New Device(s) at Area 51 Border: Revisited April 2014

They look weird but the magnetic card thingys make sense so they dont have to come out for any tom dick or harry that drives up.

Not sure about the metal pipes with the funny little hats on them though, perhaps listening devices/detectors?

a reply to: FosterVS

Could it be a place for some kind of portable temporary equipment? Someone bring a monitoring device (portable weather station), sets it up on a tripod on the concrete pad, plugs it into the socket under the weather hood and tuns the power on via breakers at the E-panel.
The fire extinguisher is probably state required for boxes carrying certain amounts of current especially so close to brush fire potential.
just an idea anyway.

a reply to: FosterVS

A few observations:

1. It is not wired to code for outside service. It's doesn't appear to have water tight fittings or a rain tight box with a lip extending past the door to keep water out, and they would have had to drill the cabinet to put bolts through into t-nuts that is used to mount the box to the unistrut that spans horizontally from what appears to be copper pipe. Again not water tight. Copper pipe mounting odd and not to code. It should have had a nema 4 box. I couldn't see if it had a handle on the right side facing the box as to make it a disconnect (Safety switch). If it was nema 4 fiberglass box then it could have been used for RFID, and had nuts cast into the back of the box so there would be no drilling.

2. Doubt it is used for RFID that usually requires a separate antenna mounted outside of a steel enclosure. My experience would be it would look like a fiberglass square about 1/2"thk. X 10" sq. mounted at an angle facing the vehicle about 6 to 7 feet off of the ground with the tag on the windshield bottom right corner driver side.

3. The thing that looks like what is called a weatherhead has an additional flange that appears to be at the wrong angle from the centerline of the mounting pipe and appears to be to bubulus . Seems more like a vent cover. The photo doesn;t have enough detail.

4. The size of the conduit suggest large power cable, or large bundle of data/communication cable.

5. As far as the fire extinguisher, this suggest to me that they use this as a remote location to do something above ground with the possibility of fire, the next time you get a chance look to see the type by letter code (Class). A, B, C, D this would indicate what type of fire they expect.

6. The bottom of the large conduit is wrapped in whats called gas tape, that protects the metal from the corrosive effects of the lye in the concrete.

7. Concrete pad size? Large enough for a car/truck or equipment?

Just my 2 cents.

a reply to: MarlinGrace

Magnetic readers do not need an "antenna". Some are hard wired. I know. We have about 50 of them here...no antennas. Same size, same look, flat panels etc....Hard wired. In the case of Area 51, they too are probably wired underground to a remote point a number of feet or so away from the reader itself.

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: MarlinGrace

Magnetic readers do not need an "antenna". Some are hard wired. I know. We have about 50 of them here...no antennas. Same size, same look, flat panels etc....Hard wired. In the case of Area 51, they too are probably wired underground to a remote point a number of feet or so away from the reader itself.

Magnetic like a inground loop?

RFID that I have installed is a passive type with an antenna located outside of a metal enclosure and it reads a vehicle tag. Information is encoded into the tag to identify each vehicle, this tracks who is coming and going, time, etc. It's all automatic, and at anytime you can pull reports from the computer system.

a reply to: MarlinGrace

Agreed. I believe the statement was they didnt "see" any antennas. That was my pointabout that.

Could they be solar powered seismic detectors?

I thought they had ground sensors that could detect people walking, animals, ect...?

I believe what you are looking at is a ground Surveillance radar, have seen these in the Military many times. I found a link that shows what you are photographing.

GSR ( Ground Surveillance Radar)

These are very sensitive units, they can pick up mice running around on the ground, very effective for what they are meant to do.

originally posted by: 19KTankCommander
I believe what you are looking at is a ground Surveillance radar, have seen these in the Military many times. I found a link that shows what you are photographing.

GSR ( Ground Surveillance Radar)

These are very sensitive units, they can pick up mice running around on the ground, very effective for what they are meant to do.

O MAN!!! i know what just got a boost to the top of my christmas list!!! take that sucker out sasquatch hunting!

in all seriousness i can find like 5 reasons to own one of those things just spending 10 minutes thinking! i can only imagine what that thing would cost IF i can even get my hands on one.

its obviously gotta be sensitive enough and probably adjustable to be able to detect the difference between mouse steps and moose steps. I'm hoping anyway? is it just a "Hey somethings shakin over that way" ? or is it more accurate (i sure hope its accurate) its called "Foxtrack" so i gotta think its at least accurate enough to let you know when people approach? at what ranges?!?!

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: MarlinGrace

Agreed. I believe the statement was they didnt "see" any antennas. That was my pointabout that.

Interesting for sure, if that ground wire was larger I would think there was a underground generator and that thing that looks like a weatherhead would be the exhaust. That ground wire appears to be about 10 gauge which would make it's capacity about 30 amps during a short, of course if it is to code. Interesting the conduit is so large. If it was an underground generator that would explain the manhole, it would be necessary to refuel.

originally posted by: MarlinGrace
a reply to: FosterVS
A few observations:
1. It is not wired to code for outside service. It's doesn't appear to have water tight fittings or a rain tight box with a lip extending past the door to keep water out, and they would have had to drill the cabinet to put bolts through into t-nuts that is used to mount the box to the unistrut that spans horizontally from what appears to be copper pipe. Again not water tight. Copper pipe mounting odd and not to code. It should have had a nema 4 box. I couldn't see if it had a handle on the right side facing the box as to make it a disconnect (Safety switch). If it was nema 4 fiberglass box then it could have been used for RFID, and had nuts cast into the back of the box so there would be no drilling.

This is USAF we are talking about. Their codes seem to be either overly excessive, or no code at all. gariac can speak better than me to some of their messy installations. I CAN speak to some of their camera installations, most of them seem to be cobbled together just enough to keep them working.

2. Doubt it is used for RFID that usually requires a separate antenna mounted outside of a steel enclosure. My experience would be it would look like a fiberglass square about 1/2"thk. X 10" sq. mounted at an angle facing the vehicle about 6 to 7 feet off of the ground with the tag on the windshield bottom right corner driver side.

That was my impression too, that if that box is metal, it would act as a pretty major shield. Unless there is an antenna that I/we haven't spotted. Although maybe it's buried?

3. The thing that looks like what is called a weatherhead has an additional flange that appears to be at the wrong angle from the centerline of the mounting pipe and appears to be to bubulus . Seems more like a vent cover. The photo doesn;t have enough detail.

I dunno, it sure looks like a "weatherhead" to me. Although, again I have no idea why it would be at ground level. I like your vent cover suggestion, but a vent for what?

4. The size of the conduit suggest large power cable, or large bundle of data/communication cable.

Although you can't judge by size what's in those conduits. They could be mainly to support the box, and a single fiberoptic cable in the conduit.

7. Concrete pad size? Large enough for a car/truck or equipment?

Of the 3 times I have been to the spot, the camo dudes were parked on their side of the border, beside but not on this pad. It doesn't appear big enough for a vehicle in my estimation.

a reply to: FosterVS

i dont reckon a metal box would be nearly as much interference as everyone seems to think. really not much at all. I've beamed through whole buildings so i didnt have to run cable allllll the way around a big building. just installed that sucker in the office i needed it in and beamed it back through the whole building. offices and people and stairs and drywall and block and alllll kinds of stuff... like literally 3 floors and thousands of square feet of offices. we even beamed from one house to another directly THOUGH a boat storage warehouse. big ole warehouse probably 30 feet high with 2 layers of boats stored almost all the way through.

oddly enough the only thing that actually kept me from doing my job EVER after throwing ever damned booster and antenna and ever trick we had at it was a wireless camera system. we tried hopping bands all kinds of stuff but for some reason the system was causing FULL signal blockage. its like we hit an invisible wall that signal wouldnt go passed. we were beaming down an open hallway this time and it would get about 100 yds and BOOM no more. 100% signal to 0% signal in only a few inches. the next day we ended up having to run wires down past the store with the camera system and set up a different antenna and everything worked out great. wireless is a weird and fickle mistress.

a reply to: FosterVS

This has been an interesting post thanks very much. I look forward to additional info, and if you can, another inspection would be great if it is safe to do so. Just be careful out there.

originally posted by: MarlinGrace
a reply to: FosterVS

This has been an interesting post thanks very much. I look forward to additional info, and if you can, another inspection would be great if it is safe to do so. Just be careful out there.

You're welcome. However, I won't be back down there until maybe sometime in 2015. Some of the other regulars here, who are a wee bit closer than me, can maybe revisit this spot in the future.

A reminder - this is NOT the only spot of this nature I found. As per original post, there are at least 10 similar devices and pads to this one I have located on Bing Maps. They don't appear on Google Earth, as the imagery on GE isn't as current as Bing. I am working on a followup post with coordinates and images of the other spots.

This particular one is the only one that seems to be viewable from outside the border.

originally posted by: 19KTankCommander
I believe what you are looking at is a ground Surveillance radar, have seen these in the Military many times. I found a link that shows what you are photographing.

GSR ( Ground Surveillance Radar)

These are very sensitive units, they can pick up mice running around on the ground, very effective for what they are meant to do.

Definitely not that.

Second line.

originally posted by: Zaphod58

originally posted by: FosterVS
well, usually.

You rebel you!

Hey, every covert mission begins with a first step.
Wait til I post the video of the dudes eating their microwave dinner in the shack.

a reply to: FosterVS

Nice, when you do I'll add my run in with the dudes to that thread.

a reply to: weavty1

But that's what it is. A small flat-panel radar, just happens to be on a more permanent installation than the tripod in the Army pic. There was an old thread on this topic about it, and I even found a manufacturer's website with a .pdf giving some technical specs even. If you've got the money, even civilians can buy a version of them.

I doubt the panel is anything more than an electrical switching box. In any event, as of July, not a bit of work has been done in this area. It looks exactly like I saw it last October.

originally posted by: gariac
I doubt the panel is anything more than an electrical switching box. In any event, as of July, not a bit of work has been done in this area. It looks exactly like I saw it last October.

Thanks for checking it out again, gariac.
I am convinced at some point we will see a tower there, with camera's etc.