Hillsboro wireless tower facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hillsboro wireless tower |
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The tower near Hillsboro with airplane showing scale
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | steel tower |
| Town or city | Hillsboro, Oregon |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 45°29′08″N 122°57′10″W / 45.485502°N 122.9527°W |
| Construction started | 1920 |
| Completed | 1921 |
| Demolished | 1952 |
| Cost | $300,000 |
| Client | Federal Telegraph Company |
| Technical details | |
| Size | 626 feet tall |
| Design and construction | |
| Engineer | J.L. Miller |
The Hillsboro wireless tower was a huge wireless telegraph station located south of Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. When it was built in 1921, it was an amazing 626 feet tall! This made it the second tallest steel tower in the world, right after France’s famous Eiffel Tower. The tower was used to send messages across long distances. It stood tall for many years but was taken down in 1952.
Contents
Building a Giant Tower
The Federal Telegraph Company bought the land for the tower on September 20, 1920. The company paid $41,500 for the 331-acre site, which was about three miles from Hillsboro. The main goal was to replace an older tower in Lents, which the government had moved to Siberia during World War I.
Opening Day for KGH
The new telegraph station, called KGH, officially opened on May 11, 1921. About 500 people came to the dedication, including Hillsboro's mayor, A. C. Shute. The station had one very tall central tower, which was 626 feet (about 191 meters) high. Around it were eight shorter towers, all arranged in a circle. Once it was finished, this tower was the tallest building on the entire Pacific Coast! Only the Eiffel Tower in France and the Woolworth Building in New York City were taller in the whole world.
How the Tower Was Built
Building such a tall tower was a big job. Workers had to dig deep, 14-foot (about 4.3 meters) concrete bases to make sure the towers were super secure. An engineer named J. L. Miller guided the construction. The entire station was made of steel and cost $300,000 to build.
The KGH station used special equipment called synchronous rotary spark gap transmitters. There was a 3-kilowatt (kW) set for talking to ships that were close by, and a more powerful 5-kW transmitter for ships far out at sea. A special receiver was placed on top of "The Board of Trade" building in Portland, Oregon. Wires were set up to connect the Hillsboro tower to the Federal Telegraph Company's offices in Portland.
Changes and Operations
In September 1927, the Mackay Radio & Telegraph Company bought KGH. This company was part of a larger group called International Telephone & Telegraph Corporation. Mackay Radio quickly updated the station. They added a shortwave transmitter and replaced one of the older spark gap transmitters with a newer, more modern type.
Upgrades and Important Role
On December 31, 1928, Mackay Radio announced that an even more powerful transmitter would be installed by February 1929. This upgrade made KGH the strongest Marine Radio station in the Northwest! By April of that year, the new transmitter was ready and in use.
In October 1935, a strike by employees at Mackay caused the transmitter to stop working for a while. During World War II, the United States government took over the station's operations. It was then run by the United States Coast Guard. Finally, in 1951, the station was no longer needed, and the giant tower was taken down in 1952.
How the Tower Worked
The Hillsboro tower was controlled from Portland, Oregon. It was so powerful that it could send telegraph messages as far away as Asia and Europe! The eight smaller towers around the main one were about 1500 feet (about 457 meters) away from the central tower.
Sending Messages Far and Wide
The station used short-wave radio signals to send messages. It could transmit directly to other regional stations, like one in San Francisco, California, or straight to ships out at sea. There was also a large concrete building on the site, measuring 60 feet by 80 feet (about 18 by 24 meters) and 20 feet (about 6 meters) tall.
Another important part of the system was KEK, which started operating on July 9, 1923. KEK was the Marine receiving station. Even though it was licensed to Hillsboro, it was actually located in a building on Council Crest in Portland. The main office where all messages were received and sent was in the Postal Building in downtown Portland. The strong cables that supported the towers were over an inch thick!
Receiving Important News
KEK had four long-wave receivers. Two were for communicating with ships, and two were for receiving shortwave signals. For example, three or four signals from Federal's San Francisco operating room (from the KFS transmitter in Palo Alto, California) would be picked up by KEK at the same time. These signals were then sent to the main office in Portland.
The signals came in automatically on a long wavelength and were recorded on a paper tape. Operators would then read the signals from the tape and type them onto telegraph cards. They could do this very quickly, at a speed of 40 to 80 words per minute, and then send them out using KGH.
In 1923, The Oregon Journal newspaper reported how special this system was: "Portland is one of the very few cities in the world that has a complete ship to ship and point to point radio service. KEK receives news day and night of ships carrying loved ones, news of ships in trouble. Vessels 1,000 miles at sea report their positions nightly or might request medical aid." This shows how vital the Hillsboro wireless tower was for communication and safety at sea.
