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This NATO ACE High Communication System fis located on a 1500 meter high mountain. There are 4 dishes each of 20 meters high. The dishes are still in reasonable condition because they are still being maintained by radio amateurs. It is in a very remote location and the road to it is virtually impassable. Especially with the car!

The location is very romote and only a small road is leading to the top of the mountain. Because I knew this in advance, we parked the car somewhere halfway up the mountain and we continued on foot. The plan was to go bbq around the sunset and to film with a drone. Halfway through our climb of 2 hours, the wind started to blow harder and it got colder. Fortunately, we had brought big sweaters because I knew it could be colder quickly. Once on the mountain we saw the enormous dishes. There was even light in one of the buildings and there was a camera hanging at the entrance. Fortunately, we could just avoid it.

After we had lit the bbq I wanted to make some video with the drone, but it was too windy for that. It was blowing so hard that at the tip of the mountain we had difficulty standing upright. In the end I only made some pictures and a video with the gimbal that I will put online later.

These dishes were used by the West during the cold war to set up a direct communication link between all the member countries. The network consisted of approximately 80 to 90 locations spread over 15 countries from Norway to Turkey. About 40 stations were used as line-of-sight communication and the other half as over-the-horizon where the stratosphere was used to reflect the radio signal.

The stations were taken into use around the 50th of the last century but after the fall of the wall and the end of the cold war, satellites took over their role.

Is ACE High easy accessible?
The radar station is on a small road on top of a high mountain. The last kilometers are no longer passable with the car so we had to walk for a few hours to get to the top of the mountain.

Is ACE High worth the visit?
It is a fairly familiar urbex location, mainly because of the high dishes and the beautiful view. I think this is one of the most impressive locations I have seen!

What is the location of the NATO ACE High Communication Station?
ACE High is somewhere in Italy. It is not common to share urbex locations, so in this case I do not. A bit of googling is usually enough to find this beautiful spot.

Is NATO ACE High Communication Station secured by an alarm or by guards?
ACE High is no longer protected. There is still a camera with the lights on. There is also a 3G or 4G mobile radio mast on the mountain.