The Bell System's Microwave Radio and Coaxial Cable Networks

Documents

Historical and Commemorative Publications

AT&T's First Microwave Radio Route

Microwave Radio Equipment and Operations

Early Microwave Towers

Advertisement showing concrete radio-relay tower
From the October 1951 issue of Atlantic Monthly magazine.

The Coast-to-Coast Radio Channel Evaluation Test

Beginning in August of 1967, the Long Lines Department conducted a test to measure the performance of AT&T's TD-2 microwave radio equipment in a coast-to-coast link.

Selected pages from the test report
Notes on terminology:

TVS stands for television section, a category of radio route. It consisted of one or more video units in tandem. A video unit was all of the radio facilities between either: two television operating centers, or between a television operating center and a radio junction point. A television operating center was a control point for AT&T's transmission of TV network programming. A radio junction point was a microwave station where several radio routes converged/diverged.

System Configuration

The WT4 Long-Distance Buried Waveguide System

Protection Against Nuclear Blasts

The Solar Saturn Gas Turbine Alternator

The standard Bell System emergency power source, deployed 1963-1966.

Descriptive Brochure

Cutaway drawing of engine

Coaxial Cable Technology

Television Networks

Miscellaneous

Updated on November 15, 2011 at 23:47 by Albert LaFrance