Desert Search TN-6 and TN-7 Placement

[nuke11]

Has anyone managed to place TN-6 and TN-7 on a map? I have found the general area, but there doesn't seem to be a town of Spencer, Nevada and looking at satellite maps of the general area, there doesn't seem to much that lines up.

[dragoon500ly]

Based on the module maps, Spencer is supposed to be four miles, roughly south-south-east of the bridge.

That puts TN-6 about two miles to the west of the bridge and TN-7 roughly five-ish miles further west-north-west-ish.....

Hope this helps!

[nuke11]

That is the problem, there is no bridge on 375 in that area that I can find. It maybe just a small overpass over a cut, but no bridge shows up on google, street view or the topo maps of the area.

But I did find something that I'm guessing fits the bill nicely. On a topo map of the area there is a corral and small building shown on the map. It is call Deep Well. Based on sat images, it could be a water pumping station with animal corral.

Based on how I know Joe B did his research this could very well be what he used for TN-6 as he researched a lot thru local libraries and studied topo maps of the area.

At this point I'm placing TN-6 here at this spot.

[dragoon500ly]

Only other possibility i can think of is the dating of the module, perhaps an old bridge replaced by new construction.

But otherwise, not a problem!

Great pics!!

[mmartin798]

This was a nice exercise! Then using three points, I made measurements and calculated the distortion of the map in the module versus Google Earth. I then made careful measurements from the module map, applied the distortions from my common reference point and came up with the following positions for TN-6 and TN-7.

[mmartin798]

Double checking my work, i found a rotational component I had not accounted for which moved both TN-6 and TN-7 south, to location similar to where Nuke11 places them. So I took the opportunity to trace out the boundary of Nellis AFB Range and place the bolt hole, Spencer and Carson Wells. I used the topographical information in Google Earth to trace the Nellis AFB Range and correlated it to the top of the module map to eyeball the locations of the others. The result of that is the attached picture. It is clear that the writers and designers took some liberties with the location of Nellis AFB or did not have an accurate mapping of the area. But from the locations and topographical clues we have, the team bolt hole has to be in the Nellis AFB restricted area, meaning they come right out into a mine field. Carson Wells maps very well atop an actual ghost town, Cedar Pipeline Ranch. Spencer is described as a mining town. In the one valley that 375 passes through there are a number of old mines and mine shafts. I picked a central location that seemed to agree favorable with the top data. I don't think I will revisit this map again, but it was fun to play with.

[nuke11]

Here is an interesting topo map of the area around where you have placed Spencer. I would say this area would fit nicely with a bit of artistic license.

There is certainly an abundance of mining going on the eastern slope of the range to the north of I375.

[nuke11]

Now that the Bolt Hole has been placed, I really don't see anyway to actually work on it. Since it is on Nelis and there really is nothing in that area that could be used for a cover story to build it.

Then looking on a topo I would not to get a vehicle down from it or even up to it to build it.

Now if we shift it North and East to the Northern slope of Ragged Ridge, that moves it off Nelis and into a area close to Carson Wells that could be built at the same time as the bolt hole.

Interesting stuff.

[mmartin798]

Originally Posted by nuke11

Now that the Bolt Hole has been placed, I really don't see anyway to actually work on it. Since it is on Nelis and there really is nothing in that area that could be used for a cover story to build it.

Then looking on a topo I would not to get a vehicle down from it or even up to it to build it.

Now if we shift it North and East to the Northern slope of Ragged Ridge, that moves it off Nelis and into a area close to Carson Wells that could be built at the same time as the bolt hole.

Interesting stuff.

Moving the bolt hole as you suggest does make the map work I think as the designers intended. Carson Wells seems to be in the module for color anyway, so having the team closer doesn't affect things very much.

[dragoon500ly]

I'm certain that United Consolidated Defense Industries, a division of Morrow Industries has contractors "testing and evaluating" new prototypes all the time!

[nuke11]

So here is my Desert Search AO Overview. The distance between TN-6 and TN-7 is much shorter than 5 miles (or 8 Km). At this scale 8 Km would put it over the mountain range to the west of TN-6. This works nicely.

Nelis is the south of the map.