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Chappell-Nebraska
Photos of the Chappell Nebraska site by Jim Hebbeln.

Chappell-NE-E1
Chappell-NE-E comb ntwk This shows the four rectangular waveguides (coming from the radios in the building) being combined into one round waveguide up to the antenna horn. I believe the larger waveguides carry the 4 GHz signals, which have a longer wavelength, and the smaller waveguides carry the 6 Ghz signals with a shorter wavelength.
Chappell-NE-fiber sign1 These pictures show that an AT&T ?FTA? fiber cable runs into the building. I suspect that FTA represents only a type of cable (fiber), and not a route description.
Chappell-NE-fiber sign2 These pictures show that an AT&T ?FTA? fiber cable runs into the building. I suspect that FTA represents only a type of cable (fiber), and not a route description.
Chappell-NE-NE This is looking southwest. The horns facing at the camera are aimed at Ogallala.
Chappell-NE-NO The camera is using a 135mm telephoto lens which is aimed south at Chappell about 1.5 miles away. I took this picture to show the band of hills on the gray horizon which form the south ?rim? of the South Platte River valley, which is about ten miles south of Chappell. The original Julesburg repeater tower was located atop one of those hills, but the actual site is probably hidden behind the new Chappell site.
Chappell-NE-SE tower I found the Chappell tower construction interesting as the top platform is rotated 45 degrees from the square foundation of the tower. The transition starts near the lower horns where red paint changes to white. The four-legged tower becomes an eight-legged structure and eventually evolves into the rotated platform.
Chappell-NE-SW This picture is looking northeast. The antennas pointed at Peetz (West Southwest) are up high; the Sunol route horns are lower. The horns on the far side are aimed east to Ogallala.
Chappell-NE-SE The camera is looking NW. The sun came out and my polarizing filter works better at this angle from the sun. This picture should make AT&T PR proud.
Chappell-NE-SO The camera is looking north. The red truck with trailer is driving west on US Highway 30 toward Sidney. The top antennas point left (WSW) to Peetz, and right (E) to Ogallala. The lower left antennas point to Sunol, NE.
Chappell-NE-SO-antbulge This picture looking north shows that the fiberglass covers of the Sunol route horns are slightly bulging outward. This is an indicator that the waveguide dehydrator (air dryer) is actively providing a positive airflow into the waveguide/antenna. This could mean that the antennas are in use. Perhaps AT&T retrofitted a digital microwave system (DR-6?) to service the DMS-100/200 digital switching systems in Sidney and Scottsbluff. I suspect that these sites then feed out of the fiber cable routing into/through Chappell.

This album has 11 items in total    |    Album was updated 9/6/04 7:00 PM 


Info:
August 03, 2004

Chappell, NE, (I am guessing that's the name as it's too new for the 1975 maps) was erected around 1980 and replaced the original Julesburg, CO, tower which was 4-5 miles south of Julesburg next to US Highway 385. The Julesburg site was part of the original transcontinental radio relay route, but its tower was removed after this new junction tower was built about 7 miles north of Julesburg.

The 1950 Julesburg site was moved/abandoned as the Peetz-Julesburg radio route was almost exactly east and west. This resulted in crosstalk interference problems with microwave radio frequencies used by communications satellites placed in geosynchronous earth orbit in the 1970's. Apparently, the Peetz and Julesburg receivers were picking up signals from the satellites, or noising up the satellites' reception, or both. The towers are located at about the 102nd West Longitude, I assume the affected satellites were located 90 degrees east and west of there at 12 West Longitude (eastern Atlantic Ocean) and 192 W. Longitude (actually 168 E. Longitude) - midway between California and the Pacific Rim countries.

The new tower is actually located ten miles east of Chappell, Nebraska, on the north side of U.S. Highway 30 ? or three miles north-northeast of Nebraska Exit 95 on I-80.

The newer Chappell tower maintained the original transcontinental links between the Ogallala (east) and Peetz (west southwest) sites, but also provided a route west to Sunol (milepost 64 on I-80) which then points northwest (Scottsbluff, NE and beyond?).

Chappell appears to still be in operation: There is an addition on the west end of the building; an AT&T fiber optic route sign exists next to Highway 30 south of the building; the air conditioning compressors are operating; and the fiberglass antenna covers are bulging slightly outward ? an indicator that the dehydrator is injecting dry air into the waveguides and antennas. For sure, the routes to Peetz, CO, and Ogallala are removed from service, but the route to Sunol could still be in service to Sidney and Scottsbluff, NE. Qwest operates a DMS-100/200 in Sidney. The independent telco in Scottsbluff (Sprint Local?) operates a Nortel Networks DMS?100/200/TOPS Local/Toll/Operator switching system to serve their Wyoming/Nebraska towns.

Other Related Histories: Chappell sits on US Highway 30, which is also known as the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway. The highway is parallel to - and often just 100-200? feet away from - the Union Pacific?s transcontinental railroad across most of Nebraska and Wyoming. Interstate 80 now runs parallel to that. The Oregon Trail preceded the railroad. The original 1913 transcontinental long distance lines passed this way, and the subsequently built route with little red brick ?K? repeater huts also ran parallel. (The K-hut route is about a mile or so from Chappell Junction, if I remember correctly.) The transcontinental radio relay system follows US Highways 6 & 30. I wouldn?t be at all surprised to find AT&T?s fiber routes in the same K-hut Right Of Way. I do know that there is an AT&T fiber route along the highway/railroad ROW from Julesburg to Denver. This may likely connect into Chappell.