Talk:Mount Umunhum

Hiking is legal
Hikers are only arrested at the AFB. There is a public road and hiking the mountain is not illegal. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.6.71.26 (talk) 01:31, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

The road is private 1.3 miles above the gate. If you go further, you risk being arrested/cited. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.106.234.174 (talk) 07:42, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Hummingbird
The derivation of Umunhum from "humminbird" may be disputed. See http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-373X(195410)13%3A4%3C268%3ASCUCSD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A. Sincerely, GeorgeLouis (talk) 19:25, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

The Links
Somebody keeps taking off the Summitpost link, as well as other links. It's getting kind of annoying. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mrgooseskin (talk • contribs) 00:50, 4 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Note that the Summitpost.org link doesn't work and Schwaderer video link says it is private and therefore is unaccessible. Both of these links need to be removed. 67.127.52.93 (talk) 21:37, 11 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I've confirmed the unavailability of the external sources and removed them. In the process, I came across a 10-minute documentary from KQED from last year, and added that. TJRC (talk) 22:59, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

AFB scheduled for demolition?
According to http://www.almadenafs.org/, a site for the Almaden Air Force Station 2010 reunion, "This is the LAST chance to visit the site before it is demolished in the fall."

Anyone have anything from a reliable source that the station is scheduled for demolition? I have read that a cleanup is planned, but nothing indicating demolition. TJRC (talk) 17:09, 22 March 2010 (UTC)


 * As part of the hazardous materials remediation, the majority of the buildings have been stripped of their walls, leaving just bare steel structures for the majority of the buildings. The current EIR includes plans to "demolish" the buildings with the exception of the Cube -- for the Cube, the question remains whether to tear it down or do a seismic retrofit and seal it up entirely.  More information can be found on Midpen's page on the Umunhum project -- Navratil42 (talk) 16:41, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

When was the cube built?
The article now says "The summit of Mount Umunhum is the site of the former Almaden Air Force Station, an early-warning radar station built in 1957 that operated from 1958 to 1980." This suggests the well-known "cube" dates from 1957-- which it apparently doesn't, so a footnote (or something) is needed. Tim Zukas (talk) 00:02, 28 February 2012 (UTC)


 * I don't think it suggests anything about when the cube was built. It's saying when the station operated.  If you have reliable information that the station became operational before the cube itself was built, we can add a sourced statement to that effect. What's the basis for "it apparently doesn't"? TJRC (talk) 00:32, 28 February 2012 (UTC)


 * "an early-warning radar station built in 1957"-- the reader will naturally infer that that's the cube. The Sperry ad in Aviation Week in Jan 1960 seems to indicate that one cube had been built by then, in Alabama; the Almaden AFB article doesn't spell out that the cube held the APS-24 radar that started in 1961, but looks like it was. Tim Zukas (talk) 00:55, 28 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Sperry Gyroscope never built the AN/FPS-24 radar. They did, however, build the AN/FPS-35 Frequency Diverse SAGE Radar.  The FPS-24 and FPS-35 shared the same support tower with only minor adaptations to the roof pedestal mount and internal equipment provisioning.  The concrete tower at Almaden was constructed initially in late 1959 or early 1960 (date unknown when taking into account "groundbreaking" or actual foundation completion) and when complete (exact date still under investigation), the radar antenna sail and internal equipment were installed.  That FPS-24 radar was tested in evening hours (so as to not disturb television and radio broadcasts) and finally went operational in late 1962 (at which time the original Bendix-built domed AN/FPS-20 search radar was removed).  So contrary to what everyone believes, the existing extant FPS-24 tower was not the original search radar on the site.  This information is from actual account of veteran airmen who served at the site as well as from actual original tower blueprint plans which state the "As-Built" revisions and date.  AAFShistorian (talk) 19:32, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

The article now says "The summit of Mount Umunhum is the site of the former Almaden Air Force Station, an early-warning radar station built in 1957 that operated from 1958 to 1980" which suggests the landmark tower was built in 1957. Easy to fix: substitute "The summit of Mount Umunhum is the site of the former Almaden Air Force Station, an early-warning radar station that operated until 1980." If you don't like non-Mount-Umunhum material in the Mt Umunhum article, that's better-- right?

And easy to fix the AAFS article-- it now mentions the AN/FPS24 and other radars, but doesn't say which one was on the tower that's still there, or when the tower was built. Tim Zukas (talk) 00:26, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

(I didn't see the latest version of the first paragraph, which covers my objections. Hopefully no one will call that too much non-Mt-Umunhum detail.) Tim Zukas (talk) 00:57, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

Let's stop calling it the "cube".
Discussions with actual Almaden Air Force Station veterans who served at the site yielded that they were actually offended that people call the 5 1/2 story Mount Umunhum radar tower a "cube", "box", "monolith", "obelisk", etc. Logically, speaking, the structure is nowhere near the actual dimensions of a "cube" and is not hollow like a box. It's also not solid like a monolith and it never had a triangular cap like an obelisk. This building was an engineering marvel made to withstand a near-direct nuclear detonation down in or over the south SF bay area. The Air Force personnel who worked in the radar tower took pride in their duty there and maintained the tower in pristine condition, often garnering awards for the longest running operational interval on this particular AN/FPS-24 radar. It's actual use was a radar tower and since the antenna sail is no longer extant, the remaining building we see today should be simply referred to as a "radar tower". AAFShistorian (talk) 16:35, 1 March 2012 (UTC)


 * It is, however, commonly called the "cube" (or sometimes the "box") as a landmark. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; . The servicemen who served there may not call or have called it that, but Wikipedia is not limited to those persons. TJRC (talk) 01:40, 2 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Until recently, the Air Force had a nearby well-known "Blue Cube" in Sunnyvale, 18 miles NNW. Rairden (talk) 05:33, 2 January 2018 (UTC)

Aerial photo of Mount Umunhum summit
My second contribution to Wikimedia Commons, uploaded today into Category: Mount Umunhum. The article could use a better photo, and more current, but I'm unsure where to put it and don't want to step on any toes here. The summit area will be opened to the public beginning September 18, so article third paragraph needs an update. Rairden (talk) 10:14, 31 July 2017 (UTC) Went ahead to insert this photo into the article Rairden (talk) 05:12, 2 January 2018 (UTC)


 * Rick, it was good to sync up today. I'm glad to hear you noticed my photo; yours is way better, which is the advantage of flying your own plane. Mine had the advantage of being able to sip on a whisky while taking it.  Dicklyon (talk) 05:19, 11 November 2019 (UTC)