24. Grenada 1983 - December

The TAC SAT Radio Antenna

Our Mission in Grenada was TAC SAT Radio Operator.  The TAC SAT (read as 'tack-sat'), or Tactical Satellite Radio, bounced (relayed) a signal off a geo-synchronous satellite in space.  That's the antenna on the lower roof, sitting on a tripod.  Between the legs of the tripod is a piece of canvas with a rock on it.  The rock is there to keep the antenna from tipping over or sliding down the sheet metal roof of the building.  The cable from the antenna to the radio lies on the roof and runs into the building through the window opening.  The radio room was the room just inside that window.  The radio antenna had to be carefully positioned to insure it was pointing at the right spot in the sky, and we were given a compass azimuth and an angle of elevation to know exactly where. The TAC SAT radio network was a secondary or backup network to the FM radio network used by the Army Units, which we were attached to.  The TAC SAT network had a number of sights on the "net" including one back on the Southern end of the island at the Grand Anse college campus and a station back at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The Radio Antenna folded up to make it more portable when it was time to move to another location.  We didn't move it very often.  We spent most of the time right here in this building.