In one of the most remote areas of the former Yugoslavia lies a forgotten radar base. As tensions arose between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the early 1950s, the country started preparing for war. A vast network of radio relay sites was build to serve as the backbone communication for the Yugoslavian national army. These sites were mainly located on mountain peaks, surrounded with landmines and guards patrolling around the clock.







A mountain house was constructed to conceal the huge blast doors leading to the underground part, where all essential communication equipment (radios, amplifiers) and backup generators were protected from air attacks. Each site had optical visibility with at least 3 others, forming a spider web like communication structure across the country.







All the doors of the underground part were made of thick steel and rubber seal on the edges. Some people say such locations could survive a nuclear strike, but that is debatable. The outside house was used as living quarters for the troops stationed there, with a kitchen, running water and conference rooms.







After the war in the 90s, such sites were abandoned, but the surrounding mines pose a deadly threat to this day, with new ones found yearly by hikers (mainly the PMR-2A type). If you are interested in the video exploration of the place, complete with the underground part, you can check it out here:

Wow! This is neat.

Very interesting! Cool photos! Love the blue skies and water and how these places looked situated on mountaintops. Will get to the video later but enjoyed what i saw so far

Super cool find! I love the landscape shots with the mountain and the base, and the interior is pretty neat too!

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Can you provide some links (or some keywords) so I can learn more about this network?

Thanks for the feedback!

Can you provide some links (or some keywords) so I can learn more about this network?

I can PM you the name if you want, but there is not much more information about such sites, mainly because they were classified. When Yugoslavia fell into civil war, all sites were emptied and equipment transferred to Serbia (mainly because Serbia controlled the military at that time). So all documentation and maps of this communication network are still hidden somewhere in the archives in Belgrade and the little information that is known is from people that served there.

In the coming weeks there will be more explorations of such sites, some hidden in ordinary houses, some designed to survive a nuclear strike. Stay tuned.

Posted by The Lost Trails

I suppose the lack of information makes these spots even more special.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of these. Hopefully you'll find one with some of the equipment left intact.

PS: The "circuit board" you found in the workshop is a simple extender card. They're useful for debugging circuit cards that plug into a rack with a backplane.

PS: The "circuit board" you found in the workshop is a simple extender card. They're useful for debugging circuit cards that plug into a rack with a backplane.

Interesting, didn't know that, thanks.