Anyone here once used a Tellurometer?

Never even heard of that device. It kinda reminded me of the old Beetle I used to haul around the countryside (sans the dish)

Those nice clean-looking units, but you'd have to be feeling really nostalgic to pay that kind of money for something with no practical use.?ÿ Especially the '59 model.

I myself have several edm units as part of my surveying instruments hoard. Most are of the ?ÿgeodimeter, sokkisha and keuffel brands. I donƒ??t know why but I like the look with all the buttons and ?ÿknobs.

The U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey used them for coastline surveys:

https://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/distance_tools/tellurometermra1.html

I remember hearing some old-timers talk about them when I was living in AK (USC&G first used them in the Aleutians) but I don't think I ever ran into anyone who personally used one.

I was with my father's crew one Saturday in 1964 on the south slope of Buffalo Peaks in far western Park Co., CO. and watched a hired crew lay out C-line control with the Tellurometers for the Homestake waterline project.?ÿ Pops was excited and amazed even though they were finding error in the control points he had chained/triangulated.?ÿ I thought it was witchcraft.

9 years later I had my own crew with an HP3800 here in OK.?ÿ Things changed in the blink of an eye back then.

in about 1970 I saw a crew using one like in the eBay links, Santa Rosa, California.
On Santa Rosa Avenue, at the Hern Avenue overpass. Yes, it was memorable.
The crew chief was friendly, he explained it a bit, but he kinda had the tone of "go away kid".

A decade later we used a more modern version of the Tellurometer when I was working under Ralph Blanchard for Polk County, Oregon... 1980 +/-
our units were much more compact, the size was more on the order of the HP 3800.
Two units were required, and both had to have an operator.

They were Amazing ... we were able to reach out for many miles, with very high accuracy. 20 miles or more if I recall correctly.
turning angles was not possible in daylight, much to far away to see and point to... we observed at night, turning to lights.
* A firm grasp of Geodesy and Geodetic Calculations are necessary. (modern button pushing does not cut it, Knowledge and Understanding is required)

I did find one a couple years ago in my deceased cousin's storage unit... I did not search deeper for the accessories that go with. I have too many artifacts now. Maybe I will weaken when I make another visit 😉
If someone really is interested it is probably still there, and could be had for Free.

Peter, please pick it up, before it winds up in a landfill, or getting wet in a barn, with a bad roof.

I am not old enough, to have seen one. But, I would make a guess that SOMEBODY on this site, will have a WARM place for that thing. I only read about them. I do want a Lietz Transit. The 1923 A Lietz we have, went to my brother. If I can find one, I hope to buy it.

The Lietz company was sympathetic to the Jews, in that time. Besides, ours has alot of my dried sweat on it. I stare at one of these, and the memories flood my mind...

Nate

I can't say that I actually used one, but in the mid 70's my Dept. Head/Crew Chief purchased a used model from whoever CalTrans was at the time. We took it to the field one day and attempted to measure a ?ñ31,000 long line. After about 6 hours we gave up. Several days later we went back with the 3800 and at the break of dawn on a very cold morning thought we could see the foresight (remember the tripl-prism?). We obtained a distance that checked with the calc'd distance from traversing within about 0.2'. The Tellurometer gathered dust in the back room and disappeared somewhere...

Back in 1989 I purchased a lot consisting of something like 15 of the Tellurometer CA1000 units from the Federal government on a sealed-bid sale.?ÿ

Picked them up at the Federal Center in Lakewood, Colorado and brought them home.?ÿ

Sorted through the units and determined which ones worked, then a friend and I took them out and occupied separate USGS and NGS points about ten miles apart.?ÿ I believe we found we had six pairs of working units.?ÿ We could talk back and forth over the receivers.

Sold them to an outfit based in Texas that designed microwave links all over the world.?ÿ They bought them for conducting site-to-site verification of microwave communication.?ÿ They planned to leave pairs in certain countries where they foresaw future business as it was simpler and less expensive than moving equipment in and out of those countries.

Someplace I think I still have the special pads used to reduce the observations.

GB

Never used a Tellurometer per se, but spent some time with the Cubic Electro-Tape DM20(s), which were similar. Great range but a bit of a PITA (HEAVY too).

Loyal

I was part of a crew using one for a week in the fall of 1979.?ÿ

The engineering firm I worked for had a project to obtain cross sections for flood studies in south NJ.?ÿ The boss hired a local guy to do most of the fieldwork, as we were up in Paramus, in the NE corner of the state.?ÿ The local guy obtained data at all the small streams and upland sections, but needed 3 on the crew to do the soundings across the larger streams.?ÿ My i-man and I were sent down south for a week.?ÿ It was pretty interesting; the first and last time I ever did this.?ÿ

The local guy had a boat with motor, a fathometer and a Telurometer.?ÿ We set up the Telurometer at one end of the section.?ÿ The receiver was mounted on the boat.?ÿ The fathometer was in the boat, with the sensor hanging over the sided.?ÿ We would rush to some nearby spot, usually?ÿ a dock, where he had established levels earlier and get an elevation on the fathometer sensor, then rush back to the Telurometer, take a reading, and slowly back across the stream while getting readings with the fathometer.?ÿ The i-man on the shore watched the distances on the Telurometer and said 'mark' at 50 foot intervals.?ÿ On hearing mark, I'd push a button and the cross section readings were calibrated at 50 foot stations, giving the profile scale.?ÿ As mentioned earlier, once could speak over the instrument, a nice feature.?ÿ If it all worked the first time, we'd load up the boat and be off to the next section.

Ken

@nate-the-surveyor

In my archives, it would be equally lost.

I will see if I can spark the interest of one of my kids, or grandkids first.

This is the reason I am not using a Kelsh Stereo Plotter for  desk today (besides the bulk)

They were used in our "Advanced Surveying" class when I was in school (nearly 50 years ago).?ÿ It would be set up on top of Kennesaw Mountain and the dish would be on the campus in Marietta.?ÿ Don't even ask me how it works, it just did.

Andy

They were used in our "Advanced Surveying" class when I was in school (nearly 50 years ago).?ÿ It would be set up on top of Kennesaw Mountain and the dish would be on the campus in Marietta.?ÿ Don't even ask me how it works, it just did.

Andy