Naval Radio Station Haʻikū / Kanoeohe Omega Transmitter (Station C)

 Second World War 1939-1945, United States Coast Guard, radio station, closed / former military, United States Navy

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Beginning in 1942, contractors for the U.S. Navy began construction of the Haʻikū Radio Station, a top secret facility that was to be used to transmit radio signals to U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet. To accomplish this, they needed “easy” access to the top of the ridges, so they installed a wooden ladder up the mountain. The ladder was later replaced by a wooden staircase, and later steel, now known as Haiku Stairs.

Naval Radio Station Haiku was commissioned in December 1943. Messages to merchant ships, weather reports to naval ships, and dispatches to submarines were broadcast from here. NAVRADSTA Haiku closed in 1958.

The site was later commissioned on February 27, 1975 as U.S. Coast Guard Omega Station Haiku and decommissioned on 30 September 1997 as the the Coast Guard moved on to GPS as its preferred method of navigation.

OMEGA is the name for the first truly global radio navigation system for aircraft, operated by the United States in cooperation with six partner nations.

OMEGA was originally developed by the United States Navy for military aviation users. It was approved for development in 1968 and promised a true worldwide oceanic coverage capability with only eight transmitters and the ability to achieve a four mile accuracy when fixing a position. Initially, the system was to be used for navigating nuclear bombers across the North Pole to Russia. Later, it was found useful for submarines.

Each Omega station transmitted a very low frequency signal which consisted of a pattern of four tones unique to the station that was repeated every ten seconds. Because of this and radionavigation principles, an accurate fix of the receiver's position could be calculated. OMEGA employed hyperbolic radionavigation techniques and the chain operated in the VLF portion of the spectrum between 10 to 14 kHz. Near its end, it evolved into a system used primarily by the civil community. By receiving signals from three stations, an Omega receiver could locate a position to within 4 nautical miles using the principle of phase comparison of signals.

Omega stations used very extensive antennas in order to transmit their extremely low frequencies. Specifically, they used grounded or insulated guyed masts with umbrella antennas, or wire-spans across fjords. Some Omega antennas were the tallest constructions on the continent where they stood or still stand.

When six of the eight station chain became operational in 1971, day to day operations were managed by the United States Coast Guard in partnership with Argentina, Norway, Liberia, and France. The Japanese and Australian stations became operational several years later. Coast Guard personnel operated two US stations; one in LaMoure, North Dakota and the other in Haiku, Hawaii. Due to the success of the Global Positioning System the use of Omega declined during the 1990s, to a point where the cost of operating Omega could no longer be justified. Omega was permanently terminated on September 30, 1997 and all stations ceased operation.

Kanoeohe Omega Transmitter was one of the two stations operated by the USCG. It was inaugurated in 1943 as VLF-transmitter for submarine communication and used as antenna a wire span over Haiku Valley. At the end of the sixties it was transformed into a transmitter for the OMEGA Navigation System.

The station and trail were closed to the public in 1997.

www.haikustairs.org/historical-data
www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/haiku.htm
www.midweek.com/history-aboard-haiku-trolley-omega-stat...