Vardø radio occupies a strategic position a long way to the east and north in Norway, and it covers an extensive and weather-hardened sea area. The station monitors and serves five working channels for medium-wave telephony (two in Hammerfest, one in Berlevåg and two in Vardø), as well as 17 VHF working channels. The station serves as an emergency and security listening post for an area from the Kola Peninsula on the border with Russia to Torsvåg, north of Tromsø, and two adjacent sea areas. This has contributed to the station being involved over the years in many emergency situations at sea.

Since January 2007, the coastguard’s traffic head office division in Vardø has also been operating in this building. It was in this context that the latest building development was undertaken. Traffic head office’s most important task is the control and supervision of shipping navigation whilst in transit carrying dangerous or contaminated cargo, and they cover the sea area from the border with Russia to Rørvik in Trøndelag.