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

I saw microwave towers while cruising down highway 37 to and from the Texas coast. When I asked about them, I was told they were microwave towers for communication. No other details were given. Last time I saw the towers, the horns were gone and replaced with cell antennas.

I was an EDACS system tech for a few years near the end of its use in Public Safety in the County I live in. The microwave system was a pretty interesting 2ch system.

The wireless technology is taking another step with DTC direct to cell phone from the Elon Musk Star Link

I know where a tower is that’s. Been there since the early 1960’s.

I just wonder if we ever get smacked with another Carrington event, how tough would it be to fire up this system as a stopgap?

I would imagine the glass fiber itself would be immune to an emp attack.

So, microwaves are faster than a wired connection? I'm glad someone gets it. The proof is microwave ovens cook faster than conventional electric ovens.

Antonio Meucci invented the telephone. A.G. Bell stole it and he and his company capitalized on it. You know... thieves and liars. That part of history that sometimes gets missed.

I rember seeing these cones all over the place in the 80s and 90s. Wild..!

Marconi did not "build upon Tesla's work".

I find it funny. I and most of you are watching this on your phone. 😂😂

How funny, I saw one of these today and wondered what it was

Far from forgotten and many are currently in use.

Microwave transmission is still used a lot in South American countries

Why didn't they repurpose them for some sort of computer data?

i am glad you don't ruin everything by adding lies just to change or hype up the truth

There was a small one of those towers in my small rural town in the 1960s. It was around 60' high with small satellite dishes around it. It was on a small plot surrounded by an 8" chainlink fence and had a metal box that went into the ground. Growing up during the cold war we always thought it was a missle emplacement. Maybe it was one of these. 🤔

Why do low level folks have to tag everything?

I want to know what the first wireless words ever transmitted were

When I heard "electromagnet waves" I had visions of an electromagnet... physically moving attempting to make a wave.

Ok so you take 17 minutes to get to the subject and then you say it's abandoned, exactly what in your title. This was all a waste of my time.

I thought your information was very valuable about the history of communication. I was in electronics maintenance in the Marine Corps in the early 80s. I enjoyed your content. I saw one of those towers vacant standing in Illinois and I wondered about it. That was a couple years back. I think it was a microwave tower. Thanks.

And vacume tubes made wired long distance calls possible

You have not covered the military uses of this network. They were an essential part of the Cold War command and control system. A substantial part of the bandwidth was for DOD.

Wonderful! Thanks Ryan!

AT&T got rid of 1942 towers in 2000. Many of them are abandoned.

Nothing better than fiber directly to the home!

Many of your illustrations are very good--especially the antique pictorials--however, much of the open wire is of power distribution, not communications open wire. Some of the earliest articles about AT&T's microwave systems originated in 1940, including a proposed microwave station illustration. Microwave is line of sight and this was the basis of some very interesting (and humorous) stories of its use.

I've never heard the term "Skyway" when referring to this network. Why have I heard the name "Long lines" when others referred to it?

Morse didn't realize what he invented. With a little more research. He could have Invented the phone before Bell was even Born.

Community bonds were strengthened.

I'm a Radio Communications technician part time in California, I see these Long Lines all over the place on many sites I work, many of them were taken down and replaced with MotoTRBO system on DMR, also Ham Radio Operators also placed their systems in the same tower that AT&T had.
On Mount Diablo, the whole site of Long Lines were all removed and replaced with some more DMR systems and P-25 Digital systems.
I believe they removed them on Diablo in 1999.

I work at one of these locations, in IA

You didn't answer why they're still standing.

Eerie is exactly the right word to use. I was hiking through the Arizona desert and came across one, the closer I got, the stranger I felt.

…not so distant future Cellular Towers will follow suit

A side note for you, the toll free 800 area code resulted from a military contract with AT&T to provide secure high-speed communications between bases. The deal was the military paid for all 800 numbers but only used a set potion of them, and the leftover numbers could be used by AT&T as they chose, thus the 1-800 toll free system is (or was) military subsidized.

Tesla was recognized as the inventor of radio by the US supreme Court.

Can I have one to build a home out of? I will pay for the paperwork to own. In as contract put $10-$15k into the structure for 10 years.

It’s really quite simple why these structures are still out there, it costs too much to take them down.

Alexander Graham Bell did not invent the telephone. He stole the invention from an Italian immigrant, who had tried to sell the concept to Bell Labs.

The tall tower in the middle of Norwalk CT still stands, but one wonders if its rental for a few cell antennas can pay for its maintenance costs in the long run. Maybe too expensive to take down.

I live between 2 towers(well they’re more of buildings). One is just south of Burlington, IL(across the street from their high school) and the other just east of Monroe Center, IL.

Communist propaganda.

Construction projects don’t get “forgotten”.

Those towers were built by a corporation who is responsible for their removal.

AT&T has one of these in Spring Tx, along i-45 just around beltway 8 north. Not sure of any other location though in the Houston Area (19507 N Fwy Service Rd)

I thought these were known as AT&T Long Lines. There's still a tower in San Jose where I used to live on top of what the locals call Communications Hill.