Grass Mountain Taipei, Taiwan, 1974

For this post, we have our friend, Kent Mathieu to thank.  First, he sent us two photos taken by George Lane who was part of USASTRACTOM and USACC in 1974.   

George Lane furnished Kent with pictures he had taken which were posted on TaipeiAirStation.blogspot.com on 01/25/2012 and 02/01/2012. 

The pictures shown on TAS were of Taipei and the surrounding area.  The two photos here are of the Grass Mountain complex as it appeared in 1974. 

Once again, thanks to Kent for Photoshopping all four pictures.  This includes the two pictures of mine from 1969. 

The following is George Lane's explanation as to why they were TDY from Ft. Huachuca, AZ.

The details of what was wrong may be over most of our heads, but the last paragraph should explain the irony and might even produce a smile. 

______________________________

Yes, we were making a survey, but of the electromagnetic variety.  We were looking for leaking FR signals being emitted from the Communications Center. 

One of the reasons we had been dispatched from Ft. Huachuca is that the guys at the Grass Mountain site were reporting that the unused super groups on the transmissions coming in from the undersea cable from Okinawa had illegal traffic on them in a foreign language which even the Taiwanese workers could not understand. 

During our month on Okinawa, we found that the cables from the Communication Center in Futenma were not properly shielded when the signals were sent from the Communications Center to the nearby microwave tower. 

It turns out that the cable length run was exactly a half wave length of the AM radio Station in Naha.  As a result, the ground wave AM Signal was being picked by the cable and then sent to the microwave transmitters where it was modulated into the super groups. 

The signal was then sent via the undersea cable to Taiwan!  So the illegal entry into our secure communications system was our own fault and not the enemy.  "Chris" Christensen shown in some of my photos was a great engineer and a good friend.

This was a picture taken in 1969 of the main buildings in the Grass Mountain work station. The basketball court is still there. 

Photo courtesy of George Lane

Taken in 1974, this picture of the complex shows a really vivid green paint job on a very bright and sunny day. 

By this time, civilians were operating Seven Star Microwave and the American presence in Taiwan was decreasing rapidly due to the impending end of the Vietnam War. 

Kent did a nice job of making these 1969 photos as good as they can possibly look.  What you see here is the combination mess hall and day room with the road leading to the back gate.

By 1974, a new road had been constructed which lead to a different exit from the one we used.

Also, it appears that gear from the main building may be loading into these white trucks on the right. 

 Here is the entire Grass Mountain complex as it looks today.  Try entering the coordinates into Google Earth. 

Then, drag Oscar over for a Street View of the front gate and other parts of the work station.