AUSTRALIAN RADIO ANNIVERSARY - VLR AT LYNDHURST
It was on Monday March 12, 1934, that
the first shortwave station operated by the Australian government
began a regular broadcast service to the outback areas. March
12, 2004 is the 70th anniversary of this significant radio event
in the history of Australia and on this occasion here is the story
of this radio station, VLR in Lyndhurst Victoria.
Actually, the history of radio station VLR goes way back before
the year 1934, six years further back in fact. It was in the year
1928 that a small locally made shortwave transmitter was installed
in a small galvanised iron shed on the summit of a small hill
in a country farming area at Lyndhurst, some 40 km south east
of Melbourne.
This experimental transmitter was constructed by Post Office engineers
and it emitted just 600 Watts, usually on the 31 metre band frequency
9580. The broadcast callsign was VK3LR though when the transmitter
was on the air with experimental transmissions, the callsign was
VK3XX.
Programming from this low-powered transmitter during this era
was a composite relay from the two government mediumwave stations
in Melbourne, 3LO and 3AR, hence the composite callsign, 3LR.
In addition, there were several notable broadcasts from this transmitter
that were prepared specifically for the outback, for the Pacific
Islands and even further afield.
In 1934, a new and substantial building was erected on the same
property at Lyndhurst to house the shortwave transmitter which
was rebuilt for the occasion. On March 12, transmitter VLR was
re-activated with a regular relay for outback areas using a composite
program format from 3LO and 3AR.
It was in December 1936 that a regular bulletin of news in the
French language was introduced for listeners in the French islands
in the Pacific, and in December 1937, the experimental callsign,
VK3LR was regularised to VLR.
Right at the end of the year 1939, shortwave VLR was taken into
the inaugural service of "Australia Calling" and it
continued in use with a relay of the programming of Radio Australia
until the 10 kW VLG was inaugurated on June 21 1941. From this
time onwards, VLR was in use only for the ABC National Service
with programming for the benefit of isolated listeners in the
outback areas of Australia.
In the 1950s, a larger building was constructed around the current
building at Lyndhurst and the old one was removed. At this stage,
three new RCA transmitters were installed, each rated at 10 kW
and the original VLR unit was retired. These new units were American
navy transmitters and they were modified for broadcast usage.
Then, in the 1980s, eight STC transmitters were installed, and
any program service could be fed to any transmitter.
The original low powered VLR transmitter was on the air for a
period of 29 years stretching from 1928 to 1956 when the navy
transmitters were installed. From that time onwards, it is probable
that all 11 of the 10 kW transmitters at Lyndhurst carried the
VLR service on a rotational basis, at least on some occasions.
With the proliferation of television and the satellite delivery
of radio programming over Australia, the ABC shortwave service
from VLR was declared redundant and it was closed at 1402 UTC
on Friday June 12 1987, at the end of nearly 60 years of international
on-air radio coverage.
The original specific QSL cards verifying the reception of VLR
were issued by the PMG department in two different designs. Later,
the ABC also issued specific QSL cards for VLR in two different
designs. When the ABC introduced a standard design QSL card for
all of its relay stations throughout Australia, these cards were
also issued to confirm the reception of the shortwave unit, VLR.
(end)
(By Dr Adrian
Peterson, AWR, IN, USA <COPYRIGHT RAGUSA MEDIA GROUP>, and
reproduced with permission This story may not be further reproduced
or quoted without the specific consent of the author)