This is a list of White Alice Communications System sites. The

White Alice Communications System The White Alice Communications System (WACS, "White Alice" colloquially) was a United States Air Force telecommunication network with 80 radio stations constructed in Alaska during the Cold War. It used tropospheric scatter for over-the-horizon li ...

(WACS) was a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

link system constructed in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. It featured

tropospheric scatter Tropospheric scatter, also known as troposcatter, is a method of communicating with microwave radio signals over considerable distances – often up to and further depending on frequency of operation, equipment type, terrain, and climate facto ...

links and line-of-sight microwave radio links.

Original White Alice installations

These sites were part of the initial White Alice system and connected Aircraft Control and Warning (AC&W) sites with central command and control facilities. The Boswell Bay to Neklasson Lake link was both the first and last operational link in the White Alice system, serving from 1956 to 1985.

Tropospheric scatter sites

Microwave sites

Dual Tropo/Micro

Note: There were Tropo Billboards at Soldotna (co-located with the TD2) and at Fire Island, as well. Also, There was a TD-2 site at what is now the Civil Air Patrol Wing Headquarters on Elmendorf AFB—it was called R2N. And, there is a TD-2 site at Rabbit Creek, that was originally, and briefly, called R1S, which linked into the TD-2 site at Naptowne. *Est. indicates location unclear from USGS topo

The BMEWS Network

The second segment of White Alice was a pair of TD-2 microwave radio links that supported the

Ballistic Missile Early Warning System The RCA 474L Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS, "474L System", Project 474L) was a United States Air Force Cold War early warning radar, computer, and communications system, for ballistic missile detection. The network of twelve ra ...

(BMEWS) at

Clear Air Force Station Clear Space Force Station is a United States Space Force radar station for detecting incoming ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missiles to NORAD's command center and to provide Space Surveillance data to the United States Space Force. Cle ...

. This section provided two routes from Alaska to

NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...

in Colorado, for this reason it was also known as the Rearward Communications System. The A Route went down the southeast coast of Alaska to a submarine cable and the B Route went east into Canada. Some of the systems were colocated with previous sites.

A Route

Aurora, Black Rapids, Boswell Bay, Cape Yakataga, Clear, Donnelly Dome, Duncan Canal, Glennallen, Harding Lake, Hoonah, McCallum, Murphy Dome, Neklasson Lake, Ocean Cape, Paxson, Pedro Dome, Sawmill, Sheep Mountain, Smuggler Cove, Tahneta Pass, Tolsona

B Route

Beaver Creek, Canyon Creek, Cathedral, Delta Junction, Gerstle River, Gold King Creek, Knob Ridge, Tok Junction

Project Stretchout sites

Project Stretchout began in 1959 and finished in the mid-1960s. It was the extension of White Alice to the

Alaska Peninsula The Alaska Peninsula (also called Aleut Peninsula or Aleutian Peninsula, ale, Alasxix̂; Sugpiaq: ''Aluuwiq'', ''Al'uwiq'') is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The ...

including the Aleutian

DEW Line The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the north coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska (see Proj ...

system.

Project Bluegrass sites

Extension of the White Alice system from Nikolski to Shemya near the end of the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...

. Both shots were over , requiring large antennas and 50 kW transmitters. Both sites were demolished before 1987. In addition to the Aleutian Island extension, Project Bluegrass also included a 50 kW shot from Fort Yukon to

Barter Island Barter Island is an island located on the Arctic coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, east of Arey Island in the Beaufort Sea. It is about four miles (6 km) long and about two miles (3 km) wide at its widest point. Until the late 19th ...

to connect the northern DEW line to the White Alice system.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of White Alice Communications System Sites Communications in Alaska History of telecommunications in the United States

White Alice The White Alice Communications System (WACS, "White Alice" colloquially) was a United States Air Force telecommunication network with 80 radio stations constructed in Alaska during the Cold War. It used tropospheric scatter for over-the-horizon l ...

Military installations in Alaska Political history of Alaska Telecommunications lists Telecommunications equipment of the Cold War