i am refering to....the one i am refering to is still active, is supose to be top secret, and was built at the same time as the diefenbunker at cfb debert. it is run by the 721 communications squadron, based at cfb shearwater in halifax, it is far back into the woods and people that live in the general area dont even know its there. i spoke to an 80 year old man who lived in the area all his life and he had do idea what i was talking about he said " theres no bunker around here" and i said haha thats what you think!


There was an offsite transmitter bunker built as a backup for CFB Debert. I assume that's what you're talking about? Are you saying that it's still in active use? It's existence wasn't really a secret back in the late 50s when it was built, i'm surprised the locals don't know about it, especially if it's still being used.

Also, the 721 Communications Squadron is a Reserve Unit in Charlottetown, and Shearwater doesn't have a Communications Squadron at all. You may want to check your info again.
[last edit 5/24/2012 3:13 PM by tbeckerson - edited 1 times]

Historian124 


Location: South Shore NS
Gender: Male


Historian

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 720 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 4 on 5/24/2012 9:05 PM >
Posted on Forum: Infiltration Forums
 
Posted by tbeckerson


There was an offsite transmitter bunker built as a backup for CFB Debert. I assume that's what you're talking about? Are you saying that it's still in active use? It's existence wasn't really a secret back in the late 50s when it was built, i'm surprised the locals don't know about it, especially if it's still being used.

Also, the 721 Communications Squadron is a Reserve Unit in Charlottetown, and Shearwater doesn't have a Communications Squadron at all. You may want to check your info again.


yes its active and in use... its run by the 72 communications group formally 721 communications squadron heres the website they are based out of halifax.
http://www.army.gc...617/index-eng.html


[last edit 5/25/2012 2:42 AM by Historian124 - edited 2 times]

tbeckerson 


Gender: Male




Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 5 on 5/25/2012 11:26 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
yes its active and in use... its run by the 72 communications group formally 721 communications squadron heres the website they are based out of halifax.http://www...617/index-eng.html


Here's how the naming works in the Communications and Electronics Branch of the Canadian Forces :
The two digit Comm Group names are the regional bodies. There are five of them across the country (70-74), each controlling an area of the country. For example, the 72 Comm Group is responsible for the Atlantic. The three digit units are individual squadrons or regiments, numbered based on active group they report to. For example, the 721 (Charlottetown) Regiment and the 723 (Halifax) Squadron are both reserve units, that are under the control of the 72 Comm Group.

To repeat from my last entry: The 721 Comm Squadron does not, and has never had, anything to do with the Great Village Transmitter Station. It's a Charlottetown-based Reserve squadron, and always has been. You may want to check your info again.

Historian124 


Location: South Shore NS
Gender: Male


Historian

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 6 on 5/25/2012 6:52 PM >
Posted on Forum: Infiltration Forums
 
Posted by tbeckerson


Here's how the naming works in the Communications and Electronics Branch of the Canadian Forces :
The two digit Comm Group names are the regional bodies. There are five of them across the country (70-74), each controlling an area of the country. For example, the 72 Comm Group is responsible for the Atlantic. The three digit units are individual squadrons or regiments, numbered based on active group they report to. For example, the 721 (Charlottetown) Regiment and the 723 (Halifax) Squadron are both reserve units, that are under the control of the 72 Comm Group.

To repeat from my last entry: The 721 Comm Squadron does not, and has never had, anything to do with the Great Village Transmitter Station. It's a Charlottetown-based Reserve squadron, and always has been. You may want to check your info again.


i am sorry i was confussing the 721 (Charlottown) Squadron with the CFB Debert Squadron 720. 720 Comm Squadron operated out of the CFB Debert bunker as well as Great Village, 720 is no longer around as CFB Debert is no longer CFB Debert (or they might be but i cant find anything about them) they operated out of Great Village from 1960s-1990s same time as the Diefenbunker at CFB Debert... I figure when CFB Debert was deactivated that is when 72 Comm Group took over the Great Village bunker.

tbeckerson 


Gender: Male




Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 7 on 5/26/2012 12:51 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by Historian124


i am sorry i was confussing the 721 (Charlottown) Squadron with the CFB Debert Squadron 720. 720 Comm Squadron operated out of the CFB Debert bunker as well as Great Village, 720 is no longer around as CFB Debert is no longer CFB Debert (or they might be but i cant find anything about them) they operated out of Great Village from 1960s-1990s same time as the Diefenbunker at CFB Debert... I figure when CFB Debert was deactivated that is when 72 Comm Group took over the Great Village bunker.


No worries, I assumed you really meant something like above. You're right about the 720 Comm, it went out of existence with CFB Debert back in 1995.

So where do you think this bunker might be? It must be quite secretive still, and probably quite fare in the woods if no one from the area has heard of it.

Historian124 


Location: South Shore NS
Gender: Male


Historian

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 8 on 5/26/2012 1:32 AM >
Posted on Forum: Infiltration Forums
 
Posted by tbeckerson


No worries, I assumed you really meant something like above. You're right about the 720 Comm, it went out of existence with CFB Debert back in 1995.

So where do you think this bunker might be? It must be quite secretive still, and probably quite fare in the woods if no one from the area has heard of it.


i know exackly where it is some of the locals know where it is but not all of them, you can see it from google earth but you need to know what you are looking for otherwise the the bunker blends right in to the field that surrounds it. rumor has it there is a tunnel that goes from the debert bunker to the great village bunker. some friends of mine say they know where the hatches are but i think its kinda far fetched as the bunkers are about 5 km apart in a straight line. the great village bunker as something like 16 towers surrounding the bunker makes sence being a communications bunker. it is far back into the woods but it is intresting because when they built the trans canada highway in 1998 they started to come to close to the bunker site so they swung the highway way out around the bunker and after they by-passed it they straightened the highway back out. ill upload gome google earth pictures of the site. you can get within 1 km or so no less of the main gate, chain link fence with razor wire, its all flat so you can see the bunker no problem from outside the main gate. i got pictures but the uploader on this site wont upload them as my pictures are large files.

278968.jpg (59 kb, 1280x637)
click to view

uploading pictures on thiis site is a pain ive been at it for 45 minuites and got nowhere
[last edit 5/26/2012 2:22 AM by Historian124 - edited 2 times]

Therrin 

This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.


Location: North of Chicago, IL
Gender: Male


*Therrin puts on the penguin-suit

Send Private Message | Send Email | AIM Message
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 9 on 5/26/2012 1:41 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
fyi, if you use the gallery uploader it can automatically resize them to accepted size.

Give a person a match and they'll be warm for a minute, but light them on fire and they'll be warm for the rest of their life. =)
Historian124 


Location: South Shore NS
Gender: Male


Historian

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 10 on 5/26/2012 2:29 AM >
Posted on Forum: Infiltration Forums
 
Posted by Therrin
fyi, if you use the gallery uploader it can automatically resize them to accepted size.


where is this gallery up loader?

Therrin 

This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.


Location: North of Chicago, IL
Gender: Male


*Therrin puts on the penguin-suit

Send Private Message | Send Email | AIM Message
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 11 on 5/26/2012 10:27 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by Historian124


where is this gallery up loader?


If it was a snake it'd have bit you on the ass already and slithered off laughing.






Give a person a match and they'll be warm for a minute, but light them on fire and they'll be warm for the rest of their life. =)
tbeckerson 


Gender: Male




Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 12 on 5/26/2012 2:35 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
it is far back into the woods but it is intresting because when they built the trans canada highway in 1998 they started to come to close to the bunker site so they swung the highway way out around the bunker and after they by-passed it they straightened the highway back out. ill upload gome google earth pictures of the site. you can get within 1 km or so no less of the main gate, chain link fence with razor wire, its all flat so you can see the bunker no problem from outside the main gate.



Here it is on Google Maps:
http://maps.google...,0.032229&t=h&z=16


Here's a distance pic I took of the whole facility:
278990.jpg (98 kb, 1000x470)
click to view

The large tower on the left of the pic is appx 70m (200ft) high, and is the tallest thing in the area. The bunker is likely the mound in the middle.

If the locals don't know it's there, they're not paying much attention. It's directly beside several farms on the south and east sides, and there's a maze of hiking/ATV trails in the woods to the northwest, and the #104 is only about 200m away from it. The large tower can be seen on the #104 from 5km+ away.
The security isn't very strict. The barbed wire fence is up, and you can drive up directly up to the gate, which is is held shut with a standard chain/padlock combo which was not being used during working hours. But there's no signs until you get to the fence, no guardpost, and no cameras.

The Canadian Forces website http://www.vcds-vc...eng.asp?page=10430 lists the "72 Communication Group Headquarters Detachment Great Village" as an active installation, meaning it's staffed by people, who will drive past the farms and houses twice a day and probably live in the area.
It's a very interesting looking place, but it's neither hard to access or a secret in any way. You may want to check your info again.

When you were there and spoke to the locals, I assume you took your own pictures? I'd love to see what pics you got of the place, I only got distance shots

Historian124 


Location: South Shore NS
Gender: Male


Historian

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 13 on 5/26/2012 6:15 PM >
Posted on Forum: Infiltration Forums
 
Posted by tbeckerson



Here it is on Google Maps:
http://maps.google...,0.032229&t=h&z=16


Here's a distance pic I took of the whole facility:
278990.jpg (98 kb, 1000x470)
click to view

The large tower on the left of the pic is appx 70m (200ft) high, and is the tallest thing in the area. The bunker is likely the mound in the middle.

If the locals don't know it's there, they're not paying much attention. It's directly beside several farms on the south and east sides, and there's a maze of hiking/ATV trails in the woods to the northwest, and the #104 is only about 200m away from it. The large tower can be seen on the #104 from 5km+ away.
The security isn't very strict. The barbed wire fence is up, and you can drive up directly up to the gate, which is is held shut with a standard chain/padlock combo which was not being used during working hours. But there's no signs until you get to the fence, no guardpost, and no cameras.

The Canadian Forces website http://www.vcds-vc...eng.asp?page=10430 lists the "72 Communication Group Headquarters Detachment Great Village" as an active installation, meaning it's staffed by people, who will drive past the farms and houses twice a day and probably live in the area.
It's a very interesting looking place, but it's neither hard to access or a secret in any way. You may want to check your info again.

When you were there and spoke to the locals, I assume you took your own pictures? I'd love to see what pics you got of the place, I only got distance shots


by the locals i meant truro and surrounding community ... most of great village knows its there but they couldnt give a damn and yeah there is alot of atv trails in the area and all the farms in that area are owned by the same farmer Millen Farms Ltd. the old fart i spoke to likely cant remember his own birthday let alone remember a bunker. i was already to that website thats where i got my info... it by not be that much of a secret now but it was before the highway went through and before debert shut down... altho i have asked people before when driving east bound along the 104 highway, "where are thoes towers and they said they are the towers in masstown when i remind them they are in great village they say oh well i dont know then..." ill upload my pictures i shot with a telephoto lens.
i gennerally dont tell people what area i live in but this is an exception live in great village and i am by the site almost every day.

Historian124 


Location: South Shore NS
Gender: Male


Historian

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 14 on 5/26/2012 6:46 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
1.


2.


3. note the big black air filter on top and to the left of the bunker.


4. Behind the pine tree is a white shed as seen in picture #5... i was told it was an emergency escape for the bunker


5.


6.



[last edit 5/26/2012 6:47 PM by Historian124 - edited 1 times]

/-/ooligan 


Location: Las Vegas area
Gender: Male


When in danger, when in doubt, RUN IN CIRCLES, SCREAM AND SHOUT!

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 15 on 5/29/2012 5:43 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Thanks for the info, TBeckerson. It's the former HF radio comms annex of the Camp Debert 'Deifenbunker,' obviously still in-use as an HF radio transmit or receive (or both) site.

Assuming you're right about one of the towers being about 70 meters tall, that tends to imply LF radio communications in addition to the obvious LPH-89 HF antennas (on 92' tall towers, by the way). Especially in terms of Canadian Forces, LF radio is pretty much just used for messages to naval surface ships & submarines.

The site looks to be a pretty standard HF regional transmit station for Canadian Forces & NATO use. Assuming it's remotely operated by CFB Trenton or Halifax (and/or the Canadian NORAD Region guys) & has modern equipment, it might now just have one caretaker & be visited occasionally by maintenance crews.


/-/ooligan

There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.
tbeckerson 


Gender: Male




Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 16 on 5/29/2012 1:26 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by /-/ooligan
Thanks for the info, TBeckerson. It's the former HF radio comms annex of the Camp Debert 'Deifenbunker,' obviously still in-use as an HF radio transmit or receive (or both) site.

Assuming you're right about one of the towers being about 70 meters tall, that tends to imply LF radio communications in addition to the obvious LPH-89 HF antennas (on 92' tall towers, by the way). Especially in terms of Canadian Forces, LF radio is pretty much just used for messages to naval surface ships & submarines.

The site looks to be a pretty standard HF regional transmit station for Canadian Forces & NATO use. Assuming it's remotely operated by CFB Trenton or Halifax (and/or the Canadian NORAD Region guys) & has modern equipment, it might now just have one caretaker & be visited occasionally by maintenance crews.


/-/ooligan


There were actually two annex, each located about 10km away from CFB Debert: one as shown in Great Village, another about 15km away in Masstown. http://maps.google...,0.064459&t=h&z=15

The sign is vintage 50s military, note the classy gold-paint civic numbers added later.
279387.jpg (100 kb, 800x534)
click to view



Security is airtight in Masstown:
279391.jpg (97 kb, 800x533)
click to view


The fence is new, and only about chest height. I do not forsee barbed wire being added later.
There are no MND "no trespassing" signs on the fence facing the road. The side of the property has decades-old rusted barbed wire fencing with classic signs. I assume they're upgrading the fence in installments, and "no trespassing" signs will show up when it's all done.

The 70m height of the large tower at Great Village is a guess for sure. But the picture I put up in my previous post speaks for itself, the tower on the far left is easily twice the height of the others.

As for staffing the facility: My earlier reference page "Canadian Forces Installations Across Canada" http://www.vcds-vc...eng.asp?page=10430 only shows staffed operations across Canada (I think), and Great Village is on there. Masstown is not listed, neither are the remote stations at Newport Corner & Mill Cove (plus the one near Middleton that I don't know the name of), which are known to be unstaffed. I'm speculating that Great Village is staffed, and they control Masstown from there.

Historian124 


Location: South Shore NS
Gender: Male


Historian

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 17 on 5/29/2012 4:39 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by tbeckerson


There were actually two annex, each located about 10km away from CFB Debert: one as shown in Great Village, another about 15km away in Masstown. http://maps.google...,0.064459&t=h&z=15

The sign is vintage 50s military, note the classy gold-paint civic numbers added later.
279387.jpg (100 kb, 800x534)
click to view



Security is airtight in Masstown:
279391.jpg (97 kb, 800x533)
click to view


The fence is new, and only about chest height. I do not forsee barbed wire being added later.
There are no MND "no trespassing" signs on the fence facing the road. The side of the property has decades-old rusted barbed wire fencing with classic signs. I assume they're upgrading the fence in installments, and "no trespassing" signs will show up when it's all done.

The 70m height of the large tower at Great Village is a guess for sure. But the picture I put up in my previous post speaks for itself, the tower on the far left is easily twice the height of the others.

As for staffing the facility: My earlier reference page "Canadian Forces Installations Across Canada" http://www.vcds-vc...eng.asp?page=10430 only shows staffed operations across Canada (I think), and Great Village is on there. Masstown is not listed, neither are the remote stations at Newport Corner & Mill Cove (plus the one near Middleton that I don't know the name of), which are known to be unstaffed. I'm speculating that Great Village is staffed, and they control Masstown from there.


that wouldnt supprise me one bit. also at Masstown during the past year or so CFB Halifax Construction Engineering Detachment at Debert has been building a building at the antenna farm at Masstown kind of curious what it is, its a tall structure 2 stories tall or so, with what looks to be a tall garage door on the front... it is hard to make out as you can only see part of it from the road when you look up the driveway from the road to the building its about .6 kms.+/-

1. THE NEW BUILDING AT MASSTOWN SITE


2. NOTE THE 104 HIGHWAY HOW IT GOES AROUND THE SITE, THE RED LINES ARE THE FENCES.


3. THIS IMAGE SPEAKS FOR ITS SELF.

[last edit 5/29/2012 6:00 PM by Historian124 - edited 2 times]

/-/ooligan 


Location: Las Vegas area
Gender: Male


When in danger, when in doubt, RUN IN CIRCLES, SCREAM AND SHOUT!

Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 18 on 5/30/2012 7:13 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by tbeckerson


There were actually two annex, each located about 10km away from CFB Debert: one as shown in Great Village, another about 15km away in Masstown. http://maps.google...,0.064459&t=h&z=15

The sign is vintage 50s military, note the classy gold-paint civic numbers added later.
279387.jpg (100 kb, 800x534)
click to view




Yeah, one (usually the larger site) would have been for Transmit, the other for Receive. Often easy to tell which was which based on the power plant (transmit sites need more power).

Back in the old days of tube radios, etc. both sites probably had technicians there 24/7.

The old signage demonstrates clearly that the existence of the site wasn't exactly a "secret," though the fact that it was operated by/for a regional Diefenbunker at Debert may have been.


/-/ooligan

[last edit 5/30/2012 7:14 AM by /-/ooligan - edited 1 times]

There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.
radiohead 






Send Private Message | Send Email
Re: 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County
<Reply # 19 on 9/4/2012 6:26 PM >
Posted on Forum: Infiltration Forums
 
This is in response to your posts on the Infiltration web site. Where were you on Nov 22, 1963? That was the day that John Fitzgerald Kennedy the 35th president of the United States was killed in Dallas Texas. Most people who witnessed this event remember where they were. I do, I was some two hundred feet in the air at the Great Village radio relay site attaching guy wires to the C.B.C’s remote transmitting antenna the frequency in use at the time was 1050 KHZ which requires an antenna height of 223 feet for a quarter wave length match it was a bottom feed antenna which was accomplished with a 75 to 300 ohm balun coil the ground provided the other half wave of the antenna radiation pattern. The C.B.C. transmitter at Great Village was to be used as a back up to the transmitter already in use at the Radio Canada International shortwave site at Sackville New Brunswick it was to carry the CBA, CBH, network in Atlantic Canada incase the Sackville site was blown to pieces. But before I go forward, I want to take you back. I was in the Royal Canadian Signal Corps which was then a unit of the Canadian Army. I joined the Army in 1959 did my basic training , then graduated from the school of Signals in Kingston Ontario after taking a 2 year course in Radio Equipment Technician . I was posted first to Camp Gagetown New Brunswick, then on to what was known as the Nova Scotia Signals Squadron in Halifax, now it is called 726 Comm Squadron. Our base was at Windsor Park just off Bayers Road and Windsor Streets. At that time Eastern Command head quarters (Army) was on Ahern Avenue the Eastern Command teletype and comm. Center was situated in that location. The squadron operated and maintained a microwave radio system that was situated on Citadel Hill. The Citadel Hill radio system was beamed to the transmit and receive facilities at Hammonds Plains and Wallace Hill. The Hammonds Plains receiver site had a large antenna array covering some 40-50 acres, as well the Wallace Hill transmitter site up the road contained a large antenna array as well. It was dominated by a U.K. rhombic antenna which was beamed to a Royal Signals station in Boddington England, a rhombic antenna is a large four sided antenna that can be fed at each end or in the center so that it is directional it is in the shape of a diamond with each leg being several hundred feet depending upon the frequency that it is being used for this was to back up the land line communications to the Army Brigade in Germany. The main medium of transmission at the time was radio teletype, some Morse code, and some facsimile the call sign of the Wallace Hill transmitter site was C.I.H., the main transmitters were made by Federal electric which were capable of the 50kw output running a exciter, an Intermediate power amplifier as well as a final power amplifier These facilities were closed out after the Debert Provincial warning center or Deifenbunker became operational, the Hammonds Plains receive building has been converted into a house behind what looks like a sawmill operation, across the road is the Pin High mini putt golf site, it was there back in the’60 it is still there. The Wallace Hill transmitter station has been leveled there is nothing there but vacant ground, I am told that one of the Indian bands has laid claim to the land and has plans to build housing and a possible casino on that land.
My job in Debert (along with many others of course)was the setting up of the Masstown remote receive antenna array, the installation and set up of the remote transmitter site at Great Village, both fed into the Provincial Warning Center at Camp Debert. The two sites were connected by a utility tunnel or utility corridor one from Masstown to Debert, one from Great Village to Debert, they were about 4 feet high and contained interconnecting power cables so that one site could provide power to the other in case of emergency the cables were 500M.C.M. cables capable of carrying up to 600 amps of power. The tunnels also contained keying lines for the remote transmitters, patch panels for circuit testing and had access hatches at roughly 1500 yard distances.
The transmitter site in Great Village operated under the call sign of V.D.D. which was the object of many jokes as venereal disease was rampant at the time. The equipment that was installed by our group was mainly Collins Rockwell single side band radio equipment the power levels were variable from 10KW to 100KW, they were military designated with the prefix of AN/ARC. The C.B.C transmitter at the time was a amplitude modulated 1.050KHZ with an output power of 25KW, it was made by the Harris Radio Corp which was a common make back then.

When I left after the system went into operation, Debert underground was a large hub in the Canadian Forces, N.A.T.O. scheme of things. Couple that with the Folly Lake Satellite Ground Terminal, which you mistakenly point out as a radar station on your map, Masstown, Debert, and Great Village were critical in the communications schemes. Over time though just as Hammonds Plains, and Wallace Hill lost their importance to changing times so it was with the Debert Deifenbunker, however the Masstown receiver site and the Great Village transmitter site are still required to provide global diverse communications as required. Latest technology with hybrids filters and quaduplexers allow transmit antennas to double as receive antennas, and with a receive site already in place in Masstown you can achieve frequency, space, polarity, and equipment diversity, in short you have the best of all worlds already in place, already brought and paid for. All that has to be done is to upgrade your equipment and I have no doubt that has been done many times since the sixties. Today my guess is that the Great Village transmitter site is used and operated from the H.M.C.S. Trinity at Stadacona Naval base. These transmitters no doubt form part of the ALE network which is the Automatic Link Establishment system, where an operator in a remote location can tune, condition, feed, and terminate a transmitter or receiver with a few keyboard clicks select any one of 250 thousand channels available in the frequency band of 2-30 mhz. That is a far cry from the day that in order to provide a transmitter on any requested channel, you have to find the proper crystal for that frequency, tune the oscillators, run up the power amplifiers into a dummy load, check the frequency before switching it on to the antenna feeders, then walk the lineup with a fluorescent tube to be sure that you are connected to the proper antenna . It is also mentioned about secret communications being sent from Great Village, my experience with the military was that everything was secret or encoded, however the vast majority of radio traffic was logistical and administrative and it was encoded cryptically , either in five number groups or five letter groups I have no reason to believe that anything is any different today. I hope this sheds some light on the matter. I had a great time when I was in the Army, I really enjoyed the people in the surrounding area they were some of the most gracious and generous persons that I have or will ever meet, I have been back many times but as the passage of time rolls on many have moved away, or passed away. It set the stage for my latter work on the DEW line and the Pinetree line in the Arctic and the Labrador coast, these installations and the thousands of jobs that they created are all gone now, all the facilities are automated, I am glad that I got out when I did, but I still have fond memories of when technicians not key board people were needed, you cannot compare a hands on job with a software program, and feel that you are achieving anything concrete but I guess that is progress.- Cheers Radiohead.


UER Forum > Archived Canada: Other > 721 Communications Squadron, Bunker, Colchester County (Viewed 4728 times)
1 2  



All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire.
To contact webmaster, or click to email with problems or other questions about this site: UER CONTACT
View Terms of Service | View Privacy Policy | Server colocation provided by Beanfield
This page was generated for you in 140 milliseconds. Since June 23, 2002, a total of 736974130 pages have been generated.