kek had four long wave receivers. two for ship work and two for shortwave reception. three of four signals from federal's san francisco operating room (kfs transmitter in palo alto, california) were picked up simultaneously by kek and passed down to the main office in portland where the operating room was located. the signals came in on a long wavelength automatically and were received on a paper tape. operators then transcribed the signals from the tape directly on telegraph blank cards, ready for delivery at a speed of 40 to 80 words per minute over kgh.