Bald Mountain is the high point of the Groom mountain range and unfortunately it's on their side. It contains radar and communications gear. The site is unmanned, and serviced by helicopter.
Given that Bald Mountain is the local high point, it would make a great location to spy on visitors if it had a really high magnification camera that could be aimed remotely. The photos below were taken minutes from each other, and it appears an object in the lower left has moved, as if it was tracking something. The photos on this page were taken from about 4 miles away.
Besides the large camera that can be moved, it is assumed there are fixed position cameras on the structure as well. [This photo is from a different position than the above photograph thanks to the road being washed out.] The moveable camera is circled for reference in the first photo, which also was tweaked a bit in Photoshop to bring out some highlights. The second photo is a bit more natural. Neither convinces me that there are other cameras on the structure.
These photos were taken in January 2005. The assumption is if the gear on Bald Mountain is covered in snow, the cameras probably will not be snow covered Most security installations use heaters to keep the cameras clear in snowy weather. That said, I circled some known or potential camera locations. The upper left circle is known to be a camera. The spot beneath is is most likely a smaller fixed position camera. The spot to the right looks like another large aperture camera, that is, as large as the movable camera to it's left.
There is a small building next to the main tower.
This is a view from a slight different observation point.
This is the other radome, not as interesting as the main structure, but included for completeness.
The FAA requires aircraft to have transponders onboard for identification purposes. Air traffic control assigns the transponder codes. The transponders are interrogated on 1030MHz, and reply on 1090MHz. The interrogation signal is sent out on a rotating beam, sweeping the airspace. With a bit of careful positioning, it is possible to determine that Bald Mountain such hardware. The 1030MHz pulse can be heard along the ET highway, pulsing about every 4 seconds, but you don't necessarily know it is coming from Bald Mountain. However, if you park at N37.49392 W115.69918, the 1030MHz signal will go away. This is because a hill is directly in the path between your radio and Bald Mountain, blocking out the nearly microwave signal [As a side benefit, the camera on Bald Mountain can't see you here.]
The famed security helicopter was sent out to investigate the suspicious character with a camera. Note the guy peeping out of the window at the side.
I only caught part of the tail number. This matches the reported tail number of 91-26352 as found here.
Yet another visit from the friendly chopper. Let's zoom into the cabin...
Just as I thought: Space Aliens!
This guy is shouting: "Click on my photo to see a video of the security chopper flying!" [3.8Mbyte Real format video.]
The famed camo dudes decided to investigate further...
In January 2002, the security forces really dissed me. Instead of a cool helicopter or late model security vehicle, they sent this 9 year old clunker out to investigate the threat to their security. In this photo (one where the camo dude face is hidden of course), you can see there is only one occupant in the vehicle and that occupant isn't even wearing camo. I suspect everyone else was busy so they sent the Maytag repairman (whom of course is never busy) to greet me.
For those really anal retentive folks out there, yes the license plate shot was from another photo. This particular area near Bald Mountain has lots of small hills with which the camo dudes like to hide the profile of their vehicles. I had to drive around a bit to make the camo dude put his truck in a position where the plate was visible.
Wonder why the national budget is bleeding red ink? It must be the cost of buying the camo dudes new trucks. This photo is from April 2002. It appears the camo dudes have been abducted by aliens, or are hiding behind the truck.
Click on the photo below to see the camo dudes in action.
This photo shows some interesting gear at the disposal of Sponge Dude. The oval shaped items appears to be glued to the windshield (windscreen for you Brits). The other item is probably a radio for the trunk system used by the base.