Lewistown, MD

Common Language Location Identifier (CLLI): LWTWMDQ0010

Note

AT&T Corporate Security has requested that the names and exact locations of active AT&T network facilities not be published. Accordingly, such facilities are identified on this web site by fictitious names, shown in [brackets].

Site Data

FCC Microwave License Data

Description

Lewistown consists of a self-supporting steel lattice tower and a flat-roofed concrete-block equipment building. At 406 ft. (124 M), the tower is one of the tallest AT&T microwave towers in the Washington, DC area. The tower holds multiple pairs of Western Electric KS-15676 horn-reflector antennas, and a single conical horn-reflector.

Historical Role

Lewistown is a microwave radio junction station. The oldest information available, a TD-2 system diagram from Nov. 10, 1965, shows the station linking Clear Spring, MD, [MD-1], Dillsburg, PA, Hamilton, VA, and a destination identified only as "sidelog" [sic; should read "sideleg"], which is almost certainly Blue Ridge Summit No. 2, PA (the Department of Defense Alternate Joint Communications Center, Site R). An October 1966 radio-relay route map shows the same paths.

A diagram titled "L-carrier Branching at Lewistown, Maryland", from August 1965, shows the interconnection among the station's routes to Monrovia, "sideleg", and Jennerstown, PA (via Dillsburg).

By 1970 the routes had changed: the microwave paths to Dillsburg and Hamilton had been discontinued, and a path to the [MD-2] underground coaxial-cable main station had been added.

Present Function

AT&T sold Lewistown to American Tower Corporation, which leases space on the tower to wireless communications providers. American Tower has posted a site brochure, including recent photos, describing the Lewistown site and facilities.

The AT&T microwave licenses for the station were renewed in February, 2000. It is not known if the microwave routes are being used.

Images

Photographed September 26, 1999
Select an image to view a larger version

Updated on July 25, 2004 at 21:04 by Albert LaFrance

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