Tag Archives: Good Luck Point

Good Luck Point poles have been removed

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(Source: Micromedia Publications)

BERKELEY – A few poles, a couple new osprey nets, make up the new horizon of Good Luck Point’s marshland. Once home to hundreds of telecommunication poles that made up a ship-to-shore communication system, the poles were taken down from mid-January onward as part of a United States Fish and Wildlife Service project in the Edwin B. Forsythe Refuge which officials said focused on marshland sustainability.

The project removed several hundred poles from the old AT&T field in the marsh of Good Luck Point and scheduled 100 poles from its sister site in Manahawkin.

The long-decommissioned telecommunications poles were once part of a ship-to-shore network. The pole field is located along Bayview Drive in Berkeley and Beach Avenue in Manahawkin.

Continue reading at Micromedia Publications…

We’ve been following the story of the Good Luck Point site for serval months. Click here to read previous posts.  Be sure to check out Dennis’ photos of Good Luck Point prior to WOO remnants being removed.

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Dennis’ photos of Good Luck Point prior to WOO remnants being removed

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As we mentioned last month, the remnants of WOO at Good Luck Point are slated to be removed soon. Many thanks to our intrepid SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who shares the following excellent photos he took at Good Luck Point yesterday. Dennis notes:

I finally got to the site [Saturday] afternoon.

All the towers are still there!

There was some construction next to the old AT&T building, but zero work on the poles…Who knows for how long though? So if anyone wants to visit they should do it soon.

Here’s all the pictures I shot. They start with my entry on Bayview Avenue heading east then back out again.

Thank you so much for sharing your excellent photos, Dennis! Since I don’t live near Good Luck Point, I appreciate the virtual tour through your photos!

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Remnants of WOO at Good Luck Point to be removed

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Many thanks to SWLing Post readers Al Quaglieri and Alan Tu for sharing the following story via app.com about the removal of the remnants of radio station WOO:

BERKELEY TOWNSHIP — The mysterious poles have stood in the open marshland off Good Luck Point for nearly 80 years, but sometime in January these local landmarks will finally be removed.

“We’re still working with the contractor to determine the exact start time,” said Virginia Rettig, a spokeswoman for the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. “This is a little more difficult than the typical project, as we’re trying to be sensitive to the marsh surface.”

The Good Luck Point poles – and a similar pole field in Stafford’s Manahawkin section – were part of inactive shortwave antenna fields used by AT&T for ship-to-shore shortwave communications.

They’ve become a familiar landmark for boaters, fishermen and residents of the area, and can be seen from the bayside in Seaside Heights and Seaside Park.

The antenna field was in operation from the early 1930s until 1999. A shuttered building on the Good Luck Point portion of the antenna field contained equipment related to shortwave communications.

Under the call sign WOO, the shortwave facility at Good Luck Point (known as Ocean Gate) was a renowned transmitting station, which helped broadcast Voice of America around the globe after 1944 and enabled communication with ships at sea throughout the 20th century, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

According to federal officials, about 340 poles will be removed from the Berkeley site, along with several metal antennae.

In Manahawkin, about 113 wooden poles will be removed from the antenna field. Several metal antennas will also be removed.

Continue reading at app.com…

Check out this excellent video–an aerial view of Good Luck Point:

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Historic Ocean Gate antenna field may be removed

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GoodLuckPointMany thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ulis K3LU, for sharing the following story from newsworks.org:

Pole removal project planned for Good Luck Point tidal marshlands

The iconic poles emerging from the tidal marshes in Bayville’s Good Luck Point may soon disappear if a federal plan clears a historic preservation hurdle.

A plan funded by the federal Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 calls for the removal of hundreds of poles along with cables, wires, metal towers, and concrete blocks that sit within Barnegat Bay marshlands at the foot of the Toms River.

“The goal of this action is to enhance coastal marsh habitats by increasing marsh resiliency from impacts of large storm events and other ecosystem stressors,” according to a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service release.

The poles are a component of inactive shortwave antenna fields associated with AT&T’s ship-to-shore shortwave communications system, which was in operation at the sites from the early 1930s until 1999, according to the release.

The area also includes a shortwave transmitter building and antenna field. Under the call sign “WOO,” the station helped broadcast Voice of America around the globe after 1944 and enabled communication with ships at sea throughout the twentieth century.

Click here to continue reading…

The article also noted this excellent video–an aerial view of Good Luck Point:

For more information about the Good Luck Point site and its history, check out this website and this article from Wavescan.

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