Otter Cliffs Radio Station

Otter Cliffs Radio Station location, 1922

The Otter Cliffs Radio Station was a United States Navy radio facility located on Mount Desert Island in Bar Harbor, Maine.

The station was commissioned on August 28, 1917, under the command of Alessandro Fabbri, who had personally cleared the land, built and equipped the station, and offered it to the government in exchange for a commission in the Naval Reserve and assignment as officer in charge. Otter Cliffs was among the best radio receiver sites along the East Coast because of its absence of nearby man-made radio noise and unobstructed ocean path from Europe. By 1933, however, its buildings had become dilapidated and Navy funds were not forthcoming for repairs.

When John D. Rockefeller, Jr. suggested that it be removed, the Navy agreed to include the station in his donation to Acadia National Park, provided that he would build an equally good receiving station nearby. He did so at the Schoodic Peninsula's tip, about five miles away across Frenchman Bay, and in 1935 the resultant station was commissioned. (It later became NGSA Winter Harbor, and on July 1, 2002, was decommissioned and transferred to the National Park Service.)

Portions of this article are derived from the following news story, which as a product of the United States Government is not subject to copyright: "End of an Era: NSGA Winter Harbor to Close Its Doors", Story Number: NNS020321-08, 3/21/2002, by Journalist 1st Class Sarah Urban, Naval Security Group Activity Winter Harbor Public Affairs.

References

• Radio NBD, Otter Cliffs, Maine
• End of an Era: NSGA Winter Harbor to Close Its Doors

• Otter Cliffs under command of Fabbri
• Otter Cliffs under command of the Transatlantic Communications Officer
• Lease of Fabbri's amateur radio station
• Map of Radio NBD
• Obituary of Allesandro Fabbri