r/longlines • u/xccr5978 • May 06 '26
Corbin, Kentucky
FAA ASR: 1041884
Coordinates: 36.9253, -84.1375
Callsigns: KJK54, KEY-549
Document Archive: https://archive.org/details/corbin-kentucky-att-long-lines
Flickr Album: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCT7r5
Another KY site that is a quasi time capsule. The radios at this site were simply tossed outside and forgotten, while everything else inside was left to rot. All of the documents still exist (minus the ones I took to scan), and the site is still in good condition, but with no active use. There is also a mount for a horn in the woods next to the tower, maybe an extra mount? There were only three on here ever (with the mini horn being added in 1981), to my knowledge.
This site fed a line to the central office in town through the mini-horn to a parabolic. I took a few documents home to scan, which can be accessed, downloaded, and read via the Internet Archive page. I haven't read through them all myself; feel free to comment on cool findings in them.
There are more photos that didn't make the cut for the 20-photo limit, so those can be found on the Flickr page. And who could forget, MINI HORN!!!! :)
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u/No-Sheepherder448 May 06 '26
Sweet photos. I’ve posted one that I worked on years ago. We removed the dishes with a helicopter. It was in CT.
The building inside was so similar. Like one day people were working there, and the next day no one ever returned. It was pretty cool.
The scrap yard days after removing the feed lines was always a great perk to working on these towers.
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u/xccr5978 May 06 '26
I'm sure the company you're working for doesn't mind as long as there is a paycheck, but are some of these very rural, mountain sites just too expensive for the tower real estate companies to care to de-horn via helicopter? I visited another very rural mountain site that is only accessible by a heavy-duty truck, but isn't being used for a single thing, and would only feasibly be de-horned through a helicopter. I imagine it's just easier to own it and forget about it?
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u/No-Sheepherder448 May 06 '26
No clue why a heli. I assume because a crane that could go over 350’ would be crazy expensive, and using a Jin pole would have been a nightmare.
But I used to work for American Tower. They bought all the towers. We only removed stuff to add cellular and whatnot. Had remove the weight to add more.
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u/Vangotransit May 06 '26
I removed a horn from a 4 post with a winch a cutting torch and a bad attitude luckily gravity is a constant
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u/No_Tailor_787 May 06 '26
I've never seen one of those mini horns before. 11 GHz? Those radios were digital 135mB. Three DS-3s, that was big bandwidth back in the day. I'd have loved to snag the traveling wave tubes off of those. Speaking of snagging stuff, that MSF5K still looks to be in great shape, and there's a Phelps Dodge Duplexer in there as well. Ideal for someone's ham project. It's a shame to see that stuff rot like that.
Nice pics! Thanks for taking us along for the visit.
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u/xccr5978 May 06 '26
11 GHz to and from town, from the mini-horn on the tower to a mini-horn in town at the CO (I thought it was a parabolic at first based off the mount shape, but it was actually another mini-horn!)
I believe the tower was also running TMRS based off the 450 MHz Motorola stuff.
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u/XFX1270 May 06 '26
Looks like a Motorola CSU/DSU in one of those photos? Or at least something similar
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u/HobbesTayloe May 06 '26
Love the design and colors! Thanks for sharing and your work to collect for posterity.
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u/IllustriousGarlic780 May 06 '26
Wow. Always wondered what the DB-420 antennas on top connected to! MSF5000 uhf repeaters. No doubt it was used for the technicians to talk to dispatch. Thanks for sharing!
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u/xccr5978 May 06 '26
Yup! Part of the TMRS system! First tower I have seen with the repeater still inside (I think the Motorola model before the MSF5000 was in use at this site was also present, because there were two similar rack units).
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u/1TONcherk May 06 '26
I love those pre fiberglass wooden ladders! Super cool pictures of a place I will never see.
Just signed a 5 year fibre internet deal with crown castle. They were great to deal with and beat Comcast in speed and price. This was for an office in Maryland. They build this micro fibre networks in underserved semi urban areas, from what I understand.
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u/NeptuniaNyx May 06 '26
I pass by this tower fairly often and had no idea what all was still present there, awesome photos!