Long Lines site: Mendota, IL

  • Coordinates: 41º29’51.0″ N, 89º09’20.0″ W (41.49750 N, 89.15556 W)
  • County: La Salle
  • AT&T call sign: KSI20
  • Antenna Structure Registration number: 1008646
  • Height (overall): 81.7 meters (268 feet)
  • Current owner: Tower Sites Inc.
  • Current use: Unknown
  • Horn antennas? Yes (KS-15676 x4)
  • Original hops: 1960 — Buda, Norway

Mendota was a repeater site on what started as a telephone route, eventually expanded to include television traffic between 1960 and 1966, between La Porte, Indiana, and Red Oak Junction, Iowa. The site had hops to Buda and Norway.

The site contains a 268-foot, self-supported lattice tower with an equipment shelter design found at many Illinois sites. According to Terry Michaels (of Tower Sites Inc., the owner,) the white block building was the first part of the site when it was still a TD-2 telephone-only route. A two-floor concrete addition was added when the sites were upgraded with TH-1 radios that more than doubled message capacity. During this time, television was also added to the route. The second floor, accessible from a ladder on the outside, contained an air handling unit for the station’s air conditioning system.

The site is located more than three miles southwest of Mendota on North 39th Road.

Photos: May 7, 2025

Mendota site seen from about 3,000 feet to the west-southwest.
Mendota’s 268-foot tower still contains four KS-15676 horn-reflector antennas.
Mendota has an equipment shelter design found at many sites throughout north-central Illinois. The white block building came first, and was later expanded with a two-level concrete base station for additional equipment.
Tower Sites Inc. sign with the FCC Antenna Structure Registration number (1008646.)

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