the tower was operated remotely from portland, oregon and was capable of sending telegraph message as far away as asia and europe. the eight smaller towers were from the central tower. utilizing short-wave radio signals, the station would transmit point-to-point to regional transmitters such as in san francisco, california or directly to ships at sea. on site was also a large concrete building by and tall. in addition to this, on july 9, 1923, kek began operation. the marine receiving station was licensed to hillsboro but was located in a building on council crest in portland and the main office was in the postal building in downtown portland. this downtown building is where all messages were received and relayed. the cables supporting the towers were one and one-quarter inch in diameter.