Places
Communications Hill
Street
sign recognizes Communications Hill, 2005.The San Juan Bautista Hills, as the highest point in the middle of Santa Clara Valley, are a particularly suitable location for communications transmission. In the 1950s, the Santa Clara County Communications Center needed a new location, having outgrown its facility on Tully Road. The Center also needed a high point from which to transmit. The Center constructed its new home atop Oak Hill at the end of Canoas Garden Road in 1960. Presently 11 microwave transmitters are maintained at the County Communications Center by the County of Santa Clara, the City of San José, and the Federal Aviation Administration. The Center also transmits in radio waves. The County Communications building is in a restricted access area, on stable bedrock, and is seismically reinforced, to help it survive a major earthquake or other disaster. The County communications tower stands 435 feet above sea level. In the 1970s, AT&T Company followed suit and built a communications tower just south of the County center. AT&T’s tower stands 430 feet above sea level and AT&T operates five microwave paths. These prominent features lead the area to be called Communications Hill.
