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859 online
Server Time:
2024-04-25 11:12:31
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 maypearljoe
 |  | Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
< on 6/15/2009 6:58 PM >
|  | | | AT&T communication tower complex on the south side of Ennis just off Interstate 45 where Farm Road 85 connects to 45. It looks abandoned. Has anyone checked it out? How long has it been empty anyway?
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RobertB
    
Location: Skeeterville, TX
Gender: Male
Maybe I shouldn't be using my real name...
| |  | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 1 on 6/15/2009 10:46 PM >
| | | | I've seen a few old microwave transmitter stations that have had the microwave "horns" removed, and I wonder if they're used for anything any more. I suspect they are, though -- in which case, they'll likely be heavily booby-trapped against scrappers (who would think nothing of taking down an entire region's telecommunications infrastructure for 10 pounds of copper).
Those stations were pretty cool, though. It was like a demonstration of the curvature of the earth. The high-up set of horns would transmit/receive microwave-frequency signals as far as the horizon would let them, into the lower horns of another, identical station.
My dad worked on the FAA airport radar, which used some similar technology. One cool thing he brought home was a ginormous U-shaped magnet. It was probably something like six inches square by three inches thick. I ended up filling the mounting holes with BBs and then using it to make large divots in the ground -- hey, it was big and heavy, what else would an 8-year-old want to do? I don't think I ever saw it again after I got caught doing that... anyway, if you see something large and magnetic, be sure to take a picture. But keep a good hold on your camera!
J'ai toujours fait une prière à Dieu, qui est fort courte.
La voici: "Mon Dieu, rendez nos ennemis bien ridicules!"
Dieu m'a exaucé. |
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Explorer Zero
   
| | | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 2 on 6/16/2009 12:02 AM >
| | | | its been for sale for at least 3 years
get some inside pics for us
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maypearljoe
| | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 3 on 6/16/2009 9:00 PM >
| | | | Wonder why they closed it?
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Agent Skelly
   
Web Sheriff
Location: Oregon Territory
Gender: Male
Prenez De L'Avance Avec Chrysler!
| |  |  | | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 4 on 6/17/2009 4:30 AM >
| | | | Posted by maypearljoe
Wonder why they closed it?
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AT&T Communications sold of the remaining part of the old Long Lines microwave system in 2003 after it was no longer needed since fiber lines have replaced it all.
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RobertB
Location: Skeeterville, TX
Gender: Male
Maybe I shouldn't be using my real name...
| | | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 5 on 6/19/2009 3:52 AM >
| | | | Driving along backroads in Oklahoma today, between McAlester and Eufaula, I saw another abandoned microwave tower. They look so forlorn. This one wasn't lonely, at least -- the gate was open and there was a truck parked on the property. But who *would* buy an old microwave tower and facility?
J'ai toujours fait une prière à Dieu, qui est fort courte.
La voici: "Mon Dieu, rendez nos ennemis bien ridicules!"
Dieu m'a exaucé. |
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malcolmc
Location: Snyder, Texas
Gender: Male
| | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 6 on 7/2/2009 10:08 PM >
| | | | Someone bought one just outside of Snyder, TX and is suppose to build the worlds tallest cross out of it.
malcolmc |
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towermonkey
Gender: Male
| | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 7 on 7/5/2009 4:37 PM >
|  | | | Here are some pictures of the inside of the Ennis site.
http://www.flickr....72157619693850117/
It's still up forsale. AT&T still maintains a small presence there for some fiber equipment. Any sale would require a leaseback for this small area.
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maypearljoe
| | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 8 on 7/17/2009 12:44 AM >
| | | | Posted by towermonkey
Here are some pictures of the inside of the Ennis site.
http://www.flickr....72157619693850117/
It's still up forsale. AT&T still maintains a small presence there for some fiber equipment. Any sale would require a leaseback for this small area.
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Cool. Who took those? Thanks for the info.
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10001110101
| | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 9 on 7/17/2009 1:59 PM >
| | | | Posted by RobertB
Driving along backroads in Oklahoma today, between McAlester and Eufaula, I saw another abandoned microwave tower. They look so forlorn. This one wasn't lonely, at least -- the gate was open and there was a truck parked on the property. But who *would* buy an old microwave tower and facility?
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There are telecom companies that love to buy the structures and lease space out to different carriers. I worked for a company that bought a lot of the old long-lines facilities, with the concrete silos being full of old-school technology. I wish I had saved pictures from inside of them.
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sUrD
Location: anywhere the internet takes me
Gender: Male
Hello wasteland!
| | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 10 on 7/17/2009 2:59 PM >
| | | | Posted by 10001110101
There are telecom companies that love to buy the structures and lease space out to different carriers. I worked for a company that bought a lot of the old long-lines facilities, with the concrete silos being full of old-school technology. I wish I had saved pictures from inside of them.
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That would really be interesting to see. What would they do with the old equipment? Storage? Sell?
...the wings on my shoes shrank now the moths won't eat my kidneys, when i shake my state capital it only yields 3 fairy napkins, but how do i know my banana slippers are like water boats because when the moon winks it burns my hamster punches, and that's how you get to llama school rowing your canoe backwards up main street when the front bumper falls off, do mermaids get to drink orange juice? |
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sUrD
Location: anywhere the internet takes me
Gender: Male
Hello wasteland!
| | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 11 on 7/17/2009 3:02 PM >
| | | | Oh, and sorry it's been so long guys. Works a bitch lately. Saving the world, fixing one road at a time and all that.
...the wings on my shoes shrank now the moths won't eat my kidneys, when i shake my state capital it only yields 3 fairy napkins, but how do i know my banana slippers are like water boats because when the moon winks it burns my hamster punches, and that's how you get to llama school rowing your canoe backwards up main street when the front bumper falls off, do mermaids get to drink orange juice? |
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10001110101
| | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 12 on 7/20/2009 4:56 PM >
| | | | Posted by sUrD
That would really be interesting to see. What would they do with the old equipment? Storage? Sell?
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Most radio equipment was kept by the carrier. Much of the lighting systems and old diesel backup generators were still in place. The flasher system for the clearance lighting was the most interesting I had ever seen. Picture a mercury filled tube that rocked side-to-side on a motor driven eccentric wheel. That is what was used to trigger the lights. We would update them with digital components.
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towermonkey
Gender: Male
| | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 13 on 7/27/2009 12:35 AM >
| | | | Posted by maypearljoe
Cool. Who took those? Thanks for the info.
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A friend and I took a tour of the place a few years back. He was looking at purchasing the facility so we had an AT&T guy there to show us around. The ennis site was a coaxial main station as well as a microwave terminal station. The coax has been laid over with fiber, and the microwave is turned down. Not much remains in the site except for the Diesel generators, batteries, power distribution gear, lots of documentation, and a small area for fiber equipment.
The most interesting thing about that place is that it is "semi-hardened". The site is designed to be a relocation center for key personnel during a nuclear attack. It doesn't have the features of a true hardened structure like blast valves or earthen overburden (underground) since it is located well beyond the blast radius of the closest target: Dallas/Texas Instruments/LTV/Dallas NAS/Carswell/...?. Support facilities include: on-site water wells, water treatment and storage systems, sanitary sewer ejector pumps and leach field, sophisticated air filtration system, food stores, extra clothing, etc. Most of these things haven't been used in a long time, or are gone entirely, but you can still see signs all over the place. I remember a big map showing DFW with columns for tracking casualties and damage to critical facilities. My favorite is a small brass plaque next to the deadbolts on all exterior doors labeled "fallout lock".
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RevSM
Location: South Central Texas
| | | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 14 on 7/27/2009 2:09 PM >
| | | | So my question would be, would it make a good house? If you can't afford or don't like the location for a missile silo house, maybe this would be a good alternative. 
Tetanus for Breakfast!
http://www.shatteredshutter.com |
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/-/ooligan
Location: Las Vegas area
Gender: Male
When in danger, when in doubt, RUN IN CIRCLES, SCREAM AND SHOUT!
| | Re: Ennis AT&T communication tower complex
<Reply # 15 on 7/28/2009 9:52 AM >
| | | | So the latest, as my fellow ColdWarCommies already know, is that the Ennis site is apparently off the market, & AT&T is going to use it as some sort of hub for their U-Verse cable TV network.
As for the question of whether places like that could make a good house, you'd probably go crazy after the coolness-factor wore off unless you had the $$$ to modify it a lot with skylights (otherwise, no windows or fresh-air breeze) & other homey accoutrements.
"Wanna come back to my underground bunker?" tends to scare chicks, not impress them, and your parents will worry that you're going to be the next Ted Kaczynski.
/-/oolie
There are no stupid questions, just stupid people. |
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