this post was submitted on 14 May 2026
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What is this thing?

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I drove by it yesterday and wondered about the weird bowling pin shape.

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[–] 667@lemmy.radio 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

This is an aviation navigation beacon called a VOR, VHF Omnidirectional Radio beacon. The successor to NDB (Non-directional Radio Beacon), and the predecessor to GPS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHF_omnidirectional_range

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] vatlark@lemmy.world -1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

That cone is the tip of a missile. After they built the silo they extended the range of the ballistic missile so its about 50 ft taller than the original design.

Tap for spoiler\s

[–] Morphit@feddit.uk 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

50ft seems a pretty pathetic increase in range. They should have made the effort to make it pointy instead.

[–] 667@lemmy.radio 1 points 5 days ago

Aladeen, I assure you the current design has absolutely no effect on the aerodynamics of the system