Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Feb 25/02) - On the highway south of Inuvik there's something big and disk-like standing on a hill.

Ask most people around here what it is, and they'll most likely shrug and say it has something to do with the airport.

Asked to ponder a photo of the device at the Cafe Gallery last week, people had all types of descriptive answers about what it might be.

"From a distance, it looks like one of those off-shore drilling platforms that blew into town," says electrician Don Mitchell, visiting from Alberta.

"When I first saw it, I thought there was a ski hill in town. Like, it looks like a lodge for skiing," says his friend, Rex Streeter.

"Maybe it's some big, secret, military satellite," says Colleen Mitchell (no relation to Don), who does economic development work in town. "I always assumed it was the air traffic tower."

The truth is it really is something to do with the airport. Specifically, it's what's known as a VOR -- an acronym which stands for VHR omnidirectional range. The VHR stands for very high frequency.

"It puts out a radio beam for every degree for 360 degrees, and pilots can follow that beam in," explains Jeff Allen, site manager for NavCanada in Inuvik. "It's one of several navigational devices associated with the airport. All the larger airports have it."

At Arctic Wings, chief pilot Carl Falsnes says the VOR in Inuvik has been around for at least 20 to 30 years, which is partly why it has such an interesting look. This is a very old one," Falsnes says. "There's newer designs, much smaller, but this one has an advantage because it's designed for the area and it's better than the average old one." He says the device gets calibrated at least once a year with the help of a specially equipped jet that flies in circles over the airport for a day checking the VOR's signal.

Although he can tell you all about the VOR, Falsnes doesn't mind keeping up with the mystery. "A lot of people ask me what that thing is, I tell them it's a UFO landing site."