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OSU pics page 3... The satellite antenna farm.
All photographs on this page were taken in December, 1979.
While probably not big on the list of places to see on The Ohio State University campus for most folks, this facility always held a great personal fascination. Built in the early 1960s on a field next to the Electro-Science Lab in the West Campus area of OSU, this "antenna farm" was used for satellite communication research while it was still a relatively young technology.
It's this writer's understanding that this site has been refitted as a Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) facility to help replace the OSU "Big Ear" radio telescope that fell to suburban sprawl in Delaware County, north of Columbus, Ohio.
>>> For those who are interested in learning more about it, a group of individuals who have either had a past connection to the Big Ear facility or simply wish to keep its memory alive have put up a very informative Internet resource called the Big Ear Memorial Website . <<<
Smack in the middle of an OSU research farm field, this provided an interesting contrast between high-tech and nature. One should keep in mind this satellite antenna facility was built long before satellite dishes were considered common.
A bit more detailed view. Notice the old bucket truck parked behind the small dish to provide scale. It's this writer's understanding that the four larger satellite dish antennas could be arrayed, or phased, together to act as one dish with an effective performance of a dish with greater area than the sum of the four. These dishes were all steerable, or able to be aimed in both elevation and horizontal direction.
This might have made a cool cover photo for 1960s science fiction novel, or something.
DFH photos.
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