click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
Geologically speaking, when you are at the huge triangular-shaped land mass known as Point Reyes (about 40 miles north of San Francisco) you are actually on the Pacific Plate, which has been creeping north as it slides by the North American Plate on which the remainder of California teeters. The time-scale is almost as vast as our national-debt, but eons ago Point Reyes started it's slow and creeping journey hundreds of miles to the south.
click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
This is the tunnel of Cypress trees leading to the historic ship-to-shore radio station KPH. It's a popular destination for photographers who can usually snag some nice shots here when the remainder of Point Reyes has disappeared into heavy fog.
click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
At the end of the Cypress tunnel is a building housing the receiving half of KPH, built in the 1920's. To reduce interference, the other half of KPH, the transmitter, was located near Bolinas about 15 miles to the south.
click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
But it was all business at radio station KPH -- no flapper music or what we know today as "radio". At KPH their antennas were tuned to faint signals coming from ships far out in the Pacific. Just a lot of dots and dashes reporting the status and location of ships plus any other necessary shipping-line communications -- such as the occasional S.O.S.
CLICK for my October 17, 2009 post on KPH, where I show photos from inside the receiving station.
CLICK for what I call my BIG site.
3 comments:
I once read that Point Reyes was once part of the Tehachapi range of mountains between Bakersfield and Mojave.
Nice, Don. I remember your previous post. And reminiscing about all the top shelf receiving gear I could never afford! KFS (in the baylands of Mountain View). There's also a station south of Half Moon Bay, but probably in active as well.
Hi SINBAD'S DAD -- Point Reyes having been part of the Tehachapi range is truly mind boggling... Beyond my concept of time, at least.
Great hearing from you Brad -- I'll see you and Travis on Wednesday HEY EVERYBODY if you're near San Francisco next Wednesday, stop in at Ever Gold Gallery, 441 O'Farrell, Wednesday the 10th of August, 6 to 10pm, and meet Brad Evans and Travis Jensen, who are kicking off their new book with an exhibit of their work in the Tenderloin area. These two guys are the BEST street photogs you're ever going to find! Proceeds from the book are being donated for a youth program in the Tenderloin. These guys -- Brad and Travis are "good eggs"...
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