Telemetry Intelligence (TELINT) During the Cold War

Telemetry Data Collection Sysytem
The second floor of the collection facility held
most of the HARDBALL telemetry collection
equipment. Racks of equipment received, displayed,
and converted several signals before they were
recorded on magnetic tape and forwarded to NSA
for processing.
The overall facility for the HARDBALL system
was the DoD ANDERS station. An informal logo
used by the station is shown here.
The HARDBALL system at the ANDERS
location primarily contained:
• Antennas to initially receive the signals from
satellites and missiles in view of ANDERS.
These signals contained data on the satellite’s
purpose or missile’s performance, such
as reconnaissance photographs or rocket
trajectory.
• Receivers to manipulate the signals and properly
format the signals so that human operators
could use oscilloscopes to graphically
display the signals. This allowed the operator
to make sure the equipment was adjusted
properly to ensure that the signal could be
processed correctly.
• Equipment which further converted the signals
and then combined several foreign telemetry
signals into data streams, which were
then recorded on magnetic tape at the facility
or at a processing facility at another location
• Equipment to initially analyze and report the
results of the telemetry received
DoD ANDERS Station logo
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