NBD Otter Cliffs Maine

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• Back to Main COMMSTA Page
• Back to Main Navy Radio Page
• Please send me email if you have more info, photos, etc.

• Early Photos and History from Sparks Journal - thanks to John Dilks and Society of Wireless Pioneers
• Magazine article (Down East 11/64)
• Report and photos (National Park Service)
• Photos (from "The Fabulous Radio NBD" by Brandon Wentworth)
• Fabbri Memorial Archeological Report - lots of photos and info - another copy is here
• 1920 Magazine Article (Radio News)
• Otter Cove Walk (photos and info)
• Interview with Otter Cliffs Radiomen

1919 Photos
	LT Fabbri?	Transmitter (5-kw) of U.S. Navy Radio Station "NBD", Otter Cliffs, Bar Harbor, Maine, 1918-19. The transmitter, located at Seawall, Maine, 26 miles from Otter Cliffs, was remote controlled.
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Naval Security Group Activity Winter Harbor, Maine, began as the Otter Cliffs Radio Station, located on Mt. Desert Island, about five miles west across Frenchman Bay. The Otter Cliffs Radio Station was commissioned on Aug. 28, 1917, under the command of then-Ensign Alessandro Fabbri who, as a civilian, had cleared the land, and built and equipped the station. He then offered it to the Government as a Navy radio station in exchange for a commission in the Naval Reserve and assignment as officer in charge. Because of the lack of man-made noise within many miles, and the unobstructed span of ocean water between there and Europe, Otter Cliffs was among the best radio sites along the East Coast and could receive signals from Europe when no other station in the United States could. It was invaluable during World War I, when radio receivers were rather primitive. By 1930, the station began to handle weather reports from Iceland and Newfoundland, and emergency traffic from Europe, when atmospheric conditions were so bad that Portsmouth, Maine; Boston, Mass.; and Washington D.C., could not copy the overseas transmissions.

At the behest of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who was incommoded by what had become an eyesore on Ocean Drive, the Navy agreed to move the station to a location at the tip of Schoodic Peninsula about five miles across the mouth of Frenchman Bay from Otter Cliffs. On Feb. 28, 1935, the U.S. Navy Radio and Direction Finding Station Winter Harbor was officially commissioned with Chief Radioman Max Gunn in charge of a complement of 11 personnel.

The station's name changed several times over the years. In 1944, it was changed to Supplementary Radio Station, U.S. Naval Radio Station Winter Harbor. In 1950, it became known as U.S. Naval Radio Station (Receiver). Its final name, Naval Security Group Activity, Winter Harbor, became official on June 9, 1958, and it was under this designation that the station closed at the end of June 2002.