A couple of years ago I was traveling around Point Reyes, CA. From the highway one day we spied an impressive Cypress tree tunnel, and stopped to walk the long driveway through it, where we discovered the historic Radio Station KOH.

Signs pointed to the side door where guests could enter—it’s part of the National Parks Service, and open to the public—so we took a tour of the facility. The place is a radio time capsule.

KPH was one of hundreds of coastal installations around the globe that served working ships and their crews in what is now the Golden Age of maritime radio. The expansive and long-serving Morse Code transmission site served merchant seamen and sailors of all stripes along the Pacific West coast and beyond. But with the advent of GPS, satellite communications and cell phones, commercial radiotelegraphy was made obsolete. In 1999 KPH sent its final commercial Morse message to ships at sea—but through the work of volunteers and savvy Amateurs, KPH was saved for history.