A transmission site was chosen at Vatnsendi (also known as Vatnsendahæð) in Kópavogur, then uninhabited, due to its prominence over Reykjavik as well as its relatively flat land.

Two 150 metre tall steel masts made by Telefunken were erected and a wire strung between them forming a T-antenna.

[3][4] Also in 1938, the Eiðar transmission relay site serving the East Iceland was opened, initially at a power of 1kW using two 25m masts, at 614kHz (488 m).

[6] Around a dozen small medium-wave relay transmitters were constructed in the 1950s to fill in coverage gaps of the longwave service from Reykjavík, including at Akureyri and Höfn.

Two 70m tall spare masts obtained from Iceland Telecom were erected and longwave transmissions began again in November 1991, albeit with much reduced coverage.

On 9 September 1997, Hellissandur longwave transmitter began broadcasting at 300kW, converted from a recently disused 412m tall LORAN-C mast.

This was later moved to the Thor 5 satellite over DVB-S, in order to service fishing fleets around Iceland and remote areas where the terrestrial network does not reach.

[2] Rás 1 carries primarily news, weather, current affairs coverage, and cultural programming dealing with the arts, history, the Icelandic language, literature, and social and environmental issues.