U.S. Naval Radio Station Otter Cliffs was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

radio receiver facility located in

Acadia National Park Acadia National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor, Maine, Bar Harbor. The park includes about half of Mount Desert ...

Mount Desert Island Mount Desert Island (MDI; ) in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the List of islands of the United States by area, 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in th ...

, south of

Bar Harbor, Maine Bar Harbor () is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. The town is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory, and MDI Biological Laborat ...

. The station was commissioned on August 28, 1917, under the command of Lt. Alessandro Fabbri, who had personally cleared the land, built and equipped the station, and offered it to the government in exchange for a commission in the Naval Reserve and assignment as Officer-in-Charge. Prior to the war, Fabbri was a licensed radio amateur with the U.S. Government issued call sign 1AJ. Otter Cliffs was the Navy's best transatlantic radio receiver site because of its absence of nearby man-made radio noise, its unobstructed ocean path from Europe, and the outstanding receivers, antennas and noise mitigation techniques developed by the Wireless Specialty Apparatus Company under the leadership of

Greenleaf Whittier Pickard Greenleaf Whittier Pickard (February 14, 1877 – January 8, 1956) was an American electrical engineer and inventor. He was largely responsible and most famous for the development of the crystal detector, the earliest type of diode detector, alth ...

. Pickard is well known for his early inventions in connection with loop aerials, direction-finding systems and static mitigating devices used at Otter Cliffs during the war. His technical achievements and illustrations of equipment at Otter Cliffs during the war were documented in detail in the

Proceedings of the IRE The ''Proceedings of the IEEE'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The journal focuses on electrical engineering and computer science. According to the ''Journa ...

Edmond Bruce Edmond Bruce (September 28, 1899 – November 28, 1973) was an American radio pioneer best known for creating the rhombic antenna and Bruce array. Bruce was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Brooklyn, and Was ...

, a Navy enlisted man, served as chief electrician for the transatlantic receiver during the war. He later became a widely recognized radio engineer and inventor. By the end of the war, more than 100 Navy enlisted men and 25 Marines were assigned to the station. By 1933, however, its buildings had become dilapidated and Navy funds were not forthcoming for repairs. When

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist. Rockefeller was the fifth child and only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of th ...

suggested that it be removed, the Navy agreed to include the station in his donation to

, provided that he would build an equally good receiving station nearby. He did so at the tip of the

Schoodic Peninsula The Schoodic Peninsula is a peninsula in Down East Maine. It is located four miles (6 km) east of Bar Harbor, Maine, as the crow flies. The Schoodic Peninsula contains , or approximately 5% of Acadia National Park. It includes the towns ...

, about five miles away across

Frenchman Bay Frenchman Bay is a bay in Hancock County, Maine, Hancock County, Maine, named for Samuel de Champlain, the France, French explorer who visited the area in 1604. Frenchman Bay may have been the location of the Jesuit St. Sauveur mission, establish ...

, and Feb. 28, 1935 Otter Cliffs was decommissioned and the new Winter Harbor station was commissioned. (It later became

Naval Security Group Activity, Winter Harbor Naval Security Group Activity, Winter Harbor was a radio station of the United States Navy that operated from 1935 to 2002. History In the early 1930s, Otter Cliffs Radio Station on Mount Desert Island was literally falling apart. John D. Roc ...

, and on July 1, 2002, was decommissioned and transferred to the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

Otter Cliffs Radio Station wayside exhibit

References

*
Radio NBD, Otter Cliffs, Maine

End of an Era: NSGA Winter Harbor to Close Its Doors

Otter Cliffs under command of Fabbri

Otter Cliffs under command of the Transatlantic Communications Officer

Lease of Fabbri's amateur radio station

Map of Radio NBD

* ttps://books.google.com/books?id=AbjIjcU7JXcC&q=otter+cliffs+proctor U. S. Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association, by George P. McGinnis, Turner Publishing Company, 1997
Static Elimination by Directional Reception; Proceedings of the IRE; October, 1920; pages 358-394

The Breeding Place of Static discovered
{{FmrMEMilitary Mount Desert Island Communications and electronic installations of the United States Navy Military installations in Maine Buildings and structures in Hancock County, Maine 1917 establishments in Maine 1935 disestablishments in Maine 2002 disestablishments in Maine Closed installations of the United States Navy

See also

References