COMARA News - August 2007 - The End of Torus

August 8, 2007

Torus antenna being disassembled for shipment to the bone yard.

Provided by Dennis Boiter, forwarded by Steve Teller

Member Feedback

Louis Pollock It was indeed a sad site to view the disappearance of the Unattended Earth Terminal (UET), the torus antenna being the prominent ingredient of this fine development project. The research project began in the fourth quarter of 1970. It came about during a one and only retreat at The Homestead that Dr. Reiger initiated at which each of the "labs" of Comsat Labs proposed a core research project to focus advanced technology developments. The Microwave Lab (which I had the honor of representing) proposed the UET and Reiger immediately endorsed it.

The program reached complete assembly and commenced engineering tests through the Intelsat IV satellite in mid 1973.

There were so many excellent microwave technology developments that came out of this project as well as a number of patents - one being a patent for the overall concept of the earth terminal.

Since the initial operation the terminal has been used many times for special operations by Intelsat and others. I lost track of these applications but perhaps others can recall.

A detailed discussion of the UET can be found in CTR Volume 4 Number 2, Fall 1974 and names of some of the contributors are also found in this issue and in prior issues of CTR. See online copies of CTRs at www.comsat-legacy.org/CTR.html.
John Berres The boneyard is probably in China where all scrap metal is apparently headed (manhole covers, guardrails, aluminum street signs, and so forth that are going missing)
Bill Hixon unless "bud" kennedy, jack ehrmann, myself, bob kinzie, tom person and dr. charyk remember(among many other notables) almost getting fired for hauling one each torus (literally at the event site) to, and at, las vegas for a certain event.... well i guess that event should be recalled in anecdotal form by the pres. (emeritus) and his "left-hand" man (kinzie) .. pls ask them to relate dr. c's. reported reaction to the double hop appearance by the mayor of hong kong (i think) as he opened the meeting at this conference..
it bears repeating for those who ONLY think "inside the box"!! (in keeping with bill pattersons' closings)
Cal Harriott Yes, I would like some remembrance. I guess there will be townhouses on the site. What happens now to those unique (and beautiful) buildings??
Cal Harriott Yes, I would like some remembrance. I guess there will be townhouses on the site. What happens now to those unique (and beautiful) buildings??
Paul Schrantz Lots of great memories about the Torus. One anecdote I still remember is getting a call from Lorrie Grey that there was a storm last night and we lost the satellite. Lou Pollack wants you to check the structure to see what failed. Everything looked nominal so I called Vic Slabinski who commly said "oh yeah, we did a stationkeeping maneuver last nite and removed inclination by (x) degrees." Talked to Bob Gruner who labeled in the inclination from Vic's software and we were back on the air!
I knew our Nastran Analysis was good. Hope to see more on this.
Rhoda Hyde This picture brought back many memories of my husband's time at Comsat. It was an important part of his career since he spent a lot of time on its design.
Charles Kasper The sister Torus antenna installed at Santa Paula in the 1980s still exists. Satellite services are now extinct but it still serves as a fine canopy for the outdoor picnic table.
Lynn Siguenza Sad indeed. I'd love to have a picture. Keep in touch.
Raymond Sicotte Ah, its been a wonderful journey! I believe it was originally erected in 1974 and the concept originated by Dr. Geof Hyde. That would make it 33 years old which isn't bad in today's world of rapidly changing technology. Can anyone verify or correct the above?
My recollection also is that we borrowed much of the internal electronics from the Comsat mm wave Beacon Experiment to save on development costs. Is this true?
Alan Kasper The Torus antenna was invented by Bill Krutel and Geoff Hyde and received U.S. Patent No. 3,852,763, copy attached. Regards,
Cami Russack Where will the ducks find shade now.....
Jay Levatich THANKS. BRINGS BACK GOOD MEMORIES.

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