Donate $25 for two DVDs of the Cryptome collection of files from June 1996 to the present Natsios Young Architects 16 June 2002. For more on AUTOVON and a facility similar to the two described here: http://cryptome.org/eyeball/bighole/bighole-eyeball.htm 13 June 2002. From A: Here are some updated materials, "from Anonymous" The site is an old AT&T Autovon Switch bunker and antenna site with line of site hardened microwave system. AT&T still leases space for fiber optic runs, and the government still uses the facility for "special things". Mostly the site is a relic of the cold war with two foot thick concrete walls, multiple generators, and virtually blast proof. In the event of an attack on DC this is also one of the COG [continuity of government] sites, and several dozen people of the recall list would be housed here. 13 June 2002. Thanks to B, the facility appears to be similar to the former AT&T Troposcatter Relay Station Buckingham County, Virginia (maps and photos below): http://coldwardc.homestead.com/files/Buckingham/ 13 June 2002 Source: Color maps and photos: Mapquest.com; black and white photos: TerraServer USGS 5 April 1988 J. writes: As I was driving through Purcellville, VA a few weeks ago I stumbled across a large 4' x 4' brown/white AT&T sign. A little past the sign was a handpainted white/black sign that said something to the effect of "no trespassing". Inquisitive freak that I am, I drove up the road to discover a series of green steel mailboxes [like the USPS navy blue ones] and a sign that said something to the effect that "unauthorized persons would be prosecuted". The "persons" verbage was a little puzzling, so I did not drive any further. Further investigation into White Rock Road has revealed the following: [1] Aerial photos of the area show that the road was constructed to thwart attack. It begins straight up hill but then turns 180 degrees in the other direction. [2] Aerial photos of the facility show a helipad, a submerged facility, many dishes, and several large white buildings. See annotated aerial photo. [3] Cross reference of the address "White Rock Road" with real estate records reveals that former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright lives next to the facility. I believe I likely stumbled across a secret government-continuity facility. This facility is located 22.18 miles from Mount Weather, FEMA's main facility and not far from bunkers in Harper's Ferry, WV and Camp David.

Eyeballing the AT&T Troposcatter Relay Station

[More information and numerous photos at the web site.]

Situated atop Spears Mountain, about 11 miles west of the town of Buckingham in Virginia's rural Buckingham County, near the geographic center of the state, this nuclear-hardened radio communications facility was built by AT&T in the 1960s. It is no longer in service.

The station, named "Buckingham", was not a part of AT&T's commercial long-distance network; it existed solely to provide national-security communications. It was a relay point linking two similar, but larger and more elaborate installations in Virginia and North Carolina. The station used a radio technology known as "tropospheric forward scattering" (usually shortened to "troposcatter") to provide communications over distances greater than would be possible with conventional terrestrial microwave links.

The most prominent physical features at Buckingham are two prismoidal concrete structures, located in a cleared area at the top of the mountain, and visible from nearby roads. Recessed into the the north and south faces of these structures are metal "dish" reflectors roughly 30 feet in diameter. One reflector in each direction was for transmitting, and the other for receiving.

Each radio beam, outgoing or incoming, originated or terminated at a horn-type microwave antenna embedded in a concrete block near ground level in front of the corresponding reflector. Buckingham's only other known communications medium is a multi-pair aerial telephone cable.

The installation's other major structure is an underground building of undetermined size and configuration, covered by several feet of earth and entered through one or more doors in a concrete retaining wall. One of the entrances is located inside an auxiliary building, probably the site's security office, which abuts the retaining wall. An emergency exit door is built into the side of at least one of the reflector structures.