The White Falcon - 18.03.1983, Blaðsíða 1

Volume 26, Number 10
Keflavik, Iceland
March 18, 1983
Long awaited-event...
Satellite dish set
in place Monday
It was a long-anticipated and history-
making event for the NATO Base, witnessed
by a few hearty individuals standing ankle
deep in the cold mud on a hill outside
Reykjavik this past Monday.
The event was the raising of the 25-ton,
13-meter satellite receiving dish for the
NATO Base's Navy Broadcasting Service, Det.
8. The four-man crew, from Harris Communi-
cations hoisted the huge dish into position
with a crane and then bolted it into place.
The dish will be used to receive signals
from Armed Forces Radio and Television Ser-
vice in Los Angeles via a satellite orbit-
ing over the Atlantic Ocean. This same
satellite is currently being used by NBS,
Det. 3, to receive programming on Diego
Garcia.
CW03 George Webb, NBS Det. 8 OIC, ex-
pects that testing of the new satellite
system will begin the first week in April
and believes that the complete satellite
service will be fully operational by May 2.
When the new system is in operation,
Base residents can expect to see more pro-
gramming on a daily basis. This expanded
coverage will include live network news
programs as well as live sports and special
events programming. To accommodate this
additional programming, NBS expects to use
Channel 6 as well as Channels 4 and 5 cur-
rently in use.
When the satellite goes into full opera-
tion you can expect to see the scheduling
plans on NBS and the White Falcon will pub-
lish full schedules for each channel being
used by NBS.
With the assistance of a crane the four-man crew from the Texas-based Harris Communica-
tions bolted the satellite dish into Place atop a structure previously built by the crew.
The complete satellite system is now expected to be operational May 2. (Photo by PH3 Wood)
CAPT Mike Nash: A family man
Story by J01 Frank Fisher and
Photos by PH3 Jeff Wood
A light cold drizzle and air thick with
fog made it difficult to see clearly as we
crossed the runway to the Fleet Air Kefla-
vik hangar. P-3 Orions stood proudly in the
rain on the flight line as a sharp reminder
of one of our missions in Iceland -- anti-
submarine warfare (ASW).
As we pulled around the side of Hangar
831 it seemed a simple, unimposing place
for the headquarters of Commander Fleet Air
Keflavik -- the hub for directing ASW acti-
vities around Iceland and for the coordina-
tion of those activities with other members
of the NATO Alliance.
We crossed the hangar deck where two
Orions stood, while squadron personnel went
quietly about their business. We then
started our climb of what seemed like a mil-
lion stairs to the ComFAirKef headquarters.
We were going to see the recently promoted
CAPT Michael A. Nash, the CFK Operations
CAPT Michael A. Nash, CFK Operations Of-
ficer, was frocked to his new rank on March
1 by the CFK Chief of Staff, CAPT Thomas
Hall. CAPT Nash and his family are slated
to leave Iceland this summer.
Officer. We already knew that he was one
of the forces behind the scene at CFK and
that he has been a deciding factor in mak-
ing the staff as successful as it is.
After waiting only a few moments, CAPT
Nash emerged from a conference with CAPT
Thomas Hall — the CFK Chief of Staff -- and
greeted us with a broad smile and a warm
handshake. We were made to feel completely
at home in the antisubmarine warfare opera-
tions center's spaces.
(See Family, Page 6)