| | You can imagine my surprise as I drove down the rocky dirt road in the middle of the Nevada desert between Las Vegas and Laughlin, with no water in sight, when technicians wearing Navy-type uniforms walked out to greet me. I had seen the four massive tower structures the night before but decided to investigate the next morning. The 700-foot towers, spaced about 1,400 feet apart, sit a couple of miles off Highway 95 near Searchlight, but their white strobes can be seen for miles. As I was traveling back to Las Vegas I saw the sign that identified the facility as a Coast Guard Loran C transmitting station. I turned off the highway thinking I’d be allowed to take a tour of the place. Not only was I greeted warmly, allowed to tour the facility and ask about all the operations there, but I was also allowed to take photos. Inside The Station This Loran transmitter site is a secondary unit and is unmanned at night. Night and weekend operations are turned over remotely to either Petaluma, California, or Alexandria, Virginia. The transmitter and its non-directional antenna array send out digital pulses on 100 kHz to the tune of about 480 kW. These digital pulses can be heard worldwide and provide navigation needs anywhere in the world. The master station that works with this one can be either Boise City, Oklahoma, or Fallen, Nevada. The day I visited the site the crew was pumping 5,000 gallons of salt water in the ground under the operations building and their towers. They explained that the desert soil is so hot and dry and the water table so far underground that this “salting” is needed to maintain a good RF “earth” ground. As the soil dries and the ground becomes less effective, the SWR goes up on the antennas and the reflected power gets back into the building and equipment.  
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Cottonwood Cove Laughlin Las Vegas Nelson's Landing Last Updated: Sunday, April 25, 2010 
Loran C In The Desert