Strawberry peak as seen from Route 18.
Closeup of hardened (Type 14) KS horns. the horns also have the
L21 modification to reduce sidelegs. Two GEP antennas are also
on
the tower. Several cellular and PCS service antennas have been
added to the tower.
HISTORY
Strawberry Peak was built at the same time as the San Bernardino Toll
addition in 1954. If you look at San Bernardino's horns, you'll see
many of them focused on Strawberry Peak. During the heyday of microwave
radio, San Bernardino-Strawberry Peak was one of the most heavily trafficked
routes to get microwave radio traffic "over the hump" into the desert.
Various types of TD (4 GHz), TL-TM (11 GHz) and TH (6 GHz) radio rode the
path from San Bernardino to Strawberry. With the digitalization of
the network in the '90s, such big "radio junction" stations became redundant
and most were completely unmanned, only to be visited by building technicians
now and then. Due to chronic understaffing of building technician
positions, these visits can be few and far between to stations that no
longer carry any traffic. Even stations that carry very little traffic
now, perhaps hosting a digital radio channel to an area where a fiber optic
line would not be cost-effective, are virtually falling into ruin due to
neglect. In its heyday, Strawberry Peak was manned 24/7, as it was
a critical "radio junction". (B. Scarborough).