The KKUA antenna site is shared by Hawaii Public Television's KMEB-TV Ch. 10, as well as KGMV Ch. 3, KAII-TV Ch. 7, KMAU-TV Ch. 12. At this height above sea level, adding a tall tower is not only silly, it is dangerous. High winds and ice loading make tall structures unwise. Besides, all you need is a few feet above ground to clear the mountain surface, and the 150 mile visibility means line-of-sight to the neighbor islands.

It takes very little power to reach maximum coverage from this place. KKUA is only 7,000 watts, and the TV stations are less than 40,000 watts, which provides about a 200 mile diameter of coverage.

Sadly, all of this will be gone by 2009. The observatories atop Haleakala have long suffered from radio frequency interference from the broadcasters up here, and everything (including the National Weather Service and the FAA) must move by the middle of 2009. A new tower site 6,000 feet lower on the mountain is where many of these stations will be relocated. That is still 4,000 feet above sea level, so coverage will not be compromised to a great extent.

The KGMV-TV3 tower. The turnstile TV antennas are almost close enough to touch, but luckly not quite.

The KKUA transmitter

This is the KMEB-TV transmitter

And the 1954 vintage RCA transmitter for KGMV-TV

The video filter for Ch 3 TV, behind the transmitter

The National Weather Service transmitter system

The view northwest towards Kahului and Makawao, with Moloka`i behind the clouds in the distance to the left.

Across the road from the TV transmitter building is the Air Force Deep Space observatory, which keeps track of space junk as well as functional space vehicles. The sides drop down at night and provide the cameras inside a 360 degree view of the sky above Maui. At 10,000 feet, it is a very clear view.

This is the view from the south side of Science City, looking at the various telescopes.

Two of the solar observatories adjacent to the TV site.

KOGG-TV 15 Wailuku, located on the south peak below Science City.