OMARC, a sponsoring member of the InfoAge Learning Center, is providing an Amateur Radio presence at the Diana site as part of InfoAge. We have already sponsored public viewing of Amateur Radio and plan to have many programs in place to show case Amateur Radio to the general public.
OMARC activities at the Project Diana Site are our club effort to bring Amateur Radio to the InfoAge Learning Center as hosted at the historic Diana Site of Camp Evans off Marconi Road, Wall Township, New Jersey.
This project is now a reality that is attributed to the good reputation of OMARC for its service to both the Amateur and general communities that we serve and the hard work of many individuals with the support of the clubs membership and our good relationship with the excellent people at InfoAge Learning Center.
It is this support by the membership that will make the effort a success and keep it in operation in the years to come as the bottom line is participation and club spirit is what makes OMARC successful !
Below in the photo of the Dina site building if you look carefully you can see the club HF tri-band antenna at its resting position for the crank up tower just behind the center of the building. This is the closest antenna in the world to the original Diana antenna that bounced the first signals off the moon in 1946.
The 60 foot parabolic antenna at the Diana site, named "Space Sentry" makes a great landmark to find the site as one is driving down Marconi road.
The US Army Signal Corps performed many experiments involving the use of Radio from the Diana site and many members of the original Diana Project team were Radio Amateurs. OMARC is very honored to be in the position to have an Amateur Radio presence at this historic location and looks forward to educating all persons interested in the history of the Diana site and Amateur Radio.
At the Diana site, building 9116 on Marconi Road, Wall Township, a previous part of the U.S. Army, Camp Evans, Fort Monmouth installation is the historic location of many achievements involving RF advancements.
OMARC, at the invitation of InfoAge has under taken the restoration and maintenance of building 9116 at the Diana site to create an Amateur Radio environment that will provide for a working Amateur Radio station to be open for public viewing and demonstration by OMARC members among other things.
The Project Diana site, a fenced two acre facility, is on the New Jersey State Historical Register, it is located east of the historic Marconi hotel. The existing structures are associated with early satellite tracking and ionosphere research giving them significance. Building 9116 is a one-story masonry structure, which appears to be an original center building and two additions, the interior has the look of a 1950s satellite control room.
Building 9116 is the location of the original 100-ft. SCR-271D radar antenna used in 1946 to bounce signals off the moon. The original Diana antenna had a wooden frame support structure housing the radar equipment used by Project Diana. At the same site during the early 1950's 50-ft. diameter parabolic antenna was constructed named the "Diana Dish" antenna that longer exists. The support facility (building 9116) for the Diana Dish antenna and the footings from the Diana disk remain.
Just south of the Marconi Hotel, the Dians site of Diana Project fame, where in January 1946, Signal Corps scientists successfully bounced a signal off the surface of the moon, proving the feasibility of satellite communications. The Diana antenna resembled a pair of bedsprings on a tall mast, reminiscent of early RADAR antenna design. The dish type antenna now on the site is not the Diana antenna. However, it has a history of its own. The Signal Corps erected it in the 1950's as America was preparing to launch its first communications satellites, which were also being developed at Fort Monmouth. When the Soviet Union launched SPUTNIK I in 1957, Signal Corps engineers used this antenna to track the Soviet satellite and monitor its signals.
In 1957 the existing 60-ft. diameter radar dish antenna named ‘Space Sentry’ and it’s support facility (building 9162) was constructed. Building 9162 is also a one-story masonry structure that is connected via conduit to the 1957 ‘Space Sentry’ satellite-tracking dish. The light green painted interior also has the appearance of a control room and support office. The ‘Space Sentry’ satellite-tracking dish is in good structural condition and the mechanical equipment appears to have been ‘moth-balled’ for possible future reactivation. The original electronics have been removed. In the main historic district one very simple one-story concrete structure, building 9400, was built sometime in the early 1950's.
To date OMARC has succeed in restoring building 9116 for public access through managing the volunteer efforts of its membership and other interested Amateurs. OMARC has installed the required Amateur Radio antenna systems and radio equipments and added additional equipments for various Amateur Radio activities being developed to serve the Amateur and general community.
OMARC is also sponsoring Amateur Radio Technician Classes and VE sessions at the Diana site. In addition a the site will be hosting a small Amateur Radio Museum to display among other things a nearly complete 1930's vintage Amateur station, portions of which were featured in the February 2001 QST article "A Station Lost in Time".
For a historical background on the Diana site Click Here
For a visual tour of Project Diana site Click Here
Below are directions and maps to find your way to the Diana site.
For a zoomable Yahoo Map Click Here
DIRECTIONS:
From the North ...
Take the Garden State Parkway SOUTH to EXIT 100 (Route 33 east), Exit
ramp will merge with Route 33 east, continue to Route 18 South,
follow Route 18 to EXIT 7A, Exit jug handle will put you on Brighton Ave
heading North, follow to bottom of hill, turn RIGHT onto Marconi Road.
Continue past the "T" insection to Monmouth Road on your right as the road bends you will pass a softball field on your right, then as the road bends again you will see the Diana site on your left with large Satellite antenna, just proceed through the open gates to the building at the far east of the complex.
From the South ...
Take the Garden State Parkway NORTH to EXIT 98, Bear to the right and
take the exit for Route 138 East, follow to Route 18 North exit,
follow Route 18 North to Exit 7, Exit ramp will put you on Marconi Road
heading east.
Continue past the "T" insection to Monmouth Road on your right as the road bends you will pass a softball field on your right, then as the road bends again you will see the Diana site on your left with large Satellite antenna, just proceed through the open gates to the building at the far east of the complex.
From the West ...
Take 195 EAST, to Route 18 NORTH, follow Route 18 North to EXIT 7, Exit
ramp will put you on Marconi Road heading east.
Continue past the "T" insection to Monmouth Road on your right as the road bends you will pass a softball field on your right, then as the road bends again you will see the Diana site on your left with large Satellite antenna, just proceed through the open gates to the building at the far east of the complex.
