The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has campuses in Maryland, Colorado, South Carolina, and Hawaii. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Hawaiian campus? How do I get a job at NIST?”

Perhaps calling it a “campus” is a bit of an exaggeration. Ensconced within the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on the western Hawaiian island of Kauai (pronounced ka-why-ee), sits one of NIST’s shortwave radio stations, perhaps best known by its call sign, WWVH.

Kauai is a beautiful and remote island with unique climate diversity. In the middle of the island, you have one of the wettest places on Earth, Mount Waialeale (pronounced why-ah-lay-ah-lay), which receives an average of 1,148 cm (452 in.) of rain per year. Twenty-five kilometers away, the island’s western coast gets a mere 56 cm (22 in.) of rain per year. This is where you will find the NIST radio station.

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