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Courtesy of Jim HebbelnSelect image to view a larger version
Peetz was an auxiliary (relay) station on AT&T's first transcontinental microwave route, linking Julesburg, CO to the east and Atwood, CO to the west. Like all of the stations on that route, Peetz was originally equipped with delay-lens antennas, which were replaced with horn-reflectors.
Of the two steel-lattice towers at Peetz, the shorter, Type A tower is the original. The taller tower was added in the 1980s to allow the eastbound microwave path to be moved off Julesburg and onto Chappell, NE to alleviate a reflection or interference problem.
Initially, Peetz had a radio equipment building in the tower itself. This structure, known as the "Cabin in the Sky", was a feature of all the towers along the Omaha - Denver route. The cabin permitted shorter waveguide lengths, and thus reduced signal attenuation, by placing the microwave radio equipment close to the antennas. When the delay-lens antennas were replaced in 1965, an equipment building was erected on the ground and new equipment was installed, then service was cut from the tower cabin to the ground-level building.
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Updated on December 3, 2005 at 10:11 by Albert LaFrance