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About the NARS Sites |
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Located adjacent to the US Navy base at Keflavik, Dye-5 was the control station for the NARS system and, for the latter half of its existence, the location of the NARS System Office. The Site 41 power plant was capable of full-time operation and, at times, carried the whole site load for extended periods. Often, the site provided power for half its load and the rest was provided by the Navy. Single personnel at Dye-5 lived in Officers' Quarters and enjoyed all the privileges of the Naval Base, which helped to compensate for the harsh winters. It was a bit harder for married employees, who lived in town and had to deal with some ludicrous customs procedures.
Although the town of Hofn was nearby, the local Icelandic population resented the small American presence and the town was off-limits for all but necessary business.
The site was located on a hill, some 2000 feet above sea- level and, during a winter storm, the road had to be cleared frequently. On many occasions, shift changes could only be made by following immediately behind the snow blower. Local electrical power was slightly unreliable and the site had a small standby power plant. Housing was available in the RDAF camp, but some chose to live in the town of Torshavn, several miles away, and found a warm welcome, for the most part. There were only a small handful of US employees at any given time and most of them enjoyed this assignment. In fact, several of the American personnel stayed around long enough to marry local girls.
NARS Site 46 - At about the same time the NARS sites were being built, work was also underway on BMEWS, the system designed to detect Soviet missles shortly after launch. The primary purpose of Site 46 was to provide communications, via NARS and DEW Line facilities, between the new Fylingdales BMEWS site and NORAD in Colorado. Because there was originally only one tropo link, Site 46 only had one building. When a second link was later added, to tie NARS to the US bases in the south of England, the equipment was crammed into an existing room. The NARS site was actually located just outside the perimeter fence of the RAF base. The BMEWS facility had its own power plant, easily able to provide reliable power to the NARS site, so there was no standby power plant at Site 46. Although the site was located in the North York Moors National Park, there were several towns and villages in the area, and housing was generally not a problem.
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NARS
Site 41 (Dye-5,) two sites in one - The DEW Line sites in Greenland; Dye-1,
2, 3, and 4 were all named according to their proximity to the site at Cape Dyer, on
Baffin Island, in Canada. It was only logical for the NARS site at Keflavik,
Iceland, which connected to Dye-4, to be known as Dye-5. Technically, the Composite
Building, linking to Dye-4, was Dye-5 and the Radio Building, linked to Site 42, was Site
41. In practice, the whole site was commonly referred to as Dye-5. 
NARS
Site 42 - In sharp contrast to the luxury of life on the Keflavik base, Site 42
was a remote location. The small Hofn base was shared with USAF personnal manning
the radar site and the facilities were limited to a dining hall, a gymnasium, a two-lane
bowling alley, and a tiny base exchange. Supplies were trucked in a couple of times
a week from the Keflavik base and air transportation was initially via Navy C-47 but,
later, there was a daily commercial flight (weather permitting) to and from Reykyavik, the
capital. Originally, the radar and NARS sites each provided their own power but, in
later years, the NARS power plant, which was larger, provided power to the whole base.
Employees were housed in a barracks and ate at the small Air Force dining hall. 
NATO
Comm Unit (Site 43) - Like their counterparts at site 42, employees at NATO Comm
Unit shared facilities and housing with the military personnel who manned the radar; in
this case, the Royal Danish Air Force. The Faroes site was manned jointly by
American civilian and RDAF personnel, who performed identical duties. 
NARS
Site 44 - The Mormond Hill site was in northeast Scotland, not far from the
fishing town of Fraserburgh. By the early '80s, Mormond Hill was home to a large
collection of tropospheric scatter antennas, owned by the USAF, the British Army, and
British Telecom. The site itself was shared with a small USAF detachment, who
operated a ground-to-air radio link. All personnel lived in or near the towns of
Fraserburgh and Peterhead. From the mid-70s, the presence of a few US personnel went
virtually unnoticed, due to the large contingent of American oil workers in the area.