New Device(s) at Area 51 Border

reply to post by FosterVS

Just my two sense here. That almost looks like one of those devices that shoot out a couple hundred metal balls in a 30 to 60 ft spray. Like the ones you see outside highly guarded buildings.

It's an ultra wideband radar box. It takes motion pictures of objects moving in the area. But they're mostly blurry pictures without a lot of dimension, or just a zigzag line, from the examples from companies that make the technology. But, Area 51 is going to be more advanced.

Here's a conference on UWB.

Originally posted by Sandalphon
It's an ultra wideband radar box. It takes motion pictures of objects moving in the area. But they're mostly blurry pictures without a lot of dimension, or just a zigzag line, from the examples from companies that make the technology. But, Area 51 is going to be more advanced.
Here's a conference on UWB.

This theory, among other theories of what the box is, always lead me to ask:
Can it distinguish between a human and a cow? i.e. the free-range cows that wander this area? Because if it cannot, it is useless.

reply to post by FosterVS


If you go though the literature, perimeter surveillance radar is generally use to trigger and/or steer cameras.

PSR

I think all the perimeter security around the base is just designed to spot vehicles. We know the ground sensors are just by the roads.

Now here is a theory. The EMIDS (ground sensors) used by the base are stone age. People have found them, and worse yet, dug them up. Some people are mapping them. So perhaps the base is going to use microwave based sensors to detect visitors. These can sit behind the border where the tourists won't mess with them. Or if they do, they get arrested by the dudes.

If this sensor faces towards the ET highway, i.e. it sees the road leading to Mt. Baldy, that would support the theory.

The EMIDS with magnetometer are good for cars and trucks, but some people..ahem...have been driving around the range in ATVs. An ATV can drive where the sensors are not located.

If this is perimeter surveillance radar, some locations will not be suitable for such an upgrade. I'm thinking of the Range 61 gate.

i was just thinking and this thought actuallly made me register. has anyone ever tried to get close to the base from the other side, and what i mean it not the side from the highway but behind the base

Originally posted by kdawg
i was just thinking and this thought actuallly made me register. has anyone ever tried to get close to the base from the other side, and what i mean it not the side from the highway but behind the base

Jerry Freeman allegedly did this.
Freeman thread

I'm in the "more likely than not" camp that he made it. But if Freeman didn't make it, I suspect a younger determined person could get close to Groom Lake from a number of directions. I doubt security is very good until you are close to the base. The way Freeman went, very little of his route would have been under the Sky Patrol. But the Pave Hawks certainly have FLIR capability since they do CSAR.

Looking at the terrain on Google Earth, I would rule out travel on the valley floor since you would show up on a FLIR big time. But someone could probably get within 7 miles of the base, just sticking to the foothills. You would need some place to dive for cover if a vehicle or the chopper was around.

One thing to keep in mind is if you are hiking in the desert without a trail, you are dodging all these cresote plants and other shrubs. It isn't like you are just walking in a straight line. It slows you down.

reply to post by gariac


Area 51 group on Facebook posted this link, someone did a writeup on my discovery of whatever these device(s) are:
whofortedblog.com...

reply to post by FosterVS


They are signals for the UFO’s coming soon-landing lights with a strip or a active communication with someone. Good find wish I was there!

S & F + fearless heart!

Trinity

reply to post by FosterVS

Foster explained that he had intended on taking more than just three images of the new structures, but was promptly chased away by security in camouflaged military fatigues.

I think this was more of a case of the dude presence making you leave than the dudes directly making you leave.

I noticed they hijacked your photos too. [Shades of the "Living Moon" yahoos.]

It would be interesting to see if the old pan/tilt/zoom looks different due to power available, or better yet, if a full blown tower like they use at the front and back gates shows up.

gariac
reply to post by FosterVS

 

Foster explained that he had intended on taking more than just three images of the new structures, but was promptly chased away by security in camouflaged military fatigues.

I think this was more of a case of the dude presence making you leave than the dudes directly making you leave.

I noticed they hijacked your photos too. [Shades of the "Living Moon" yahoos.]

It would be interesting to see if the old pan/tilt/zoom looks different due to power available, or better yet, if a full blown tower like they use at the front and back gates shows up.

They started towards me, I panicked. So you are correct. They like to do that, have seen them do that at the main gate. See if they can spook you.

Yes, "hijack" is an appropriate term. Although I did post them here, and they did credit both me and where they got them from in their article. They linked back to ATS, which is fine by me.

the photos finally made it to Dreamland Resort (four months late). Jorge believes it is the base of another tower that is going to have a camera on top similar to the one you can see between the hills on GLR near the border.

DesertShadow
the photos finally made it to Dreamland Resort (four months late). Jorge believes it is the base of another tower that is going to have a camera on top similar to the one you can see between the hills on GLR near the border.

That would kind of explain why it appears something was trenched all the way back to the guard shack - power and signal cabling for camera(s), etc. Not sure about the fire extinguisher, perhaps it is mandatory for any electrical equipment they install. gariac has stated there are border spots, crossings, that cannot be observed from Bald Mountain. I imagine they would then be able to monitor this without having to send out the dudes.

Not sure if I mentioned, I am a hobby gold prospector, and one of the justifications for my last trip was to check out old mines, of which there are a multitude in Nevada. Never to enter, mind you, that is a very bad idea... just poke around with my metal detector, or a dry washer (which I never managed to get my hands on one). I now have an extensive collection of old nails, bullets, etc. No gold.

Point is, there are two mines in the vicinity of that border crossing, which I had to use my quad to get to, to check out.
Don Dale Mine 37.559674°, -115.749478°
Andies Mine 37.5596745, -115.7439224°

The camo dudes managed to follow me all the way in there with their Ford Raptor. And tailed me for most of the day. For obvious reasons, they are concerned with offroad vehicles potentially sneaking across the border.

Not certain and have no interest in finding out.
Area 51 is a typical military base at the end of the day. Unless you have authorisation to enter then they don't want you there, and if they find you they will prosecute.

Do believe Aliens are at or near Area 51, most probably. That could be an Alien device for all we know.

reply to post by FosterVS


There was a Canadian mineral company sniffing near the TTR border when we got together for one of the MAFEX events that never happened unfortunately. The crew thought we were jumping their claim. Personally, I didn't see any legitimate claim markers. [Stick or PVC pipe with film canister holding claim information.] But I wasn't in the mood to mess with them. Besides being accused of claim jumping, groups of plane spotters have been investigated as hunters hunting out of season. Being armed with optics, the fish and game people (or people to be claiming as such) just left kind of shaking their heads. Nobody believes people go there to plane spot.

The road to the Keno airstrip viewing location will get you in the area of the gold prospectors.
Look for the keno route
This road has some really nasty rocks that could shred tires. Absolutely do not drive it on street tires, and tread slowly on offroad tires. The prospectors, once they believed we sitting there waiting for aircraft to arrive, said they look for rock that has a gold tint. I'm thinking sulfur is more likely, but who knows.

Regarding new cameras, besides the area right near Bald Mountain, there is the BEZ (Baldie Exclusion Zone) along Back Gate Road (AKA Valley Road). Of course they have a tower near the back gate, so maybe they don't care about the BEZ.

Now one area I bet they would like on camera is the parking area at Coyote Summit.
37°34'15.62"N 115°40'14.54"W
The dudes check this place out on their rounds along the ET Highway.

One thing I have noticed with military base security in general is if there is a road bordering the base, once you are on the opposite side of the road (as opposed to adjacent side), base security takes you off their radar. This works at Nellis, Creech and Groom Lake. Not that a bit of pavement adds any security. Rather I think the base just picks the road as a line of demarcation.

The one exception to this rule is the Power Line Overlook.

***SNIP*** -ATTENTION-
Reafirming Our Desire For Productive Political Debat.

In any event, I got to look at this panel and general area in the flesh. It is now obvious to me that they are just going to place a new pan/tilt/zoom camera in that location. The old one was removed. The old camera, being solar powered, couldn't be moved much. There is only so much juice they can store in that battery. I only saw the camera move once, and that was when we had three vehicles at the location.

The camo dudes are apparently considered essential since they were on duty. Or perhaps URS just pays them and can wait to collect on the security contract. I was nearly back on the ET Highway by the time the dude-mobile (Ford Raptor with no stinkin' license plates) showed up.

I took a photo (to be uploaded later) of the area from a location that can see the ground near this panel. They grubbed a circle. No concrete yet, just clean dirt. The contractors left a Coleman catalytic heater on the ground. Normally I wouldn't be able to identify something that easily from the distance, except two similar Coleman catalytic heaters were left at the Tikaboo staging area. A fixed (as opposed to pan/tilt) camera was added to the weather tower on Tikaboo, presumably by the same contractors if the Coleman catalytic converter is any clue. The fixed camera points towards the camp location where most people hang out when they are not on the peak itself. However, it could be used to view the road that is used to get to the Tikaboo staging area.

In addition, a new monopole antenna showed up on the weather tower. It was totally in radome, so it is hard to judge its frequency. However, it wouldn't surprise me that this antenna could be used to relay road sensors on approach to Tikaboo.

gariac
In any event, I got to look at this panel and general area in the flesh. It is now obvious to me that they are just going to place a new pan/tilt/zoom camera in that location. The old one was removed. The old camera, being solar powered, couldn't be moved much. There is only so much juice they can store in that battery. I only saw the camera move once, and that was when we had three vehicles at the location.

The camo dudes are apparently considered essential since they were on duty. Or perhaps URS just pays them and can wait to collect on the security contract. I was nearly back on the ET Highway by the time the dude-mobile (Ford Raptor with no stinkin' license plates) showed up.

I took a photo (to be uploaded later) of the area from a location that can see the ground near this panel. They grubbed a circle. No concrete yet, just clean dirt. The contractors left a Coleman catalytic heater on the ground. Normally I wouldn't be able to identify something that easily from the distance, except two similar Coleman catalytic heaters were left at the Tikaboo staging area. A fixed (as opposed to pan/tilt) camera was added to the weather tower on Tikaboo, presumably by the same contractors if the Coleman catalytic converter is any clue. The fixed camera points towards the camp location where most people hang out when they are not on the peak itself. However, it could be used to view the road that is used to get to the Tikaboo staging area.

In addition, a new monopole antenna showed up on the weather tower. It was totally in radome, so it is hard to judge its frequency. However, it wouldn't surprise me that this antenna could be used to relay road sensors on approach to Tikaboo.

Nice, awesome you could do a followup to my discovery, gariac. I look forward to the picture(s). I am hoping for a spring trip to the range, I will be checking it out then if things work out.

Now why would they just leave Coleman heaters at the Tikaboo staging area? I hope you are now the proud owner of some abandoned heaters.

Tikaboo is BLM/public land, correct? Would be a shame if someone brought some black spray paint up to the "weather station".

Definitely looks like the base is starting to be more and more interested on what is happening on Tikaboo and tightening the border security.

I guess the only question now is, Why?

reply to post by FosterVS

Now why would they just leave Coleman heaters at the Tikaboo staging area? I hope you are now the proud owner of some abandoned heaters. Tikaboo is BLM/public land, correct? Would be a shame if someone brought some black spray paint up to the "weather station".

One possibility is they use the heaters to "cure" something that they installed. That is, often epoxies need to be at a certain temperature. More likely for the Bald Mountain site than the Tikaboo staging area.

I don't trust those Coleman catalytic heaters. Anyway, they are cheap enough that I'd probably get one new rather than trust an old one if I were to use one at all. Why would they abandon them? I never used one, but maybe they signal when the converter isn't working properly. The literature says they are safe enough to use indoors, but I don't think I'd even use one in a tent. Well certainly not when sleeping. At the Tikaboo staging area, you just get in your vehicle and turn on the heater. Not that I would sleep with the car running either. But a common thing people do when car camping is if it gets cold enough to wake you up, then go run the engine and heat up the interior.

The weather station is very handy. I'm glad they installed it, especially the camera. It proved useful in picking a day to make the hike. You can judge the visibility from the camera, even if it is not pointing at the base. I'm not so sure I trust the temperature gage. It was 9 deg C on the Groom ATIS, or 48 deg F, when the temp on the peak from the weather station was 54 deg F. If you play with the temperature sensors around the range, the Tikaboo Peak temp is usually higher at night than the stations on the valley floor, say the Medlin ranch. When the weather station first showed up, I was doing spreadsheet analysis to see when the temperature on the peak equaled the temperature on the ground. Since the DRI is not kind enough to provide the Groom Lake temperature, I used Medlin ranch. Generally around 8AM, they are equal. I've often noticed the sharpest images of the base are done around 8AM.

I'm nearly done reviewing the TTR images. Two interesting things cropped up. One is a small fighter type aircraft, single engine with tail. It could just be a F-16. More entertaining is a pile of black "stuff" in the landfill. To me, it looks like they chopped up an airframe and are about to bury it.

This is a view of the area spanning the orange pole marker to the discarded Coleman catalytic heater:
bald mountain camera site 1


For people who have been to the area before, this image has the silver ball in it for a location reference:
bald mountain camera site 2

I was already parked by the ET Highway by the time the dudes made it to the area. In fact, I nearly missed them.
Camo dudes dutifully defend nothing

I swear the dude in the passenger seat looks like a gray. ;-)