White Alice Communications System

Lore & Background

White Alice was conceived in the 1950s when Alaska had only basic telephone communication; before its installation, only one phone call at a time could be placed from Nome to Fairbanks. The system was designed by Western Electric, and construction began in 1955, with the system dedicated in 1958. The United States Army Corps of Engineers surveyed and selected each original site, testing propagation paths by setting up communication towers during winter months. Some sites required 14 tons of equipment delivered by dogsled or helicopter. Construction costs far exceeded initial estimates, rising from about $30 million to over $300 million due to underestimates of maintenance requirements—each site needed 20 people and 120 to 180 kW of electrical power, rather than the initially estimated six people and one 25 kW generator.

The tropospheric scatter system operated around 4 GHz to 5.5 GHz, using both space diversity and frequency diversity (quad diversity) to multiplex up to 132 simultaneous voice channels. Pairs of 60 ft or 120 ft parabolic billboard-like reflectors pointed at a low angle into the horizon; radio waves scattered by the tropopause returned to Earth beyond the horizon, enabling communication between stations hundreds of miles apart. Longer hops used 120 ft antennas with 50 kW, while shorter hops used 1 kW and 30 ft round parabolic dishes. The network was originally operated by the USAF but was turned over to RCA for operations after 1969.

Reader's Guide

The White Alice Communications System was notable for providing reliable communications to far-flung, isolated, and often rugged locales across Alaska during the Cold War. It connected remote Air Force sites—including Aircraft Control and Warning stations, the Distant Early Warning Line, and the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System—to command and control facilities, and in some cases was used for civilian phone calls. The system's use of tropospheric scatter technology allowed over-the-horizon links that were critical in Alaska's challenging terrain.

The opening of satellite communication links in the 1970s made the system obsolete, and in 1979 it was replaced by an RCA satellite link connecting all stations to Anchorage. The network was sold the same year to a civilian operator for telephone calls. The deteriorating condition of the sites led to its shutdown in the 1980s, and most facilities have since been removed. The last tropospheric link, from Boswell Bay to Neklasson Lake, was used until January 1985 to connect Middleton Island to the network. Vandalism, unsafe conditions, and environmental concerns caused the Department of Defense to remove physical structures between the late 1980s and early 2000s. Several former White Alice sites became contaminated sites due to PCB usage and fuel leakage, with cleanup costs likely exceeding construction costs.

Did You Know?

• The system used both space diversity and frequency diversity, known as quad diversity, to maintain communications.
• Some White Alice sites required tram systems to ascend the mountains on which they were located.
• The name 'White Alice' may have been chosen because 'Alice White' was already the name of an actress at the time.