WWVH Kekaha, Kaua'i, Hawai'i

In January of 2005, I took some candid photos of WWVH, out on the west side of Kaua'i
Without revealing too much, let's just say these are rare views.


The road entrance to the WWVH site

          The WWVH transmitting station is located on the far western shore of the island of Kaua'i. It was moved to Kekaha from the island of Maui in 1971. Since that time, Kaua'i has been exposed to two hurricanes, Iwa in 1982, and Iniki in 1992. Both of these storms damaged the WWVH facilities, and the antennas were changed to different designs after each weather event. Oddly, the official WWVH web site shows antennas from before 1992, which were destroyed by Iniki, and were replaced soon after the fall of 1992.

          In searching the Web, I have not found any current photos of the facility. In addition, since the fall of 2001, the WWVH facility has been off-limits to the general pulic, due to it's location on the base of the Pacific Missle Range Facility (PMRF) at Barking Sands. Perhaps some day ordinary Americans will be trusted enough to be officially allowed to look at these interesting, unique, and might I add (with a touch of irony), tax-payer financed facilities.


The WWVH site from Barking Sands Beach


The view from the dunes south of WWVH, above an old rifle range.


A detailed close-up of the center vertical antenna system. Note the various other smaller antennas nearby. This is directly adjacent to the WWVH main building.


The vertical radiator closest to the main building in the center of WWVH antenna farm.


Looking in at the center of the facility from the beach trail


This is a view of the central vertical tower and the main building just behind it.


Looking towards the vertical radiator at the north end of the compound.


A close-up view of the north vertical radiator. There is a complex array of antenna wire atop each of the vertical towers at WWVH. It is obvious that a complete re-design of these antenna systems was done after hurricane Iniki.


The view south towards Kekaha from the barking Sands beach just outside WWVH.

Return to the "look" page

For more information about Broadcast Engineering Services of Bonny Doon, call or e-mail today!


Back to the BESBD Services Page
© 2005 Broadcast Engineering Services of Bonny Doon