Trevose FAA Radar Site

 (1970-1998) - A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Long-Range Radar (LRR) site first established in 1970 near Trevose, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The site was used to identify and track military and civilian aircraft movements within a 200-mile radius and to provide air-ground radio communication with those aircraft. Assigned a JSS System ID of J-61. Deactivated on 19 Feb 1998.

History
This site was to become an FAA JSS radar site in 1970, furnishing radar track data to the FAA ARTCCs and to USAF Direction Centers. The Trevose FAA Radar Site was put in place to replace the radar at the closing Gibbsboro Air Force Station in New Jersey.

As a JSS site, a USAF FPS-116 height finder was to be installed along with the FAA search radar but an environmental study discovered that the height-finder would have been a hazard to local buildings. The official opening of the Trevose site was delayed until 1 Sep 1971. The Trevose site opened without the height-finder and the Gibbsboro Air Force Station remained opened and continued to provide data to the SAGE System.

By the end of 1975, a Frequency Compatibility Analysis report found the Trevose FAA Radar site with an ARSR-60 radar set operating in a dual-frequency-diversity mode. The assigned frequencies for Trevose were 1300 and 1355 MHz. Transmitter A was delayed 4 us from transmitter B, and each channel used a different antenna polarization. The combined receive pulses are processed by a standard common digitizer and fed to the New York ARTCC and the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center (NAFEC) Center.

By 1990 the site was equipped with a Common Digitizer CD-2. The Trevose CD-2 was scheduled to receive an upgrade kit to implement three level weather data processing in September 1992.

The Trevose site was deactivated on 19 Feb 1998 after the Gibbsboro FAA Radar Site ARSR-4 radar came on line.

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Current Status
Closed FAA facility near Trevose in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

{| See Also:
 * New York ARTCC
 * Gibbsboro Air Force Station
 * Gibbsboro FAA Radar Site
 * JSS System
 * FAA Air Route Traffic Control Centers
 * US Radar Sets

Sources:
 * Blanchard, Matthew P., The Golf Ball that towered over Trevose for decades is gone, The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 13 May 2000, page 5.
 * Gagnier, Mary, What's that big round golf ball up there?, The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 8 Oct 1989, page 450.
 * Long Range Radar Compatibility Analysis in the 1300-1350 Mhz Frequency Band, FAA.RD.76.200, 1976

Links:
 * Radomes - Trevose FAA Radar Site
 * Wikipedia - Joint Surveillance System
 * Radomes - Originally-Planned JSS Replacement for Gibbsboro AFS, NJ