The Ebright Azimuth is the point with the highest benchmark monument elevation in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

. It is marked with a

geodetic Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...

benchmark monument and has an elevation of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. The only state high-point with a lower elevation is

Britton Hill Britton Hill is the highest natural point in the state of Florida, United States, with a summit elevation of above mean sea level. Britton Hill is the lowest state highpoint in the United States,

in the state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

at above sea level.

Description

The Ebright Azimuth is located about north of downtown Wilmington,

, in far northern

New Castle County New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex). As of the 2020 census, the population was 570,719, making it the most populous county in Delaware, with nearly 60% of the ...

, within a few feet of the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

state line. It is near Concord High School, to the north of Naamans Road, at the middle of the intersection of Ebright Road and Ramblewood Drive. This is an entrance to the Dartmouth Woods development. Surveying by Delaware Geological Survey personnel indicates that the mobile home park just west of Ebright Road is at least higher than the benchmark. Ebright Azimuth is named after James and Grant Ebright, who owned the property on which the benchmark was placed. An

azimuth An azimuth (; from ar, اَلسُّمُوت, as-sumūt, the directions) is an angular measurement in a spherical coordinate system. More specifically, it is the horizontal angle from a cardinal direction, most commonly north. Mathematicall ...

is an angular measurement in a spherical coordinate system. Since the schematic photograph was taken the blue and yellow monument sign has been moved across the street closer to the geodetic marker. A curb extension has been installed, and the area around the sign has been modestly landscaped.

Radio tower history

The self-supporting

radio tower Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made ...

just south of the benchmark was constructed in 1947 by

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...

as part of a historic C-band

microwave radio relay Microwave transmission is the transmission of information by electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the microwave frequency range of 300MHz to 300GHz(1 m - 1 mm wavelength) of the electromagnetic spectrum. Microwave signals are normally lim ...

system that linked

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

This site was assigned the name "Brandywine" in recognition of Brandywine Creek located several kilometers to the west and was licensed with the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

KGB29. Western Union's engineers specified a heavy-duty prefabricated

fire tower A fire lookout tower, fire tower or lookout tower, provides housing and protection for a person known as a " fire lookout" whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness. It is a small building, usually on the summit of a mountain or ...

structure, which allowed the microwave transmitters and receivers to be installed inside the cab. "Dish" antennas, mounted behind the window openings, were aimed towards the adjacent relay stations at Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, to the northeast, and Elk Neck near

Elkton, Maryland Elkton is a town in and the county seat of Cecil County, Maryland, Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,443 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It was formerly called Head of Elk because it sits at the head of na ...

, to the southwest. Like most of their early microwave relay sites, Western Union decommissioned the Brandywine installation near Ebright Azimuth as more-reliable broadband

fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate ...

systems were developed. The structure now supports several VHF and UHF

land mobile radio A land mobile radio system (LMRS) is a person-to-person voice communication system consisting of two-way radio transceivers (an audio transmitter and receiver in one unit) which can be stationary ( base station units), mobile (installed in vehicl ...

antennas.

References

External links

* {{U.S. State Highest Points Landforms of Delaware Landforms of New Castle County, Delaware Highest points of U.S. states

Description

Radio tower history

See also

References

External links