Pictures of Nome (Kenai, Kodiak, Bethel: home, college, living)

[Future Trooper]

Originally Posted by Лютый

We are waiting for you

I just have to finish growing up and finish my schooling and I will be up there in a flash!

[Лютый]

Originally Posted by gdude

I just have to finish growing up and finish my schooling and I will be up there in a flash!

it’s a deal

[blueflames50]

Originally Posted by gdude

I just have to finish growing up and finish my schooling and I will be up there in a flash!

deal!! when might that be??? if ya don't mind me ask'n.

[Future Trooper]

Originally Posted by blueflames50

deal!! when might that be??? if ya don't mind me ask'n.

about 6-7? or so years.

[Лютый]

Originally Posted by gdude

about 6-7? or so years.

Gdude, how old are you?

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by MeganAK

There are four of them- some kind of Reagan-Era cold war thing. It was used to bounce satellite or something. I can't remember. Some silly protect America from Russia thing that was really just an excuse to spend money on somthing dumb.

The White Alice Communications System was built in the early-mid 1950's by the USAF to provide communcations to short range radar stations called Air Control and Warning sites. AC&W radar sites were built around the entire perimeter of the United States. Note that the radar sites still exist, and just as in the 1950's they are the mainstay of the FAA's air traffic control system across the entire US. They are not now and never were a Cold War relic, and have always had a huge civilian benefit.

In the Lower-48 it was relatvely easy to connect sites using the existing Bell System microwave communications network. No such network existed in Alaska though.

In Alaska the original idea was to use HF radio, but that didn't work well and neither did the UHF radio system that replaced it. The over the horizon forward troposcatter radio systems installed for WACS were the latest technology, and after first being tried in Alaska it was also used by the US Military in Europe, in South East Asia, and on the down range tracking network for rocket launches from Cape Canaveral. Perhaps the most famous use though was for the DEWLINE, of long range radar sites across the northern edge of Alaska and across Canada all the way to Scotland.

The White Alice Communications System provided the first taste of a modern telephone system to most of Alaska. Even then it was grossly misunderstood though, and when the system was replaced in the 1970's the initial attempts were vastly under equipped. That continued to be a basic truth right up into the 1990's when the first fiber optic cable to the Lower-48 was installed. All along the way, each increase in capacity was put into place with the idea that it was great because it would reduce the cost, and the expected modest increase in capacity would eventually be used. In fact the results, each and every time, were a modest reduction in cost would bring about a huge increase in traffic and almost immediately overload the new facilities. (The first fiber optic cable was full in only 9 months!)

That pattern held true until after 1995, when GCI (a company that did not really have a background in the "regulated" telecom industry) stretched out and bought up every Cable TV and every Cell phone company they could, and became the dominant telecom company in Alaska. GCI has, since that time, shown a little more of an "if we build it they will come" attitude and much less of the "who's going to pay for it" that was traditional. (Alascom would look at a traffic study showing that 20 trunks to Bethel were in use 90% of the time, and decide they could add 5 more, in a year or two. What they needed was 300.)

[MeganAK]

THanks! Now I can actually know what I am talking about when people ask!!! Much appreciated.

[Лютый]

Megan, do any Russians live in Nome?

[Лютый]

Hello, Megan! Hello, everyone!
It's 8:33 AM, april 22 (Chukotka), 15F

[Future Trooper]

Originally Posted by Лютый

Gdude, how old are you?

16 and 10 months.