Pierre-sur-Haute military radio station | |
---|---|
Station hertzienne de Pierre-sur-Haute (
French) | |
Coordinates | 45°39′11″N 3°48′30″E / 45.6531°N 3.8084°E |
Type | Radio tower complex |
Site information | |
Controlled by | France |
Site history | |
Built | 1961 |
Materials | Concrete, steel |
The Pierre-sur-Haute military radio station is a 30-hectare (74-acre) hill-top site used for French military communications. It has been in use since 1913. It is in the Sauvain and Job communes, with the boundary between the Rhône-Alpes and Auvergne regions passing through the site. There are three towers at the site. The tallest one is a 55-metre-high civilian telecommunication tower owned by Télédiffusion de France. [1]: 01:48–01:55
In April 2013, the French interior intelligence agency DCRI pressured the president of Wikimedia France into deleting the French-language Wikipedia article about the station. It was promptly restored by another Wikipedia contributor living in Switzerland. As a result of the controversy, the article temporarily became the most read page on the French Wikipedia, which was noted as an example of the Streisand effect.
In 1913, a semaphore telegraph station ( French: télégraphe Chappe) was built where the military radio station is now. At the time, it was a small stone building, with a semaphore on top. [1]: 05:03–05:35
In 1961, during the Cold War, NATO asked the French Army [1]: 05:35–05:40 to build the station as part of the 82-node transmission network in Europe known as the ACE High system. [2] In this network, the Pierre-sur-Haute station, or FLYZ, was a relay between the Lachens (FNIZ) station to the south and the Mont-Août (FADZ) station to the north. [3] The NATO radio station was using American-made tropospheric scatter equipment to relay voice and telegraph signals on a network stretching from Turkey to the Arctic Polar Circle in Norway. [2] The French Air Force took control of the station in 1974. [1]: 05:40–05:50 In the late 1980s, the system was gradually replaced by a combination of national defense systems and some NATO-owned subsystems. [2] The large parabolic antennas, known locally as Mickey's ears, were replaced with the current two-antenna setup in 1991. [1]: 05:50–06:06
The Pierre-sur-Haute station is controlled by the French Air Force and is a subsidiary of the Lyon – Mont Verdun Air Base, 80 km (50 mi) east the station. It is one of the four radio stations [1]: 03:52 along France's north-south axis, in constant communication with the three others: Lacaune, Henrichemont and the Rochefort air base. [4] The station is mainly used for transmissions relating to the command of operational units. If French nuclear weapons ( force de dissuasion) were used, the fire order might pass through this relay. [1]: 03:58–04:10
The station has been part of the Commandement Air des Systèmes de Surveillance d'Information et de Communications (Air Command of Surveillance, Information and Communication Systems) since its creation on 1 June 1994; from 1 January 2006, it has been run by the Direction Interarmées des Réseaux d'Infrastructure et des Systèmes d'Information ( Joint Directorate of Infrastructure Networks and Information Systems). [4]
The station is situated on a 30-hectare (74-acre) site [1]: 03:17 between the communes of Sauvain and Job, straddling the border between the two departments of Loire and Puy-de-Dôme. The perimeter is surrounded by a high barrier of wood and metal. [1]: 00:20–00:30
There are three towers at the site. The tallest one is a 55-metre (180 ft) high civilian telecommunication tower, owned by Télédiffusion de France. [5] The telecommunication tower is topped by a radome and contains a mode S air traffic control radar beacon system owned by the Directorate General for Civil Aviation. The radar has been in operation since 18 August 2009 [6] [7] but has experienced malfunctions due to heavy snowfall in the area. [8] The two remaining concrete towers are owned by the military. The 30-metre (98 ft) high structures [9] have been used since 1991 for radio transmission and reception. [1]: 05:50-06:06 These are built to withstand the blast of a nuclear explosion. [1]: 02:19–02:35
Some buildings are used as garages and living quarters, complete with kitchen, dining room and bedrooms. [1]: 09:00-10:30 They are linked together by tunnels, 400 metres (1,300 ft) in total length, [1]: 12:00-12:10 so as to avoid walking through thick snow in winter when moving from one building to the other. [1]: 08:45–09:00 About 20 personnel are stationed on-site, [1]: 09:35 including electricians, mechanics, and cooks. [1]: 09:50–10:03
The most important part of the site is the underground section, used for transmissions dispatch: at a speed of 2 Mb/s, [1]: 17:43 communications from the towers are analysed, then redirected to be transmitted. [1]: 17:25–18:15 This part of the facility is supplied with chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defences. It defends against electromagnetic pulses using a Faraday cage. Positively pressured rooms help prevent contaminants from entering the facility. [1]: 13:00-16:10 The facility has independent water and power supplies. [1]: 20:45–22:30
In March 2013, the French interior intelligence agency DCRI made a request for deletion of the French-language Wikipedia article about the site, titled Station hertzienne militaire de Pierre-sur-Haute. Wikimedia Foundation then asked the DCRI which parts of the article were causing a problem, noting that the article closely reflected information in a 2004 documentary made by Télévision Loire 7, a French local television station, a film not only freely available online but made with the cooperation of the French Air Force. [10] [11]
The DCRI then forced Rémi Mathis, a volunteer administrator of the French-language Wikipedia and president of Wikimedia France, under threat of detention and arrest, into deleting the article. [10] [12] The article was promptly restored by another Wikipedia contributor living in Switzerland. [13] [14] As a result of the controversy, the article temporarily became the most-read page on the French Wikipedia, [15] with more than 120,000 page views during the weekend of 6/7 April 2013. [16] The high amount of extra attention was noted as an example of the Streisand effect in action. [14] [15] For his role in the controversy, Mathis was named Wikipedian of the Year by Jimmy Wales at Wikimania 2013. [17]
Media related to Military radio station of Pierre-sur-Haute at Wikimedia Commons