VLF transmitter Lualualei is a facility of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
near
Lualualei, Hawaii transmitting orders to submerged submarines in the
very low frequency
Very low frequency or VLF is the ITU designation for radio frequencies (RF) in the range of 3–30 kHz, corresponding to wavelengths from 100 to 10 km, respectively. The band is also known as the myriameter band or myriameter wave a ...
(VLF) range.
Description
VLF transmitter Lualualei, which operates under the callsign NPM on 21.4 kHz and 23.4 kHz.
The station's current antenna was built in 1972; it consists of two guyed masts, each 458.11 metres (1503 feet) tall, which are configured as
umbrella antenna An umbrella antenna is a capacitively top-loaded wire monopole antenna, consisting in most cases of a mast fed at the ground end, to which a number of radial wires are connected at the top, sloping downwards.
They are used as transmitting antennas ...
s. They are fed by an overhead cable, fixed to a tall mast at one end, and at the opposite end to a smaller grounded mast near the
helix building
An antenna tuning hut or helix house is a small shed at the base of a longwave or mediumwave radio transmitting antenna. It contains antenna tuner – radio equipment for coupling the power from the feedline to the antenna. Alternative names inc ...
via an insulator.
At the time they were built, they were the tallest towers used for military purposes in the Western hemisphere.
The two masts are also the tallest towers used for
long wave transmissions in the Western hemisphere. Since the collapse of
Warsaw Radio Mast
The Warsaw Radio Mast (Polish: ''Maszt radiowy w Konstantynowie'') was a radio mast located near Gąbin, Poland, and the world's tallest structure at from 1974 until its collapse on 8 August 1991. Designed by Jan Polak, and one of the ...
, they may be the world's tallest structures that are electrically insulated from the ground.
See also
*
VLF Transmitter Cutler
*
Jim Creek Naval Radio Station
*
Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt
Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt is a joint Australian and United States naval communication station located on the north-west coast of Australia, north of the town of Exmouth, Western Australia. The station is operated and maintai ...
*
List of masts
The tallest structure in the world is the Burj Khalifa skyscraper at . Listed are guyed masts (such as telecommunication masts), self-supporting towers (such as the CN Tower), skyscrapers (such as the Willis Tower), oil platforms, electricity ...
Sources
External links
*
Entry at Wikimapia
Entries a
Skyscraperpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lualualei Vlf Transmitter
Communications and electronic installations of the United States Navy
Installations of the United States Navy in Hawaii
Military radio systems
Towers in Hawaii
Buildings and structures in Honolulu County, Hawaii
Radio masts and towers in the United States
Towers completed in 1972
1972 establishments in Hawaii