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Radio Australia 70 year anniversary - WIN news coverage May 2014
Beaming Radio Australia around the world on shortwave
Updated 15 May 2014, 12:40 AESTInside the studios of Radio Australia, it's all hustle and bustle, but you'll need to travel 200 kilometers up the road to find the place where the international broadcaster's signal is beamed to the region. Radio Australia's transmission site is based in Shepparton, in central Victoria. The site was first used for ABC broadcasts in 1944.
Chosen for its flat landscape and soil conductivity, the site is 600 acres, or 200 hectares, and is home to seven transmitters of 100 kilowatt capacity.
There are 13 antennas supported by masts 70 metres tall that beam Radio Australia's signal up to the ionosphere. The signal bounces off the ionosphere and is sent back to Earth in the direction of the receiving transmitter.
It's a precise art that's been mastered by the seven staff whose duties also include maintaining the facility and equipment.
Terry Fahey is the team leader at the Radio Australia transmission site and has had plenty of time to perfect his behind the scenes radio technical skills. After all, he's been sending our signal to you for 34 years.
Extract from
1943 - ABC Radio Australia - Shepparton (Victoria)
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Soon
after the onset of the European Conflict in 1939, discussions
took place between the imperial leaders in
London and the government leaders in Canada and Australia. These
discussions focused
on the setting up of large international
shortwave stations for use as a possible backup for the BBC Empire
Service in England.
Work moved ahead in both countries, and two
large shortwave bases were established; Sackville in Canada for Radio
Canada International
and Shepparton in Australia for "Australia
Calling".
Site
surveys for the Australian shortwave station were conducted
in many areas of south eastern Australia, and
finally the decision settled upon a grassland location of 200 hectares
in the
fertile fruit-growing Goulburn valley of
central Victoria. This site, 6 km north of the town of Shepparton, on Verney
Rd, Lemnos, was reasonably accessible to the
three major cities, Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, and it was suitable
propagationally for a large shortwave
station.
February 1943
The main transmitter hall was completed in February 1943, and even though it was designed to contain three transmitters, yet none could be found. Finally, an agreement was reached with the United States, and a 50 kW RCA transmitter, originally allocated to the "Voice of America", was diverted for installation at Shepparton.
The
agreement between the American and Australian governments
included a proviso that this lendlease
transmitter should also carry a relay of programming from the "Voice of
America". Thus
it was, that the 90 minute daily program, the
"Philippine Hour", was heard on relay from "Australia Calling" in
Australia
for a year or two.
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