{"id":14357,"date":"2015-08-14T07:59:24","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T11:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=14357"},"modified":"2015-08-14T07:59:24","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T11:59:24","slug":"rhode-islands-wwii-farmhouse-monitoring-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/rhode-islands-wwii-farmhouse-monitoring-station\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhode Island’s WWII farmhouse monitoring station"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SX-99-Dial\"<\/a>Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> reader, Mike (AC4NS), who shares a link to this fascinating article by Tom Mooney? in the TheProvidence Journal<\/a>. Here’s an excerpt:<\/p>\n

“There was nothing remarkable to see on Chopmist Hill in 1940 when, a year before the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor and bring America into the war, a Boston radio technician by the name of Thomas B. Cave drove up Darby Road.<\/p>\n

[…]Cave worked for the Intelligence Division of the Federal Communications Commission, charged with finding a hilltop in southern New England that could serve as one of several listening posts to detect radio transmissions from German spies in the United States.<\/p>\n

What he discovered up at William Suddard\u2019s 183-acre farm was nothing short of miraculous.<\/p>\n

Because of some geographic and atmospheric anomalies, Cave reported he could clearly intercept radio transmissions coming from Europe \u2014 even South America.<\/p>\n

As a Providence Journal story revealed after the war, military officials were initially skeptical. They wanted Cave to prove his remarkable claims that from Chopmist Hill he could pinpoint the location of any radio transmission in the country within 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

The Army set up a test. Without telling the FCC, it began broadcasting a signal from the Pentagon. From atop the 730-foot hill in the rural corner of Scituate, it took Cave all of seven minutes to zero in on the signal\u2019s origin.<\/p>\n

In March 1941, the Suddards obligingly moved out of their 14-room farmhouse, leasing the property to the FCC.<\/p>\n

Workers set off erecting scores of telephone poles across the properly, purposely sinking them deep to keep them below the tree line. They strung 85,000 feet of antenna wire \u2014 the equivalent of 16 miles \u2014 around the poles and wired it into the house.[…]”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click here to read the full article in the The Providence Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you find this fascinating, you might also read this article about the Radio Secret Service in England<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Mike (AC4NS), who shares a link to this fascinating article by Tom Mooney? in the TheProvidence Journal. Here’s an excerpt: “There was nothing remarkable to see on Chopmist Hill in 1940 when, a year before the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor and bring America into the war, a Boston […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,305,288],"tags":[4067,4068,4066,4064,4065,676,1301],"class_list":["post-14357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-radio-history","tag-rhode-island","tag-rhode-island-wwii","tag-scituate","tag-the-providence-journal","tag-tom-mooney","tag-wwii","tag-wwii-radio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-3Jz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25375,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/the-raaf-no-4-wireless-unit-never-to-march-never-to-be-mentioned\/","url_meta":{"origin":14357,"position":0},"title":"The RAAF No. 4 Wireless Unit: Never to march, never to be mentioned","author":"Thomas","date":"April 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor,\u00a0Neil Bolitho, who shares the following story\u00a0in reply to our post yesterday Australian Codebreakers in WWII. Neil writes: Never to march, never to be mentioned. Since the end of the Second World War, many thousands of returned service personnel have marched at Anzac Day services\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/RAAF-Recruitment-Poster.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/RAAF-Recruitment-Poster.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/RAAF-Recruitment-Poster.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27612,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/kgeis-role-in-wwii\/","url_meta":{"origin":14357,"position":1},"title":"KGEI’s role in WWII","author":"Thomas","date":"August 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: The Daily Journal via Richard Cuff) KGEI: A forgotten WWII radio story Sometimes history is hidden in plain sight or site \u2014 as is the case of a blockhouse-shaped building located, appropriately, on Radio Road in the Redwood Shores area of Redwood City. There is no plaque to remind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zenith-Dial-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zenith-Dial-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zenith-Dial-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41535,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/the-wwii-mosquito-network\/","url_meta":{"origin":14357,"position":2},"title":"The WWII “Mosquito Network”","author":"Thomas","date":"January 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Marty, who shares this article by Mark Durenberger in Radio World: Inside the U.S. effort in a battle of the airwaves during the Pacific campaign of World War II We can\u2019t fully appreciate the importance of news from home to those who served in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/BC-348-Q-Radio-Dial.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/BC-348-Q-Radio-Dial.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/BC-348-Q-Radio-Dial.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/BC-348-Q-Radio-Dial.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10790,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/paul-litwinovichs-vintage-radio-series\/","url_meta":{"origin":14357,"position":3},"title":"Paul Litwinovich’s Vintage Radio series","author":"Thomas","date":"September 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Richard Cuff, for pointing out\u00a0a brilliant series of articles called Vintage Radio\u00a0by WSHU Chief Engineer,\u00a0Paul Litwinovich. Here are links to each article written thus far in the Vintage Radio series. If you would like to start at the beginning of the series, go to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Boat Anchors"","block_context":{"text":"Boat Anchors","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/boat-anchors-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"SX-99-Dial","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31278,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/03\/wading-river-wwii-fbi-covert-radio-station-listed-on-the-national-register-of-historic-places\/","url_meta":{"origin":14357,"position":4},"title":"Wading River: WWII FBI covert radio station listed on the National Register of Historic Places","author":"Thomas","date":"March 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Riverhead Local via Mike Hansgen) A house on the bluffs at Camp DeWolfe in Wading River, covertly used as an FBI radio transmission station during World War II to gather military intelligence, has been added to the state and national registers of historic places. FBI radio operators impersonating German\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/CampDeWolfe-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/CampDeWolfe-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/CampDeWolfe-1024x683.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8817,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/wwii-archive-war-on-the-short-wave\/","url_meta":{"origin":14357,"position":5},"title":"WWII Archive: “War On the Short Wave”","author":"Thomas","date":"February 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I stumbled upon this WWII era book published by the Foreign Policy Association on Archive.org. \u00a0A fascinating look at the the power and fear of propaganda over the shortwaves.","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}