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--- facilities:military:cheyenne_mountain_complex [2026-04-04 21:52] – J. B. Crawford
+++ facilities:military:cheyenne_mountain_complex [2026-04-04 22:49] (current) – J. B. Crawford
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 Because of CMC's importance as a military control center, and its hardened design, it had multiple redundant connections to AUTOVON and the general telephone network. These included microwave hops directly from north and south microwave sites, and two L-1 coaxial cables.
-CMC is sometimes described as having a "ring" of facilities around it for redundancy, a common strategy for both the military and AT&T. These facilities were not all coaxial; CMC's two coaxial cables connected it to one coaxial transcontinental and one microwave station. Microwave links would complete a ring.
 ^ Destination ^ Direction ^ Carrier |
@@ Line 22: / Line 20: @@
 | [[facilities/microwave/beulah|Beulah CO]] | | TD-2? |
 | [[facilities:radio:corral_bluff|Corral Bluffs CO]] | | TD-2 |
+==== "Ring" Network ====
+A [[https://coldwar-c4i.net/CMC/BLR1065/387.html|1965 BLR article]] describes CMC as surrounded by a ring of microwave sites for redundancy, called the "Close-in Automatic Route Restoral System." It's surprisingly difficult to match up this "ring" with known sites, perhaps beacuse of changes over the years. CMC is depicted in the article as having four coaxial cables and two microwave paths linking it to this ring. We know the two microwave paths (to Beulah and Calhan) and two of the coaxial cable (to Boone and Westcreek), but two of the cables remain unidentified. They head west from the site, rather than east like the other connections, at least if the simplified map is to be trusted.
+That said, the article says "eventually" and describes only two of the spokes as operational. That suggests that the two unexplained spokes may have simply never been constructed. Similarly, the outer "ring" routes may not have been completed, since the existing microwave sites do not quite form a ring.
+It is an interesting detail that CARRS is described as supporting 600 message channels and a two-way monochrome video channel.
 ==== Coaxial ====
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 CMC had a second L-1 cable that ran through the mountains to the [[facilities/microwave/westcreek|Westcreek, CO]] microwave station, where it terminated and exchanged traffic onto microwave routes. I have located one likely repeater on this route, which is of a different design than those on the route to Lamar but has the expected style of ROW markers on each side. The distance from Westcreek to CMC is small enough that no main power station was needed (like Boone on the other cable), but it should have 3-4 repeater huts along the way depending on the route the cable takes (the distance, as the crow flies, is about 32 miles).
-The map here shows the route of the Westcreek cable as determined from 1969 aerial photos. Unfortunately, once the route reached the area where Colorado Springs was built up by the 1960s, it is no longer easy to follow. The cable may enter ducts where it passes through developed areas, or may be buried adjacent to roads. Since most of Colorado Springs has received significant redevelopment since the '60s, few of the ROW markers remain in place.
+The map here shows the route of the Westcreek cable as determined from 1969 aerial photos. Unfortunately, once the route reaches the area where Colorado Springs was built up by the 1960s, it is no longer easy to follow. The cable may enter ducts where it passes through developed areas, or may be buried adjacent to roads. Since most of Colorado Springs has received significant redevelopment since the '60s, few of the ROW markers remain in place.
 The Westcreek cable terminated at very basic facilities in the Westcreek microwave site, and Flickr user Ashley And Co [[https://www.flickr.com/photos/ashleyandcompany/3744558618/in/set-72157621644|has some photos]] of that end.