White Alice Communications System

Sites were characterized by large parabolic, tropospheric scatter antennas as well as smaller microwave dishes for point-to-point links.

For example, prior to White Alice only one phone call at a time could be placed from Nome to Fairbanks.

Communication improved after White Alice was installed, but even in the mid-1960s, Anchorage residents had to go to one location downtown to place a call to the lower 48.

[2] The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Alaska district surveyed and selected each one of the original sites.

The selection process required that survey teams test the propagation path by setting up communication towers at each remote site during winter months.

Since electricity was not available at the sites, diesel generators and fuel tanks had to be placed, and quarters for the technicians were also required.

The radio waves were scattered by the tropopause, returning to Earth beyond the horizon, allowing communication between stations hundreds of miles apart.

After 1970, WACS was transferred from Air Force control to RCA Alascom and served civilian use until the late 1970s, when it was superseded by satellite communication earth stations.

The last tropospheric link, from Boswell Bay to Neklasson Lake, was used until January 1985 to connect Middleton Island to the network.

Vandalism, unsafe conditions and environmental concerns caused the Department of Defense (DOD) to remove physical structures at the sites between the late 1980s to the early 2000s.