AUSTRALIA: THE END OF VNG

As anticipated, the time signal station VNG closed down on December 31, 2002. It 
operated on several frequencies, including the 60 metre band channel of 5000. 
That channel is now clear of the previous high-intensity wide-band radiation 
output from VNG, which spread from 4985 to 5015.

Interestingly, the Venezuelan time signal station at Caracas on 5000 is now 
audible via short path propagation in the local Melbourne evenings around 0800, 
co-channel with WWV (Colorado) and WWVH (Hawaii), and also via long path 
propagation  around 2100.

Noted expatriate Australian radio historian, Dr. Adrian Peterson, Communications 
Director, Adventist World Asia, Pennsylvania, put together this interesting 
summary of VNG's operations....

GOODBYE VNG. According to letters sent out from the Chronohertz station VNG in 
Llandilo, in New South Wales, this station was closed down on December 31. It is 
planned that calibrations by GPS satellites will replace the signals broadcast 
by shortwave station VNG. It is possible however, that the low powered 1 kW 
service on 2500 kHz for the Sydney area may still remain on air. The history of 
VNG, with its familiar ticking sounds, goes way back more than 50 years.

Test broadcasts from a 2 kW transmitter at Lyndhurst in Victoria under the 
callsign VLX were noted back in March 1946. At the time, this transmitter was 
carrying a relay of the ABC programming in parallel with the other shortwave 
station VLR. Soon afterwards, this transmitter began to broadcast only time 
signals with a standard tone on a constant frequency. The callsign was changed 
to VNG reminiscent of earlier time signals that were emitted by maritime radio 
stations as XNG. The NG stood for navigation and the X was an abbreviation for 
transmission. 

An improved service was introduced on September 21, 1964, using a 10 kW STC 
transmitter. Subsequently, two more transmitters at 10 kW were installed at 
Lyndhurst for this chronohertz service. The ABC closed its Lyndhurst radio 
station in 1987 though the VNG service remained on air for a few months longer. 

During the following year, 1988, four of the 10 kW STC transmitters were removed 
from Lyndhurst and transferred to Llandilo in New South Wales where they were 
re-installed at the International Transmitting Station operated by the Civil 
Aviation Authority. A few years later, VNG bought two more transmitters; one was 
the 10 kW ABC unit VLQ near Brisbane in Queensland and the other was a 2.5 kW 
Harris transmitter at commercial station 2KA in the Blue Mountains out from 
Sydney. 

Over the years, various transmitter configurations have been used on various 
frequencies at VNG Llandilo. Their QSL card shows four main frequencies; 5000, 
8638, 12984 and 16000 kHz. All four transmitters were STC units at 10 kW, with 
the old VLQ in operation as a standby unit. The transmitter for the Sydney 
coverage on 2500 kHz is listed as a 1 kW Harris transmitter. 

The antennas for the four main transmitters are described as quadrant dipoles, 
and the antenna for the Sydney service was a vertical monopole. VNG was noted as 
a good verifier, from both offices in Canberra and Sydney. The Canberra QSLs in 
the form of folded sheets were signed by Dr Marion Leiba who is noted in 
Australia for her research into earthquake phenomena. Some QSLs were actual 
photos of transmitters and antennas. Anyway, whatever QSLs are held from VNG are 
now unique, in view of the fact that they represent a part of Australia's radio 
history. Incidentally, the VNG authorities are now looking for a suitable place 
to house all of these old transmitters in their retirement. A museum somewhere 
maybe?