Since I posted the pages on my year at TUSLOG Detachment 150 at Sahintepe, Turkey, I received a flood of e-mail from former Det 150 members and others who passed on interesting stories about the site.  Three of the most interesting ones appear on this page.

Who was at the other end of the radio link?

Virtually every time you went into Det 150's radio building, you would hear the crackling of radio speakers or see a technical controller speaking into a telephone operator's headset.  I often wondered "Who's that at the other end?" since after a while you sort of recognized voices, but that was about all you knew.  Well, one of the people at the other end back then stopped by here to say hello:

"Most interesting. Thank you for sharing this with the world. I was stationed at Karamursel Det 63 and worked in NCMO from Apr 75 to Oct 77. I used to monitor all the sites you speak about and report their status to our commander, and the reports were sent on up the line. I used to input all hazcon calls on punch cards and have them processed on computer. This made up our ESR report or equipment Status Report. One time Site 150 when down for several hours because some one forgot to closed a valve and let all the fuel for the generators run out of the day tanks back into the ground. I never got a chance to visit any of the sites. I was always curious to learn what they were like. I also worked as a job controller and opened and closed jobs with all the sites surrounding Karamursel. My wife and son were with me and we enjoyed our tour there very much."--Danny M.

Where did "30-G" come from?

One of the mysteries of Sahintepe was where it's radio call sign, 30-G, came from.  No one knew, but, of course, with everyone serving just 12 month tours, there wasn't a whole lot of corporate memory on site!  A few months ago, I received a note from someone who knew where "30-G" came from a radio engineer who was involved in the Tropospheric Radio System Roll-out:

"I was involved at Shahin Tepessi. Sorry I write phonetic the way it was spoken when I was there in 1967.

"In those days I worked for ITT-Federal Electric, as an engineer to implement select aspects of the rediscovered 'Forward Propagated Tropospheric Scatter' technology  -- the Germans messed with it in the 1930's.

"The site was a/k/a Site 30G and as I recall the deployed gear was of the AN/FRC-75 though it could have been -39. I believe it complemented the counterpart used between Elmadag through Mt Pateras.

"Prior to Shahin Tepesi, I had put in the AN/FRC-39 (radio) in Karatas. Prior to that I had worked at Elmadag for RCA in 1964 -- from there I went to West Berlin.

"For the Shahin Tepesi initiative I lived with my wife at the Iron Palas, Bursa ( of 'Five Fingers' fame the black and white film with James Mason and a French actress). I we drove through all the Olive Groves round Gemlik way daily in our commute.

"Interestingly enough when we left Saudi Arabia in 1999 --I was there with IBM --- there was a mirror image antenna farm that looked like tropo outside Riyadh being installed by somebody. Hope this helps.--Cheers, Anton

Ran across the DET150 page. It was really cool to see some familiar faces. I remember when you left. It was very interesting. I am the young airman in the camel riding picture although not so young anymore. I am also retired now. I have some very similar pictures as you. I have one with me on the camel.  Have you had any contact with any of the others from that time?  Curious to see what has happened to some of them.

Take care.

Walt aka Wally

I am from Gemlik and visited your site after the departure of the base many  times. I have been always dreaming the atmosphere at Sahin Tepesi during the cold war when I arrive there.

It is very nice surprise to see your web site and took me to Sahin Tepesi in the middle of the night. Thanks to building your site which allow to see more  deeply what was happened at Sahin Tepesi during USA presence. I'll promote  your site to my friend as well.

By the way, Gemlik now have sister city from US, which is Lauderhill from  Florida region I suppose.

The base is totally abandoned since you left.   It is getting to seem like ancient ruins in Turkey with a heavy weather conditions. I went last few years ago and saw people having picnic there (in fact it was very hot day).  Sahintepe name is still living that thanks to the Auto Ralli which has been organized very successfully since many years. This ralli is getting international each year.

I will take some pictures for you send them by email soon.  All the best from Gemlik.  -- Hakan