I arranged this tour for the Virginia Beach, Virginia chapter of the Society of Broadcast Engineers in July 2000.

This was at the Voice of America's Site "A", one of two shortwave transmitter sites operated by VOA in Greenville, NC.  Each site is virtually identical and sits on thousands of acres.  When approaching the site, curtain antennas are visible almost as far as the eye can see.

Curtain antennas, unlike standard AM broadcast towers, are a network of wires suspended from four towers.  These antennas operate over a wide range of frequencies and have a directional characteristic which aims the signal to a specific region of the globe.

VOA's transmitters are frequency agile, meaning that they can easily move from one frequency to the next, thus allowing each transmitter to be used anywhere on the shortwave bands.  Energy from the transmitters is fed into a large switching matrix housed in a separate building.  From there, each signal is routed to an antenna that is aimed at the intended audience (Africa, Europe, South America, etc.)

If you look carefully, you will notice the letters "GA" in some of the pictures.  That stands for "Greenville site A".

VOA programming originates in Washington, DC.  Shows are offered in over 40 languages.  VOA studios are located near the Capitol building in Washington.  For more information about VOA, visit http://www.voanews.com/english/portal.cfm.