Why America's Forgotten Microwave Skyway Network is still standing | Abandoned

Get a 7-day free trial and 25% off Blinkist Annual Premium by clicking here: www.blinkist.com/itshistory

The title of this video promised us one thing: “Why America's Forgotten Microwave Skyway Network is still standing.” And after having watched a video which spends 18 minutes reviewing the history of communications, we still don’t know.

As somebody who to this day works on microwave networks.....these are still in use by hundreds of entities in the US alone. They are used in places where laying fiber optic cables would be cost prohibitive or is flat out not allowed (through national parks, etc). This equipment is still manufactured and progressing and is now capable of supporting speeds up to 10Gbps.

When I was born in 1961, Dad took a job with a team that service, upgraded, and installed new Skyway towers. It was one of several teams. Teams had to live in travel trailers of a maximum length, so they could drive in any state by day or night. We were always moving from one tower to another. The teams became VERY close knit. Even after Dad quit when I started school, he kept in touch with old team members for decades.

I worked for a WISP before owning my own. We used one of these in a rural South Louisiana area. Truly remarkable how NO expense was spared in every facet. I had the pleasure of talking for 45minutes with an older Gent that managed this Long Lines Site. These were an overlooked factor in this Nation's infrastructure.

I'm curious where you found the term "Skyways"? Every website and document I've ever seen on the AT&T microwave network referred to them as the "Long Lines".

As someone who worked at MCI for a number of years, I can appreciate this video. However, there was no mention of MCI. Who contributed much to microwave communications. They also won their case against AT&T, thereby breaking up that monopoly. Also, no mention of Hedy Lamarr, whose work contributed to telecommunications.

As a member of the analog age I can attest that making a phone call 40 years ago was almost exactly the same as today on your pocket computer. We just had to remember the numbers and dial them

I was a radio engineer for APS in Arizona back in 1967 after I got out of the USAF. We still used tubes then, but over several years converted to transistor equipment. The old tube equipment was made by RCA and called CW-20 microwave relay. Our system ran all over the state on the mountain tops. You really had to know a lot of different things like snowshoeing and climbing towers (280 ft). Back then we worked by ourselves which was a little dangerous, things have changed a lot now.

a few notes-  AT&T sold all of their towers, including cell. Many of these are retrofitted with cell antennas. Many were built to withstand hurricanes, power outages and floods so they will likely still be around for 50 more years. MCI started off as Microwave Communications, INC and also had network of these. Microwaves are point-to-point, so the curvature of the earth limits their distance depending on height of dishes (which reduces reliability), elevations of site and of course anything in the way, even trees.

The horn antennas shown at 10:45, 11:13 and 11:33 did collect microwave transmissions, however, these were used for astronomy and satellite communications, not for early terrestrial communications experiments. The one shown at 10:45 is the Holmdel Horn Antenna in NJ which is now a national landmark. It was instrumental in the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) which is a key piece of supporting evidence of the Big Bang theory

Everything you said is true, but you missed a detail. Marconi's 1901 transmission was transatlantic, but it did not originate in Newfoundland. It originated in Wellfleet, MA on Cape Cod where Marconi build his station to send radio messages across the Atlantic. Newfoundland was suppose to just be a relay station, but when the message was first sent it was found to be going directly to Cornwall and bypassing the Newfoundland station.

Ps: Kudos to this comment section, it has tons of information on these towers not covered by Ryan. Good Work Guys! 👍

Railway semaphores weren't used in the way that is suggested in the video, as in sending individual letters to be decoded further down the line. The telegraph, once it was introduced, was used to transmit complex native-language messages, initially via morse code. Railway semaphore signals were more equivalent to street traffic lights. They were signals to the train drivers to tell them the status of the track ahead of them and had only a few aspects that roughly equate to Stop, Caution and Go. Generally, there was one pole for each track approaching the signal gantry, with multiple semaphore arms for tracks that had points for diverging routes.

The horn antenna at 11:24 doesn’t and never did have anything to do with communications or telephone. It is a horn antenna at the Green Bank Observatory in Green Bank, WVA and was used for radio astronomy purposes. It was used to detect clouds of hydrogen in outer space. It is still there, but hasn’t been used for many years (like most of the rest of their antennas). Last time I walked up to the horn, it was covered in overgrown vegetation and simply rotting away. 😩

these were also known and the long lines and they were used more than just for phones they were also used in the broadcasting industry too for news and the government also used these as back up comms. Also the majority of these sites had bunkers for the equipment that was bomb proof. As far as I know there is a tower in the St Cloud mn area as well as the one on top of the Qwest building in downtown Mpls.

I still don't know how you didn't say the words "Long Lines" once in this video.

Microwave transmissions are still used in the telecommunications systems in the USA today. My own office has to separate microwave links on the roof at two different frequency bands which provides our internet and phone connections to the outside world. Many cell towers are connected to the rest of the world via microwave, especially in rural areas. And for awhile we were using microwave-linked Aerostats (blimps) for cell and internet service on Fort Myers Beach after Cat 5 Hurricane Ian completely destroyed the phone & cable cos in the area.

The “operator “ on Rowan and Martin Laugh In. Ernestine “One Ringy dingy. Two ringy dingies.”

Actually lots of these tower are still in use. It's for rural wireless internet providers.