Why is John's day with his father spent looking at the array?

John often looks at the array (that stadium-looking thing surrounded by the high fence). He gazes at it from the nearby field in . He looks at it through the binoculars on the end of the pier in .
In , on the day he says he's going to spend with his father, he just stands neaby and gazes. At the end of the day, he's suddenly in a wetsuit and (for lack of a better word) materializes in various places, finally to go surfing with Butchie and Shaun.
A little web research says that facility is a Cold War era listening station. It wasn't clear what it listened for and if it had anything to do with space. It also seems that the spot might also be a place where a meteor struck at some point. 
What does this suggest about John? Is he phoning home? Where are they leading us with this?
Category:Theories