broadcast band at 530 kHz). The peak broadcasting power was from 2,000 to 3,000 watts. The UHF antenna operated at 20 watts, between 225 and 400 megahertz (MHz). GWEN site locations A 1998 U.S. Department of Transportation environmental impact survey that proposed repurposing a number of existing GWEN sites for use by the Nationwide Differential Global Positioning System listed the locations of 29 GWEN sites: Appleton, Washington Austin, Nevada Bakersfield, California Billings, Montana Bobo, Mississippi Clark, South Dakota Edinburg, North Dakota Fenner, California Flagstaff, Arizona Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Goodland, Kansas Grady, Alabama Great Falls, Montana Hackleburg, Alabama Hagerstown, Maryland Hawk Run, Pennsylvania Kirtland AFB, New Mexico Klamath Falls, Oregon Macon, Georgia Medford, Wisconsin Medora, North Dakota Onondaga, Michigan Penobscot, Maine Pueblo, Colorado Ronan, Montana Savannah Beach, Georgia Spokane, Washington Summerfield, Texas Whitney, Nebraska Termination Some of the initial towers had prompted groups of citizens in Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and California to organize to fight construction of GWEN towers in their areas. The groups believed that the presence of a GWEN node would increase the community's "strategic worth" in the eyes of the Soviet Union and thus invite attack. Responding to these groups, the Air Force repeatedly downplayed the importance of the towers, stating they were not worth that kind of attention by the Soviet Union. Amid controversy and world geopolitical changes, GWEN's value diminished greatly in the post-Cold War environment, in addition to its existence being rendered moot by the sustained effectiveness of predecessor and follow-on systems (Survivable Low Frequency Communication System and Minimum Essential Emergency Communication Network respectively). As early as 1990, legislative measures were enacted to terminate the program. In 1994, new construction of GWEN towers were banned after a defense appropriations bill eliminated any funding for the towers for one year. A few months later, the United States Air Force announced that they would terminate the construction contract to build the remaining 25 towers, except for monies used to dismantle the system. Gallery See also Command and Control (military) Differential Global Positioning System Post Attack Command and Control System (PACCS) Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network (MEECN) Emergency Rocket Communications System (ERCS) Survivable Low Frequency Communications System (SLFCS) References General Closure of the Ground Wave Emergency Network (GWEN) Relay Nodes, USAF EAIP 1998. External links FAS: Federation of American Scientists USAF Installations Military communications United States nuclear command and control Nuclear warfare 1992 establishments in the United States