From the Radio Free Michigan archives ftp://141.209.3.26/pub/patriot If you have any other files you'd like to contribute, e-mail them to bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu. ------------------------------------------------ WARNING NOTICE - INTELLIGENCE SOURCES OR METHODS INVOLVED (WNINTEL) NEON AZIMUTH #1 - maps - May 29, 1994 ___________________________________ Maps are useful for locating U.S. military facilities and learning about their layout. They can also be useful for finding vantage points to look into the facility. For information on military facilities, military maps are the best source. The Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) has a series of maps, for aeronautical, nautical, and land (topographic) use. I highly recommend the DMA aeronautical series, because they include ground features of military installations, and topographic details. They are very colorful and of very high quality. Aeronautical and nautical DMA maps are sold by: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Ocean Service Distribution Branch, N/CG33 Riverdale, MD 20737-1199 USA telephone: (301) 436-6990 DMA land maps are sold by the U.S. Geological Survey and will be discussed below. Unfortunately DMA "range charts", such as NRCXX01 (Nellis AFB) are not publicly sold, according to a conversation I had with DMA. However, I have not tried requesting them under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) yet. You should ask for NOAA's free catalogs "Defense Mapping Agency Aeronautical Charts and Publications" and "Defense Mapping Agency Nautical Charts and Publications - Region 1 United States and Canada". The free catalogs show how to find the stock number of the area you need a map of. Here is a list of DMA aeronautical charts that I recommend. Each map listed below is U.S. $4.50 apiece. International orders should be paid for in the form of a check drawn on an American bank, or in an international money order, drawn in U.S.dollars, and made payable to NOAA. There is no charge for postage. Detail maps (these cover 1 degree of latitude X 2 degrees of longitude, and are about 56 x 86 cm). The order number is shown first, followed by a description. JOGNI1310 -- southern part of New Mexico. Includes Holloman AFB and White Sands Missile Range. JOGNJ118 -- shows the secret test facility at Tonopah, Nevada. JOGNJ119 - Groom Lake, Nevada. This one's rather odd -- it just shows a blue circle with a line in it indicating the direction of the runway, but there is no descriptive information about the length of the runway, or the name of the place. In fact, the line length is not to scale like other runway indicators on these maps. Even stranger -- other maps, such as the Geological Survey map mentioned below, show just an empty dry lake bed. JOGNI115 -- shows Edwards AFB and Edwards North (where the B-2 was tested) in California. Wide area maps (covering several hundred miles -- large, about 104 x 147 cm. Military operating areas are shown in blue boxes. Military only areas have "R" (Restricted) numbers, such as R-2515 (Edwards AFB)) TPCG18R -- shows central California and Southern Nevada. Includes Edwards AFB, and the Nellis Range (where both Groom Lake and Tonopah are located). TPCG19C -- shows New Mexico. A useful DMA publication that can be bought from NOAA is "Special Use Airspace - North and South America", U.S. $5.25, that lists all areas that the military flies in (including restricted areas) in the U.S. Another source of maps is the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). There are various types of maps available from USGS, but the most widely used are the 7.5 and 15 minute topographic maps (so named because they cover 7.5 or 15 minutes of latitude). The 7.5 minute series cover a smaller area, but are more useful because they are more recent. Most of the 15 minute series are 30 to 40 years old. However, recent DMA topographic maps are also included in the 15 minute series. The way you can identify DMA topographic maps is by a special mark the USGS uses in their catalogs (the section mark, that resembles the letter "S") and by the suffix -TM-050-00 on the map. For example, the DMA map of Cane Spring, Nevada shows the control area overlooking Yucca Flat, where nuclear weapons were tested at the Nevada Test Site. The USGS reference code for this Cane Spring map is 36116-G1-TM-050-00. You should ask for the free "Catalog of Published Maps" and "Index to Map Coverage" for the state you are interested in from: Map Distribution U.S. Geological Survey Box 25286, Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 The Catalog lists reference numbers and prices for maps for sale by USGS, while the Index is a set of maps showing the area that each USGS map covers. If you are unfamiliar with topographic maps, you might also want to ask for the free brochures "Topographic Maps" (symbols used in the maps) and "Topographic Maps-Tools for Planning" (how to use "topo" maps). Using their materials, you can find that the 7.5 minute map of Groom Lake, Nevada is 37115-C7-TF-024-00 (titled "Groom Mine Quadrangle"). This is the infamous map I mentioned above that shows an empty dry lake bed. There are also other maps out there, that might be useful. For example, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) owns vast areas of western U.S. desert that border military facilities. Here in California, the BLM has a series of "Desert Access Guide" maps that show some items that other maps don't show, such as who owns the land and desert tips. On the BLM maps, BLM land is shown in yellow, state of California public land is shown in blue, military land is shown in red, and private land is shown in white. These maps do not have as many topographic details as the DMA or USGS maps. For California BLM maps, you could contact: Bureau of Land Management California Desert Information Center 831 Barstow Road Barstow, CA 92311 telephone: (619) 256-8617 You can also buy USGS and BLM maps from private dealers, who cater to hikers. These kinds of places also carry other maps and guide books, and are a valuable information resource. (Look in the yellow pages of your phone book under "Maps). An example of such a private dealer, with a very large inventory is: Allied Services 966 North Main Street Orange, CA telephone: (714) 637-8824 You will pay a bit more for USGS maps at a private dealer, but you also have a chance to look at the map before you buy it, to see if it is what you need. As to where some interesting places are (in case you check other maps): Groom Lake -- located near 115 deg. 49' West, 37 deg. 15' North Tonopah -- located near 116 deg. 46' West, 37 deg. 47' North Edwards AFB -- located near 117 deg. 53' West, 34 deg. 53' North (look for Rogers dry lake) Holloman AFB -- located near 106 deg. 6' W, 42 deg. 52' North White Sands Space Harbor -- located near 106 deg. 25' West, 32 deg. 57' North Paul McGinnis / TRADER@cup.portal.com / trader@shell.portal.com paulmcg@aol.com / 76056.201@compuserve.com -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.3 mQCNAiwky3cAAAEEALSQbStQ0KUqh0MI/+SoqvsBmJkdsCG/kb7svjf9LFwkjd4f gXHnuaITkDKoLuy69CmUbuc2dyBStO6vcoP55VvEPLmQ7NFP/LOs84UXCNw9wkLi imGqhBHtWZthSAzORllFd5ED57dkF/pGu2gcfdwf7y0B0NjBmrxoE/cKk9YdAAUR tCVQYXVsIE1jR2lubmlzIDxUUkFERVJAY3VwLnBvcnRhbC5jb20+ =nOwT -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscription requests for NEON AZIMUTH and comments on the material can be sent to me by electronic mail to: TRADER@cup.portal.com Or, if you have printed material you would like me to post, you can send it by postal mail to: Paul McGinnis P.O. Box 28084 Santa Ana, CA 92799 USA Back issues of NEON AZIMUTH are available for anonymous FTP download from: ftp.shell.portal.com (IP address 156.151.3.4) in the directory: /pub/trader/secrecy/neon-azimuth ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Note: this publication was originally called NEON AZTEC, but the code name was changed at the request of Native Americans. It's one thing to offend the U.S. military, but I didn't realize I was offending people who have suffered far too much in this country.] ------------------------------------------------ (This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the Radio Free Michigan site by the archive maintainer. Protection of Individual Rights and Liberties. E-mail bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu)