Microwave Relay Cold War Transmission Stations

"This is a map of the 1960s era AT&T Long Lines microwave relay network. Hundreds of hardened sites were built atop mountains with massive microwave equipment, some designed to withstand a nuclear war."

Google Earth Map Mashup showing towers and facilities.

Microwave Radio Transmission Stations.

Pdf of Microwave Radio Relay Site.

Wired Story on these sites.

Atlantic Story on Kansas Microwave Relay sites.

The Microwave Radio and Coaxial Cable Networks

of the Bell System website. 

Drgibson website on the towers and facilities.

Spencer Harding book documenting 70 sites. 

America's Cold War Infrastructure website. 


Coldwarcomms website: "The nationwide systems of microwave radio repeaters and coaxial cable facilities built between the end of World War II and divestiture in 1984.  Special interest is in aspects of the network that supported government and military communications during the cold war, especially nuclear protected facilities.  Other related or interesting information on communications systems, facilities, bunkers, and such may also be found here."


"A network of 107 microwave towers designed to transmit telephone and television signals nationwide. The system took three years to build, and the first call was placed on August 17, 1951. But just as microwaves replaced wires, fiber optics eventually replaced microwaves, and AT&T's giant towers were abandoned."

"Long Lines, AT&T’s division for long-distance communication networks, built out a massive microwave radio network starting in 1951. At the time, it was the first large-scale microwave-transmission network for telephony and broadcast, and it would be expanded a ton over the next few decades. But by the time the Internet rose to prominence, the technology was pretty outdated and couldn't carry the kind of bandwidth that fiber-optic cable could carry. AT&T sold off most of the towers in the late 1990s."

"Built to last: The Microwave towers were used for both civil and government communications. They were mostly built in the 50s and early 60s, and moved the Bell System'slong-distance communications off of copper wires for a large part of the network. Some communications went over transcontinental cables, others over microwave links. The buildings supporting the towers were hardened against a nuclear blast, and some of them in high-danger areas were underground. The towers themselves were engineered to withstand all but a close (within 5 miles) blast. The microwave horns were covered with a protective shield to keep out not only the elements, but also radioactive fallout. The buildings were shielded with copper to protect the equipment against the Electromagnetic Pulse associated with a nuclear explosion. Foot-thick concrete walls protected the vital electronics and people inside the base installations of these towers. Thick copper grounds went deep into the bedrock beneath each tower. Fallout showers, backup generators, sleeping facilities all existed to keep the network up in times of war."


Downtown Little Rock ATT building showing microwave antennae.



Here is a link to ATT telephone buildings and exchanges.

Another website that links to older central telephone offices.