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facilities:cable:kingman_l-3i_underground

Kingman L-3I Underground

Like other L-3I main stations, this is an underground, hardened station. There is no microwave tower at Kingman, and it has not received any of the additional underground buildings common at some other L-3I stations. There is just the surface entry structure (in its original white and blue paint), ventilation, and a hoistway.

Built AT&T, early 1960s?
Callsign n/a
ASR n/a
Fate In use by Zayo fiber

During the L-3I era, Kingman functioned only as a power feed station.

A modern above-ground fuel tank, with fenced enclosure, has been added at some point. Nearby ROW markers suggest that the ROW has been reused for fiber, now owned by Zayo. There are few indications of use at the Kingman site but you can hear ventilation equipment running down the vent shafts, suggesting that it's still maintained for the fiber equipment.

An interesting detail of this site: it is connected via several one-pair aerial cables and a string of several poles to what appears to be an old open-wire route. Open-wire poles run for a short distance back towards Kingman before ending, wires hanging on the ground. A modern aerial cable was apparently also slung along these poles. There are indications (like an old unused messenger running between poles) that the exact way this was wired up had changed over time, but in any case, it seems that an old open-wire route to Kingman was reused to connect several telephone lines to the site. I have seen similar at other L-3I stations, I assume they were to provide a backup for service restoration work if the cable ever failed entirely… but another possibility is that this was installed after the L-3I was retired, for alarms on later fiber equipment. All of these cables are now cut where the open wire poles end.

Routes

Destination Direction Carrier
Seligman L-3I Underground East L-3I
Baker L-3I Underground West L-3I

License History

No license history per se for L-3I, but this segment was most likely abandoned along with the rest of the P-140 upgraded segment in the 1980s. This abandonment produced a fair amount of NEPA paperwork. Need to confirm that this site was included in that work.

Photos

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facilities/cable/kingman_l-3i_underground.txt · Last modified: by J. B. Crawford