After being used by the Wehrmacht in World War II, the summit was used intensively as a reconnaissance station until the 1990s and was no longer open to the public. In addition to the Kurz-Turm (named after its builder), which was built in 1904 as an observation tower, a second, larger tower was built by the Czechoslovak army in 1987, which is now used for air traffic control purposes and is not accessible. The corresponding NATO communications station was on the Hoher Bogen about 20 km to the south-east; other reconnaissance posts were u. a. on the Velký Zvon (Plattenberg, with a tower built in 1978 in a very similar way, with visual contact to the Čerchov plant) and the Dyleň. In addition to the Soviet Army, Main Department III of the East German Ministry for State Security also used the position on the Čerchov as a listening post (code name "RUBIN"). In the course of the opening of the border and reunification, the listening posts were given up and the Kurz-Turm has been accessible again since July 2000. The mountain offers a panoramic view of the Bavarian Forest and the Czech plain, in good weather conditions the view extends to the Alps. There is also an amateur radio relay on the mountain.
The Domažlice Tourist Club renovated the lookout tower and built an extension to the so-called short tower, which houses a small bistro. Climbing the tower costs €1.