1: L: Lashup. LP: Lashup-Permanent. P: Permanent. RP: Relocated-Permanent. M: Mobile. SM: Second-phase Mobile. TM: Third-phase Mobile. Z: SAGE. All of these designations applied to AC&W Radar Stations at one time or another; the designations of P, M, and SM were used with manual Air-Defense Control Center sites, too.

When tied into the SAGE network, all P, RP, M, SM, and TM radar sites were redesignated as Z sites. After 31 July 1963, all remaining CONUS radar sites still in use were redesignated as Z sites, even if a given site remained manual operations. New SAGE radar sites, like the three in southern Florida added to the SAGE network during the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), began as Z sites. However, no manual Air-Defense Control Center site was redesignated as a Z site, as all were phased out shortly after the SAGE Direction Center in their respective Air-Defense Sector / Air Division came on line.

There were a couple of minor exceptions to the lettering system: One Air National Guard radar facility in Colorado was used in the SAGE System, and was designated with the letters CW (i.e., Buckley Field, CO, site CW-59). Also, while there were ten Army Nike Missile-Master locations, some of which were Army sites and some of which were Air Force sites, and all shared radars with the Air Force, one of them (i.e., Fort Heath, MA) used only its NORAD site designation of MM as its ADC site designator (i.e., it was site MM 1).

Regarding M sites, in the late 1950s, Congress reportedly had concerns for approving funding of additional fixed radar stations since several �Permanent� (P) radar sites had closed after only a few years of operation due to mission changes. So, to appease Congress, the Air Force designated new sites as �mobile� (M) sites; the radar equipment could be moved to a new location in case the mission did change. The second phase of �mobile� radar sites was designated as SM sites, and the third phase of �mobile� radar sites was designated as TM sites.