San Pedro Hill Air Force Station
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San Pedro Hill Air Force Station (1961-1976) - A Cold War Air Force Radar Station first established in 1961 near San Pedro, Los Angeles County, California. Named San Pedro Hill Air Force Station after the location. Initially assigned a Permanent ID of RP-39, later a Sage ID of Z-39 and a JSS ID of J-31. Became an FAA site in 1976 with USAF Height finders manned by a USAF detachment. Now known as San Pedro Hill FAA Radar Site.
History  Established in 1960 as a joint use (FAA/USAF/Army) site and became operational in 1961 as San Pedro Hill Air Force Station manned by the 670th AC&W Squadron. Initial equipment included an FAA ARSR-1C search radar, a USAF FPS-6 height-finder and a USAF FPS-26A height-finder. SAGE System TransitionThe 670th AC&W Squadron moved from San Clemente Island to new facilities on San Pedro Hill to begin SAGE operations. The SAGE system used the FST-2 coordinate data transmitter to digitized the radar returns and transmitted them to the SAGE direction center. Under the SAGE system, interceptor aircraft were directed to their targets by the direction center computers and controllers, greatly reducing the need for local controllers and equipment at every radar station. The FST-2 was a very large digital system using vacuum tube technology. Over 6900 vacuum tubes were used in each FST-2 requiring 21 air-conditioned cabinets, 40 tons of air conditioning, 43.5 kva of prime power and usually a large new addition to the operations building. The FST-2B modification added two more cabinets but with newer solid state (transistor) technology to process coded responses from aircraft transponders.
San Pedro Hill Army NIKE InterfaceOne of the factors behind the move from San Clemente Island to new facilities on San Pedro Hill was the Joint Chiefs of Staff decision to colocate ten U.S. Army NIKE Command Posts with USAF long-range SAGE System radar sites. The Los Angeles NIKE defense was one of the ten and one of the more difficult to implement because three agencies (USAF/US Army and the FAA) were involved. The actual NIKE Command post was to be located on Fort MacArthur proper along with the NIKE acquisition and tracking radars. While the FAA search radar, two sets of two height-finders (one set Army and one set Air Force), and a SAGE annex were to be located atop San Pedro Hill some miles away. A full SAGE annex would have to be constructed next to the radar and an FST-2 would have to be installed and activated in the SAGE System. In the interim between the move, full SAGE operation, and command post activation a GPA-37 was to be installed to provide USAF target assignments to the Army command post until all the pieces became operational. SAGE System OperationThe site began operation as a SAGE System site in 1961 initially feeding the Norton SAGE Direction Center DC-17. With the closure of DC-17 on 25 Jun 1966 control was transferred to Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21 at Phoenix, Arizona. An FPS-26A replaced one of the FPS-6 height finders and the other became an FPS-90. The FST-2 was replaced in the early 1970s by the FYQ-47 Common Digitizer, a set maintainable by the FAA, and that set the stage for USAF to turn over the site to the FAA. The NIKE command post on Fort MacArthur closed on 1 Sep 1974 eliminating the need for USAF/U.S. Army interface.
ClosureSan Pedro Hill AFS and the 670th Radar Squadron were deactivated on 1 Apr 1976 and the site was turned over to the FAA. San Pedro Hill FAA Radar SiteWith the FAA operating the site and the search radar, the height-finder radars were operated by a USAF detachment headquartered at Luke AFB, AZ until they were later removed. The site became joint-use site JSS J-31 furnishing data to Luke SAGE Direction Center DC-21 and Los Angeles ARTCC. The JSS J-31 designation was removed and then assigned as site J-31A to a US Navy ARSR-4) radar on San Clement Island. The San Pedro FAA Radar Site was now just data tied to the JSS system. The ARSR-1 search radar was upgraded over the years to an ARSR-1E before being reconfigured circa 2012 as a new CARSR radar with a 7172 antenna. The site beacon set was also upgraded to an ATCBI-6.
Current StatusNow San Pedro Hill FAA Radar Site Joint Use site J-31 on San Pedro Hill in Los Angeles County, California.
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Links: Visited: Area 5 Oct 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||
