The San Clemente CCT's Support trips to Palm Springs (1970-1972)

The San Clemente (CCT) Support trips to Palm Springs Ca.
Welcome to Palm Springs
Type Of Activity	Communications Support Trips
Location
Location	Palm Springs California
Date of Activity	Nov. 19 1970 to Dec.  27 1971
Coordinates	33°49′26″N 116°31′49″W

The CCT was designed to be a quick response highly mobile unit.  We were deployed on several occasions to Palm Springs CA with the President and also provided the Vice President communications support on west coast trips and he would come to Palm Springs several times to play golf.  The Vice Presidents visits were usually pretty simple to set up and once finished required little activity because nothing was scheduled other than short motorcades to and from the golf course.

19 Nov 70 to Palm Springs CA with Vice President and Mrs. Agnew

Our First visit as a team wasn’t until November of 1970. Vice President and Mrs. Agnew were scheduled to visit for several days and play some golf.  This trip was turned into a full scale deployment of the CCT including all of our equipment as if we were going on an overseas trip. The goal was to set up all of our communications equipment as quickly as possible and establish HF contact with Cactus and establish a phone patch with DCSU Headquarters at Camp David.

 Our Motel in Palm Springs 

As soon as we arrived and checked into our motel, we started to deliver equipment. Our first stop was the GTE Central Office where we would install the Switchboard and Commcenter equipment. This would become the base for telephone, radio, radio paging and data communications.

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 Edom Hill Radio Site   
                

Our second stop would be a visit to Edom Hill where we had permanently installed Baker, Charlie and Sierra radio base stations. The San Clemente Detachment had placed these base stations here on President Nixon’s first trip to Palm Springs knowing that there would be many trips, and the only work necessary would be to power them up and test them.  The remote keying lines were ordered to terminate back at the GTE central Office.  We would return to final test everything once we were told that all of the keying lines were installed.

Our final stop that night was back at our motel to start the installation of the HF equipment in a room in the Motel. Early the next morning we would install the antenna on the roof of the Motel and started to power up the two AN/URT-23 SSB radios. I would spend the rest of the day establishing contact with Camp David, Collins Radio, Silver Dollar (Airborne Command Post) and other locations within the Andrews Airways HF system.  Successful phone patches were completed with various individuals and our activity was terminated.

The Hearst Residence Front Entrance   

The next day we visited the Hearst residence where The Vice President and Mrs. Agnew would stay on this visit.  We surveyed the residence and started to set up the USSS Command Post (CP). We completed a radio survey and headed to the Palm Springs International Airport where the VP’s arrival and subsequent departure would take place.

 Palm Springs International Airport

Vice President Agnew and Frank Sinatra Golfing in Palm Springs

Fore!!!!!

The Agnew’s spent several days in Palm Springs golfing with comedian Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra before they returned to Washington D.C. of course when they left we de-installed all of our equipment and returned to El Toro. We spent a total of 10 days in Palm Springs on this the team’s first trip.