RCAF Station Edgar / CFS Edgar

RCAF Station Edgar / CFS Edgar was built in 1953 as part of the Pinetree Line radar defence network; as both a Ground-Control Intercept station and an Early Warning Detection station.  It was sold to the Province of Ontario and turned into the Edgar Adult Occupational Centre, which closed in 1999.    Latest reports suggest that a developer bought the land in 2011 for $2500, has leveled all the buildings, and will build 82 houses on the site.  

When I eventually visit I expect I'll be severely disappointed with what I see at the site.

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Nipigon Gap Filler Annex

Nipigon, Ontario
Located 14 Kilometres off the pavement, West of Nipigon, on the top of a hill, is likely where the Nipigon Gap Filler Annex was located.  There is at least one active antenna tower on the site today, and therefore the access road must be in good enough condition for maintenance crews to pass.  It's hard to judge the condition of the entire road without visiting the site, or knowing if there is a "farm gate" blocking vehicular access. 

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Belleterre GFA

Belleterre, Quebec
Belleterre is a community originally based on a gold rush.  While the mine closed down decades ago, it seems with the higher price of Gold renewed interest in the previously uneconomical veins has been rekindled.  I'm not sure if the mine is active today, or if they're still looking for the best vein to explore.
The geology is less interesting to me than the location of a Gap Filler Site, 50% constructed by ~1963, on a nearby mountain top.  Local reports indicate the foundations remain, potentially some original telephone poles, and some of the original perimeter fence.  The location is still used for antennas today, and the satellite photos show two buildings standing (as well as something in the woods to the East...)

Belleterre Gap Filler Annex

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Manitouwadge Gap Filler Annex

Manitouwadge, ON
From the satellite and available photos I'm not sure what is left of the Manitouwadge GFA.  There looks like there is a well maintained road and a modern antenna on the top of the hill, so I assume the road is used actively for maintenance of the gear which is still up there, and should be passable. Manitouage was never completed, but it's positioning was attractive to future communications needs, and now has some kind of commercial tower at the location.  This is very handy for me, as the road needs to have a degree of maintenance for crews to service the tower.

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Algonquin Park GFA

Based in Algonquin Park, just off Highway 60, lies another gap filler annex.  Easy to get to, I believe it's being used for a communications tower, of some sort, from the most recent satellite imagery.  I haven't been to the location to confirm that the buildings are indeed of the right vintage, but it's highly likely this is where the GFA was located.


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Canadian North Warning System Locations

The North Warning System is the current ground based radar system, watching Canada's and Alaska's Northern border.  Wikipedia has a very complete entry for the NWS, but I have tried to keep the number of sites on the map below limited to those which are active currently and on Canadian soil.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Warning_System

The map (previously posted) of the Mid-Canada Line was in some ways easier to post.  There was so little information, there was no duplication.  The North Warning System locations, on the other hand, are a little more fuzzy on the map, and the information is hard to validate from multiple competing sources.  Some of the current NWS sites were DEW Line stations, and some DEW stations were decommissioned and never reactivated.

According to Nasittuq, the contractor which takes care of running and resupplying the radar stations, 11 AN/FPS-117 Long Range Radars and 36 AN/FPS-124 Short Range Radars make up the current perimeter.

AN/FPS-117 SEEK IGLOO

Photo courtesy of Nasittuq
(No idea which site this is; Similar to CAM-3 Shepherd Bay)

Year Fielded: 1980
Manufacturer: General Electric
T/R Modules: 292 modules 
Exact Frequency: 1215 – 1400 MHz
 IEEE Band: L Band 
NATO Band: D Band 
Maximum Range: 200 to 250 nautical miles 
MTBF: 1,076 hour specification (original) 
Peak Power: 29 kW (with 100 W Peak Power T/R Modules) 
Average Power: 5.2 kW (with 100 W Peak Power T/R Modules) 
Scan Rate: 5 rpmDuty Cycle: 18% 
Pulse Width: 51.2 / 409.6 μS 
PRF (PPS): 241
 Antenna Gain: 38.6 dBi
Notes: Unmanned 3-D Phased Array Azimuth, Range, and height finding radar that replaced the DEW Line in conjunction with the AN/FPS-124. It can select between 18 randomly selected channels within its frequency band to counter jamming.http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Radar/FPS_Series.htm

AN/FPS-124

Photo courtesy of Nasittuq
(FOX-4 Cape Hooper?)

IEEE Band: L Band
NATO Band: D Band (1215 – 1400 MHz)  
Minimum Range: 2 miles 
Maximum Range: 70 miles 
Maximum Altitude: 15,000 ft
Notes: Unmanned doppler radar that replaced the DEW Line in conjunction with the AN/FPS-117.http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Radar/FPS_Series.htm




 

The map is a work in progress and I will likely update it as better imagery becomes available.



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Extracted from a PDF, converted to PS, then saved as a PNG, this is the best map I could find of the NWS locations. 
Thank you Nasittuq!

Photo courtesy of Nasittuq
(Pretty sure that's LAB-2 Saglek)

Sources:

• The Air Defense Radar Veterans Association
• Wikipedia
• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
• Nasittuq (Link)
• http://www.alternatewars.com/BBOW/Radar/FPS_Series.htm

CFS Chibougamau and GATR Site

I've heard Chibougamau mentioned on the 6 o'clock news when I was a child, while we ate dinner.  At the time had no idea where it was.  Well, now I not only know where it is, I also know there was a Pinetree Line station there!  Sounds like a good reason for a road trip.  The government has already cleaned up the property, unfortunately, so there doesn't look like there will be much to take pictures of.  At the very least it'll be one more Pinetree Line station off my bucket list.  CFS Chibougamau was built later than the initial Pinetree Line stations to fill in gaps in radar coverage in Northern Quebec.
The red circle on the map below show where the operations site was on top of Mount Bourbeau and to the East the GATR site near Lac Cummings on top of Mont Cummings.  Judging from recent satellite photos, it seems the previous site of the GATR site has been repurposed, and an independent secondary surveillance radar (ISSR) has been built where, or near where, the GATR stood.  I'm unsure if the concrete block GATR building was demolished or re-purposed.

I have not yet taken a trip to Chibougamau yet, but hope to in 2014.

CFS Chibougamau and GATR Site
Courtesy of The Atlas of Canada

CFS Chibougamau Operations Site

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CFS Chibougamau GATR Site:

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Falher, Alberta - Mid-Canada Line POL Site

Back in the mid-1950s to mid-1960s the town of Falher, Alberta was used as a supply point for moving Petroleums, Oils and Lubricants (POL) to two stations of the Mid-Canada Line (MCL).  The rail runs through Falher, and rail was the most efficient way to get supplies to the Northernmost reaches of Canada which didn’t have ocean access.

Location of Mid Canada Line Sites near Alberta
Courtesy of Larry Wilson - http://www.lswilson.ca/

MCL Site 830 and MCL Site 833 were part of the MCL radar "fence", and were likely run off Diesel generators.  Supplies such as fuels and lubricants for remote locations of the Mid-Canada Line
had to be flown in by helicopter, but where possible supplies would be trucked.  I have no information to confirm this, but considering roads were in existence around Falher, I have no reason to believe MCL Site 830 and MCL Site 833 were overly difficult to reach by road, so why would expensive helicopter time be used?  MCL Site 830 was southeast of Falher, toward High Prairie, Alberta, and MCL Site 833 was southwest of Falher toward Sexsmith, Alberta.  The exact location where MCL Site 830 or MCL Site 833 were, I'm not entirely sure of.  We can assume the fence would have been placed at relatively high points, and they would have been staggered ~30 miles apart.  Drawing a straight line between Falher and Sexsmith, and Falher and High Prairie we can see the MCL sites would have been south of that arbitrary line.

Credit: The Atlas Of Canada

From the open-source satellite imagery available, the railroad spurs and sidings can be clearly seen.  However, no discernible military or contractor related unloading depot can be identified, by me anyway.  Considering railroad design, unloading would ahve been done on a spur or siding.  Using Google Street View I can see several grain silos, but off hand I do not see any buildings or artefacts that might suggest a previously military use.

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I'd like to know where the Falher POL Site was, if it was ever remediated for PCB or other hydrocarbon contamination, and know if there were any buildings built when it was being used as a POL site, or if existing buildings were just repurposed for that time period.

Also, if you know the locations of MCL Site 830 or MCL Site 833, I'd like to know where they were also!

If anything is still at either the location of MCL Site 830 or 833, it's highly unlikely that the building is intact, or the antenna(s).  The antennas, if present, would be lying down, where they were laid to rest when the site was decommissioned around 1964.  However, if anything was there - I'd really like to get a picture of the remains of the facilities and surrounding area.