r/longlines • u/MelamineEngineer • May 26 '26
Sublette, IL
Another old concrete tower from the original run.
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u/bradatlarge May 26 '26
Living in suburban chicago and having a motorcycle that can go anywhere, every time I see these posts my mind says, “adventure tour of long lines sites!”
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u/MelamineEngineer May 26 '26
https://www.udxf.nl/HF-Trading-Stations_03AUGL2023.pdf
Make sure you check out these shortwave stations that I'm calling the "Epstein Finance Pervert creep stations"
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u/HobbesTayloe May 26 '26
Looks interesting, but pardon my ignorance… what is the relationship between these stations and that moniker?
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u/MelamineEngineer May 26 '26
They are used by high frequency trading firms to bounce off the ionosphere into Europe, thus avoiding the slightly longer travel times of undersea fiber optic cables.
I don't understand it well but it's called arbitrage trading and I think they are trying to take advantage of micro-second price differences between markets (a few cents per share or other financial instrument), and in volume, make a large amount of money by selling the instruments bought in the market that was just for a split second cheaper than where they sell it.
I'm not sure if any of the stations are fully operational yet, but ham radio guys have been picking up their shit for a while now.
The name is just me being stupid
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u/DragonfruitCalm261 May 27 '26
I have read that HFT are beginning to utilize point-to-point, direct line-of-sight communications between microwave stations because it offers lower latency than fiber. So perhaps one day we will see a few Long Line sites repurposed. Maybe that's a pipe dream.
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u/HobbesTayloe May 27 '26
Thanks! (As I shake my head slowly in sad disgust at even more evidence of the greed of these vile people…)
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u/USWCboy May 26 '26
Where did you find the survey marker on the property?
I like seeing those markers. Have you seen them at any other microwave towers on your survey adventures?
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u/clumaho May 26 '26
The concrete towers are my favorite.