One of the questions which usually comes up about the various Air Force Communications Command radio relay link sites in Turkey is "Who was at the other end?"  The answer is short, but not simple--"lots of people." 

TUSLOG Detachment 150 received voice and data radio transmissions from a variety of locations at a fairly weak signal strength, ran them through transmitters and then resent them on their way.  Some of the units directly at the other ends of the signal exchange were:

• TUSLOG Det 6-1, (later TUSLOG Det 16-2), Elmadag, on a mountain similar to Sahintepe, but outside Ankara.
• TUSLOG Det 16, Incirlik Air Base, near Adana, Det 150's parent unit (reached through relay at Elmadag).
• TUSLOG Det 62, (later TUSLOG 63-2) at the 9th Main Jet Base, Balikesir.
  • This site's radio call sign was BAL and pronounced "Bal" like "pal". 
• TUSLOG Det 63, Karamursel (closed circa 1980).
• TUSLOG Det 63-1, Yamanlar (located on hill above Izmir on Aegean Coast).
  • This site's radio call sign was YAM, but I never heard anyone call it that; only "yam-an-lar".
• TUSLOG Det (number unknown, but possibly 94) at Izmit which provided the US Army with "dirt radio" communications using ground radio equipment. 
• TUSLOG Detachment 111 at Alemdag Installation within Turkey's 15th Air Base in the Istanbul Area east of the Bosporus Bridge. 
  • This detachment's radio call sign was A-L-E (A-el-E; not Ale!).
• TUSLOG Det 101, Corlu (Istanbul area).
  • This detachment's radio call sign was C-O-R, but I never heard it called out on the radio except as "chore-LOO". 
• TUSLOG Det 121, Cakmakli (east of Istanbul)
  • This detachment's radio call sign was CAK and pronounced  as "chock".
• TUSLOG Det 162, Eskisehir.
• Turkish Army Units at Uskador in the Crimeria. 

Other units with whom we communicated were located in other countries ranging from Germany to Greece.

Brian Johnson from Hood River, Oregon, sent the photo above showing his unit, Det 20, 2140 Communications Group, Mount Pateras, Greece during the April 74 to October 75 timeframe.

Joe Isabella from Lewisville, Texas sent some interesting pictures of two "up-stream" sites whose signals passed through Det 150's antennaes to other places like Cakmakli in the Istanbul area.

"I was in the 59th Signal Company, 509th Signal Bn., 5th Signal Command stationed near Pisa, Italy.  We were responsible for Microwave Radio/Multiplexer maintenance, Tech Control, AutoVON switch, and a GSC-39 satellite termninal at Coltano. 

"The radios I worked on there were the FRC-162 (DEB link, antennas on the tower), FRC-113 (1kW tropo, 30' round antennas), and the FRC-96 (10 kW tropo, 60' billboards). 

"We also had a DCO on Camp Darby (actually it was on the Depot just south of Darby), and a mobile satellite terminal.  The 59th was also responsible for the Savona Relay Site up near the Italian Alps (where I spent some time when they needed help).  As I mentioned, I was stationed at Coltano (known as "CLO" on the orderwire), but lived on Darby. There is some fascinating history at Coltano, including the fact that Marconi himself had a site there in the early 1900s.  His concrete antenna anchors can still be seen surrounding the site.  The website above makes mention of the area being a "natural antenna" bouncing signals off the mountains to the antennas at Coltano.  Unfortunately, the frequencies we used pretty much make that impossible, but I might buy that the site was good at the frequencies Marconi used (barely above audio frequencies!!).  It also mentions the site being haunted -- I never saw any ghosts of Marconi, but I did get "the willies" on occasion.  Maybe that was him??  The pic of the antennas on the mountain (near Savona, or "046" on the orderwire) were during a "slightly" cloudy day -- there were some days where you could barely see your hand in front of your face. 

"The radios are the FRC-113s also at Savona. 

"Today, all the tropo stuff is gone, and Coltano is staffed only by civilians."

Bob Trimbach, who was assigned to TUSLOG Det 63-1 at Yamanlar in 1982, one of our sister sites in Turkey, sent us two pictures of their site so we can see what "that end" of the radio link.

While the "billboard antennas" may have a slightly different design, you can see how they received from one one direction and retransmitted in another.  In Yamanlar's case, they received signals from Sahintepe and relayed them to another tropospheric radio relay link site at Mount Pateras in Greece and vice versa.

Walter Elkins of Clearwater, Florida sent this interesting picture of the Mediterranean Communications System (MEDCOM) Main Trunk Site 16D near Izmir, Turkey, which was also part of the 486L Tropo Communications System.