The attached photos show the old Western Union repeater microwave tower located at Hopewell Junction, New Jersey. This tower is located near Pennington and Princeton, New Jersey. It is near the junction of Runyon Mill Road-Stony Brook Road and Mountain Road in Hopewell Township.

     In May,1968, supervisor Knobby Nelson and I were sent by McGraw, N.Y. system manager Jack Cowles to align the microwave segment from Philadelphia to NYC. This segment was part of the Romney system, so our labor was "loaned" to Bill Hicks and Tony Codo of the Romney West Virginia system..

     We started work at Philadelphia where I met Jim Rowbottom. He was the microwave maintainer there. He was in great physical shape for a man almost 70, still able to carry heavy test equipment upstairs to the roof area. When we finished the station alignment of old RCA vacuum tube microwave equipment, we traveled to the next repeater north of Philadelphia. This may have been Hopewell Junction. (I don't have a map of the old microwave system, perhaps someone can help with my memory of this site.) I do remember working all day at Hopewell Junction, then spending part of the night at a local bar with Nelson. Drinking and playing pool were his favorite after-work activities.

     While we worked on this microwave segment between Philadelphia and New York, relief microwave maintainer Lou Ross wrote a grievance against my assignment. I was a senior microwave maintainer and I had unknowingly diluted the work normally performed by a relief microwave maintainer. I was recalled after 6 days, and Lou Ross was sent to finish the work with Knobby Nelson. Jack Cowles was obligated to pay Lou for all the overtime I had worked. I went back to McGraw to work with the other senior microwave maintainers, Bernie Glazier, Doug Walsh, George Bentley, M.G. Harrington, storekeeper Larry Hicks and supervisor Pat Maloy.

     A few years later the Western Union Telegraph Company added the job title of alignment microwave maintainer. McGraw's Jim Metz became one of the first to hold that title.

     Today the tower and building at Hopewell Junction are owned by American Tower, and leased to Nextel cellular. There are two direct-feed microwave antennas on the tower, and some VHF/UHF on the top bridge which are difficult to see in the photos. You can easily identify the cellular radio antennas. I believe this site originally had reflectors on the top bridge and antennas on the roof facing the reflectors. The old building has some paint peeling off the original white painted concrete blocks. Green paint is peeling off the access ladder to the roof. Some extra Nextel modular equipment buildings are located nearby.

     The tower is about two miles due east from the junction of Rt31 and Rt518 just north of Pennington. You can see it from the northbound lane of Rt31. Use Google map and satellite imaging to locate. The site looks like a T from the sky, and the dual towers are visible.

 

Best regards,

Gene Palmer

Click the link below to view Gene's photos
www.westernunionalumni.com/palm0507