Ground Air Transmit Receive

Ground Air Transmit Receive (GATR) "control sites"[1] were the radio stations of a Cold War communications network in the Burroughs 416L SAGE Defense System deployed to automate ground-controlled interception using manned interceptors. Generally located near or, in some cases, on an Aerospace Defense Command radar station, a GATR site was used for the Ground to Air Data Link Subsystem to communicate command guidance via "HF/VHF/UHF voice & TDDL"[2] to vector F-106 Delta Dart and other equipped aircraft[3] that had been dispatched by teams in Weapons Direction rooms of SAGE Direction Centers. GATR maintenance was by the 304x4 Ground Radio Maintenance career field[4] with initial radio training at Keesler Air Force Base,[5] and GATR sites included the RCA AN/GKA-5 Time Division Data Link (TDDL) equipment providing output to an AN/FRT-49 Electronic Guidance Signals Transmitting Set with Varian klystron and 20 kilowatt output (or earlier 100 watt, single-channel AN/GRT-3). The aircraft receivers were either Hughes AN/ARR-60 or SLI AN/ARR-61[6] "Airborne Radio Receivers" of the Hughes MA-1 Fire Control System.[7]

Not to be confused with SAGE radar stations or SAGE uplink stations for BOMARC FDDL guidance.

Most "GATR/SAGE sites" are now Formerly Used Defense Sites such as the 6-acre (2.4 ha) site supported by Oakdale Air Force Station, Pennsylvania, and that were designated for closure by the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission.[8]

Sites
USAF Ground Air Transmit Receive sites
Sector[3]
DC
GATR #
Coordinates
 Support AFS, etc. ST
Washington
DC-04
 R-16 Z-117 (Roanoke Rapids) VA
Bangor
DC-05
 R-25 Z-15 (Topsham)[3] ME
Detroit
DC-06
 Z-20 (Selfridge AFB) MI
Montgomery
DC-09
 R-tbd  Z-249 (Dauphin Island) AL
Duluth
DC-10
 Z-29 (Finley) ND
Seattle
DC-12
 Z-tbd (Makah) WA
Sault Sainte Marie
DC-14
 Z-66 (Sault Sainte Marie) MI
Los Angeles 
DC-17
 R-22 Z-15 (Lompoc) CA
Los Angeles
DC-17
 R-tbd Z-74 (Madera) CA
Los Angeles
DC-17
 R-tbd Z-59 (Boron) CA
San Francisco  
*NCC-18
 R-19  Z-38 (Mill Valley) CA
San Francisco
NCC-18
   Z-96 (Almaden) CA
Minot
NCC-19
   n/a (Minot AFB) ND
Great Falls
DC-20
 R-27  Z-27 (Fortuna) ND
Great Falls
DC-20
   Z-177 (Dickinson) MT
Phoenix
DC-21
 Z-181 (Ajo) AZ
Patrick
DC-09
 Z-211 FL
Z-tbd (Cut Bank) MO
Sioux City
DC-22
 Z-133 (Hastings) NE

References
  • Differing from Manual Air Defense Control Centers that networked Permanent System radar stations, NORAD Control Centers had simpler C3 equipment (e.g., for the "austere SAGE area" in the Zone of the Interior) than the Direction Centers' AN/FSQ-7s such as the General Electric AN/GPA-37 Course Directing Group with AN/GPA-67 Time Division Data Link equipment through transmitters to the AN/ARR-39 "SAGE Datalink Receivers" used in the F-86L Sabre Interceptor, which was the SAGE variant[6]—an F-86D Sabre Dog with equipment for day/night/all weather operations. For example, by 1965, "Hamilton AFB and Richards-Gebaur AFB…operated as Remote Combat Centers (Hamilton had remote input from Reno Sector and Richards-Gebaur from Sioux City Sector)".[14]
  1. http://www.epa.gov/reg3hscd/npl/PA5210022344.htm
  2. , Tim (September 21, 2007). "Re: Speaking of AUTOVON" (coldwarcomms message). Yahoo.com. Retrieved 2013-02-18. A previously referenced AT&T training manual on SAGE/BUIC/AUTOVON phone systems does list all the AUTOVON/SAGE Switching Centers & includes their General Purpose (AUTOVON) NNX, their SAGE NNX, and … For example, Delta, Utah had 890 for AUTOVON, 764 for SAGECS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. "Topsham AFS". Cold War Relics. copyright 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2013-02-19. the SAGE block house was bulldozed in 1985. Check date values in: |year= (help) (image of entrance sign with arrow: "Bangor North American Air Defense Sector")
  4. http://www.radomes.org/museum/showroster.php?site=Minot+GATR,+ND
  5. Blackburn, Charles A (2012-06-23). "[anecdote posting]" (PDF). AFdasf.org. Retrieved 2014-02-24. Keesler for 304x4 training; GATR sites in Cut Bank, MO and Hastings, NE…last assignment to Andrews AFB GAR site at Brandywine, MD
  6. http://www.designation-systems.net/usmilav/jetds/an-arq2ary.html
  7. http://www.f-106deltadart.com/sage_system.htm
  8. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-1998-05-12/pdf/98-12569.pdf
  9. http://57thbombwing.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=58236http://www.radomes.org/museum/recent/SelfridgeAFBMI.html
  10. http://wikimapia.org/5186065/Ground-Air-Transmitter-and-Receiver-GATR-Site
  11. http://wikimapia.org/5186065/Ground-Air-Transmitter-and-Receiver-GATR-Site
  12. http://wikimapia.org/5013155/GATR-site
  13. http://www.radomes.org/museum/showsite.php?site=Minot+GATR,+ND
  14. NORAD/CONAD Historical Summary, 1965B
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