Old Radio / radar dishes on Umhlanga Ridge (1980's / 90's)

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trijonb

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Does anyone remember / know / have any photos of the old 'radar' / telecom dishes (there used to be x2 giant ones) which used to be visible on Umhlanga Ridge in Durban? We used to visit my grandmother out that way in the 1980's / 90's and i distinctly remember seeing x2 massive parabolic dishes on the ridge everytime we went out, but no one ever knew what they were for.

Does anyone know? were they anything other than telco related? recall they used to point out to see??

thanks in advance
cheers
 
Yeah, I remember them, a bit out towards Umdloti. As far as I know they were part of a military radar installation but I can't find anything on the interwebs about them.
 
Jehosefat said:
Yeah, I remember them, a bit out towards Umdloti. As far as I know they were part of a military radar installation but I can't find anything on the interwebs about them.
Click to expand...
yeah, thanks - i will check further out on google maps. perhaps i was looking too close to umhlanga. yeah, interesting, very hard to find anything about them, i cant even find a solitary picture on the internet - not one! thanks though, would be interesting to know what they were for / doing.

lots of interesting stuff happening behind the scenes in the 1980's militarily i am starting to realise.
 
issuu.com

eNongqai Vol 5 No 3

THE e-NONGQAI Un-official Police Gazette for VETERANS of the former South African Police Force and for those interested in the history of our Police, Defence and our National Security March 2014; Vol 5 No 3 DIE e-NONGQAI Nie-amptelike Polisiekoerant vir VETERANE van die ou Suid-Afrikaanse...
issuu.com issuu.com

Project Ebbehout. So secret, very few knew much about it. Intimately involved in the provision of circuits for those stations, plus technical support. Was one of the team of people who surveyed many of the sites. Actually quite surprised to find anything about it on the Internet.
 
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Geoff.D said:
issuu.com

eNongqai Vol 5 No 3

THE e-NONGQAI Un-official Police Gazette for VETERANS of the former South African Police Force and for those interested in the history of our Police, Defence and our National Security March 2014; Vol 5 No 3 DIE e-NONGQAI Nie-amptelike Polisiekoerant vir VETERANE van die ou Suid-Afrikaanse...
issuu.com issuu.com

Project Ebbehout. So secret, very few knew much about it. Intimately involved in the provision of circuits for those stations, plus technical support. Was one of the team of people who surveyed many of the sites. Actually quite surprised to find anything about it on the Internet.
Click to expand...
Shucks - thanks a lot man, yes, that's them. Thanks for sharing / finding that. Yeah, i guess thats what it was so hard to find out what they were , but they were large enough to see above the hill line, so they couldnt hide those dishes out of practicality.

So i guess the Durban Umhlanga part must have had interior (pointing up country) as well as outward (pointing out to sea) dishes. There were definitely a pair pointing out to see, so am guessing this was part of the Naval link, since the transmission distance was only a few hundred km's (according to your article), so they probably were'nt connecting to another country.

With the codename, its a bit easier to find pictures and some info.
 
The technology was originally proposed for use for international comms. SAPO at the time evaluated and concluded that it was not a feasible solution and not suitable to replace the HF comms setup. Consequently, it was recommended that the technology could very well be used as a thin route deployment for military applications.
The SADF/Police then took up the task, with SAPO providing MW links, and route planning and other circuits for the project. Ultimately the military and police deployed their own MW networks.

I have a copy of the technology evaluation report somewhere undertaken by SAPO.
 
Geoff.D said:
The technology was originally proposed for use for international comms. SAPO at the time evaluated and concluded that it was not a feasible solution and not suitable to replace the HF comms setup. Consequently, it was recommended that the technology could very well be used as a thin route deployment for military applications.
The SADF/Police then took up the task, with SAPO providing MW links, and route planning and other circuits for the project. Ultimately the military and police deployed their own MW networks.
Click to expand...
Were you involved :p? You seem to have a lot of info!

There seems to have been a number of similar installations around the world (similar tech) in the 1980's, similar hardware used in Canada. Thinking i might add a Wikipedia page ...
 
SAPO went for involvement as a founder member country in the establishment of Intelsat for international communication independent of undersea analogue copper telegraphic/telephone cable systems.
 
trijonb said:
Does anyone remember / know / have any photos of the old 'radar' / telecom dishes (there used to be x2 giant ones) which used to be visible on Umhlanga Ridge in Durban? We used to visit my grandmother out that way in the 1980's / 90's and i distinctly remember seeing x2 massive parabolic dishes on the ridge everytime we went out, but no one ever knew what they were for.

Does anyone know? were they anything other than telco related? recall they used to point out to see??

thanks in advance
cheers
Click to expand...
I think this was on the hill in front of rolling hills country club ? Remember it in the early 90's .. 90-93 actually . Now the site has a saps satellite station.

The Umdloti one - is the Umdloti Electronic Warfare Centre, probably explains the bad cellular phone signal in the area lol

https://maps.app.goo.gl/4jHAqzJLWxE6UrPAA

streetview:

www.google.com

Street View · Google Maps

Explore a place in a more immersive way in Google Maps.
www.google.com www.google.com

Ref: https://www.facebook.com/SANational...-land-of-king-shakaon-wedne/1140455049687058/

Ref:http://www.dod.mil.za/document/Repo...nce Plan/DoD Annual Performance Plan 2021.pdf (search for Umdloti)
 
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