WWVH
– Kekaha, Hawaii
In Search
of the Time Signal Station
by Christos Rigas
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(This
article first appeared in the October 1994 issue of DX Chicago.)
If you read the September 1994 issue of DX Chicago, you probably found
out that I have just married Vicki, and that I spent my honeymoon in Hawaii.
Our destinations were the islands of Kauai and Maui. The first stop was Kauai,
or the Garden Island as it is called.
As usual I did bring along my
portable SONY ICF-2002, but listening to it was very limited, mainly due to
lack of time. There are lot more better things to do in Hawaii, than listen to
a radio in a hotel room, specially on your honeymoon. As it is, the shortwave
reception at the Hyatt Regency in Kauai and in Maui was extremely poor.
The
only radio related experience in Hawaii, besides listening to the car radio,
was trying to find the time signal station WWVH. If you ever tuned your
shortwave radio to the frequencies of 2.5, 5, 10 or 15 MHz, no doubt you have
heard the time signal stations operated by the National Institute of
Standards. The more widely heard station on these frequencies here in the
Chicago area is WWV from Fort Collins, Colorado. However, during certain times
of day, when propagation favors reception from the Pacific, WWVH, which
operates on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, can be heard. WWVH transmits on 2500
kHz with 5 kW of power and on 5000, 10000 and 15000 kHz with 10 kW of power.
The broadcasts consist of time signal pips, UTC time announcements by a female
voice (WWV uses a male voice), propagation information. Until recently,
receiving WWVH, was the only way to hear and QSL Hawaii as a separate radio
country based on the NASWA Country List. Since then KWHR came on the air from
Naalehu, giving the DXers another station to hear and QSL from Hawaii.
Before
I left Chicago, I checked the World Radio and TV Handbook, which listed a P.O.
Box number in the city of Kekaha as a mailing address of WWVH. When we got to
Kauai, I checked the map that came with rental car and realized, that Kekaha
is not too far from our hotel in Poipu. On top of that our next day's
activity; a visit to the Waimea Canyon would take us right through Kekaha. All
I had to do was look for antenna towers. However, that proved to be difficult,
because on the island of Kauai, there are many military installations, and
most of them feature some kind of communication towers. After leaving our
hotel on the way to the Canyon, we got on highway 50 going west. Few miles
before Kekaha, we made a right turn on the Waimea Canyon Drive, which turned
out to be a nice drive through the canyon. After visiting the Waimea Canyon
for about 4 hours, we decided to take the Kokee Road, which would take us
through the town of Kekaha. Driving down the Kokee Road, I saw some tall
towers in the distance. I assumed that it was the WWVH transmitter site. After
reaching highway 50 we made a right turn towards the antennas in the distance.
However, when we got near them, it turned out that the towers were used by US
Military, since they were located right in the middle of the Barking Sands
Pacific Missile Range Facility and Airfield. At that point we gave up on
locating WWVH. We kept on going farther on west on highway 50 to the Polihali
Beach, where we spent few
hours. Around 4 PM we started driving
back towards our hotel. After passing the Barking Sands Airfield, I have seen
more radio antennas in the distance. Once we got near the antennas (few miles
before Kekaha), a road sign pointing towards the antennas said US Navy
Facility. However in smaller letters underneath it also said Radio Station
WWVH. I wanted to get close to the WWVH building in order to take some
pictures. However, when we got to the entrance of the Naval facility, the
guard there informed us that after 3:30 PM there is nobody at the station to
show us around. After explaining to him (actually my wife did all the
talking), that we listened to the station back in Chicago, and that we only
wanted to take a picture, he gave us a pass for half an hour. Finally, we
reached the WWVH site, which is a small building next to the ocean, with
several antenna towers in different configuration. Even though, there was
supposedly nobody at the station, there was a car parked in front of the
building. However, we did not try to get inside the building because a sign
outside said, that visitors are welcomed in the morning hours and it was
already almost 5 PM. After taking few pictures, we left the site. At the gate
we thanked the guard for letting us in and returned to the hotel.
WWVH FACTS
LOCATION COORDINATES: 21:59.26N / 159:46.00W (Kekaha, Kauai, Hawai)
2500
kHz – 5,000 Watts
Radio Station WWVH
5000
kHz – 10,000 Watts
P.O. Box 417
10000 kHz – 10,000 Watts
Kekaha, Hawaii
15000 kHz – 10,000 Watts
96752
The broadcasts on 5000, 10000 and
15000 kHz are from phased vertical half-dipole arrays. The 2500 kHz antenna is
a half-wave dipole.
WWVH
is stationed in Hawaii and provides principal coverage in the Pacific Basin.
After serving the Pacific area for 23 years from the Island of Hawaii, Radio
Station WWVH was relocated to the western edge of Maui, the Island of Kauai,
Hawaii. The facility is located on 30 acres near Kekaha at Kokole Point.
Around the clock, continuous broadcast services from Hawaii supplement those
from WWV in Colorado.
The time announcements on WWVH are made by a female announcer. WWV uses a male voice and WWVH uses a female voice. The antenna system of WWVH in Hawaii is especially designed to minimize radiation back toward the U.S. mainland in order to prevent mutual interference with WWV on the same frequencies. However, interference sometimes occurs under favorable propagation conditions. Often in the nighttime hours, it is possible to hear both stations simultaneously. The two "voices" never speak at the same time.
For
further reading about WWVH, WWV and WWVB go to the following web site. This
site includes some nice pictures of the WWV,WWVH and WWVB antennas.
WWVH
QSL cards:
