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Oh, yeah, lessee, the lucky school districts will be in MD and FL. The Ft. George Meade and Pensacola school districts, no doubt.

What about NC? PARI would be a perfect place to, uh, park one of these. Heck, it used to be an NSA sigint facility. Before then an Apollo tracking station. Used to be if I told you about that, I'd have to kill you, but now that Ed's let the cat out of the bag about so much....

It's not all as bad as you might see, humankind. NASA may have given up old groundstations, but they're not totally lost. I suggest looking at http://www.pari.edu/ as an example of one oldy put to very good use.

If they're starting in North Carolina, the radio astronomy observatory PARI probably isn't going to be too happy. We've discussed PARI before -- it's a former satellite surveillance base, with a happy face painted on one small dish for the benefit of USSR spy satellites.
Coordinates: -82.87198 W, 35.19989 N
Updated TerraServer link. Switch to Topo Map view, zoom to 16 meter resolution, pan right twice, zoom on Towers to east of Glassmine Mountain.

It was a small dish, so only a spy satellite had good enough cameras to see the face. (You now can buy a satellite photo of the place and the dish itself is barely visible)

Maintain a questioning attitude

If you get a chance, browe to http://www.pari.edu/Needs.htm and see if you can do anything to help these guys out. It sounds like, in addition to money, they can use a lot of miscellaneous stuff, that some /.'ers might have laying around.

Here's a partial list of what they're looking for:

Computers (Pentium 100 or above), Computer Components, Computer Monitors, Network Servers, Laptop Computers, etc.
Office Furniture and Equipment (Desks, Chairs, Shelving, Copiers, Conference Tables, Storage Cabinets, etc.)
Work Tables/Benches, Shelving
Category 5 cables rated to 100 Mbps minimum

Optical Telescopes (10" or larger) and Eyepieces (1.25" and 2") and components
35mm Camera Lens - any sizes, or makes, and adapters to C-mounts
LX200 Mounts
CCD Equipment
Optical filters
Glass domes

Hydrogen Maser Frequency Standard
Phase Locked Loop OCXO Disciplining System
Reference Distribution Driver Amplifier
Remote Reference Taps/Buffer Amps
Synthesized Frequency Generators
AC Digital Wattmeter
Bit Error Rate Tester
VHS or S-VHS Stereo VCR's,
Video Cameras and Monitors, Weatherproof Housings, Shutters, Remote Controls, Etc.
Multi-track Audio Recorders
Type N coax Connectors and Crimping Tools
Cable Striping Tools

Chip in and help a worth cause. BTW, they need volunteers of various sorts too, so if you live close to this place, it might be interesting to go work with them a little...

The triangles are made from some material that i'm unaware of...

It's Gore-Tex, the same stuff with which they make diving suits. It's not so much pressure changes -- gore tex is breathable yet waterproof. It's also transparent to radio waves, else they wouldn't have used it.

The reason they have a 4 ft. door is because it's a service hatch. The thing is operated via two fibre optic lines. One handles control, and one modulates the RF signal back as light so it cannot be tapped.

Yup, they're on Terraserver. Information on the PARI site mentions they are NW of Brevard, NC. The map on the Tours page has a barely-legible "To NC 215". NC 215 is west of Brevard, and has an S-curve 2-3rds of the way to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Look for "Glassmine Mountain", south of "Cook Mountain". South of the S-curve, looking above the streams (the article says PARI is in a natural bowl, thus probably some streams nearby) on the USGS topological map one sees several circles marked "TOWERS". One does not put TV broadcast in a depression. Zoom in and the road pattern matches that of the map on the PARI site. Zoom in to the area where the buildings are near the road to the gate, and to the left is a large white circle. That white circle is one of the dishes, and the picture shows the shadow is way off to the side of the circle -- showing that the circle is suspended up in the air. I don't know if this link is a temporary search result or if it's a permanent coordinate link. "212 KM NE of Atlanta GA" the label says.

That golf ball is definetely odd:

Details on the Mickey Mouse golf ball

An overview picture of the compound. I wonder if there is a reason for the trees planted neatly in a row?

That golf ball is definetely odd:

Details on the Mickey Mouse golf ball

An overview picture of the compound. I wonder if there is a reason for the trees planted neatly in a row?

ok ok...after checking out the site of the people who bought it i am a little more at ease...at least their mission statement looks honest, forward thinking, and relevant in it's scope.

it seemed wasteful, but i guess it would be all worth it is we got one more kid interested in astronomy or one or college student who was able to do their master's thesus while working there.

less caffine for me...

link for you to site - good pics of smiley dish!

here's the place that got the site.

click tour for site layout and pics!

i guess their mission statement puts me more at ease.

People in science are often looking for help of any kind - under funded, over worked. Possibly in need of good software. Find something that you are interested in mabey in your area.

For example I used to live near a startup astronimical research institute. It's for proffit, but its useful and interesting.