In
our continuing series of topics on Australian Shortwave callsigns in the VL
series, we come to the fourth in alphabetic order, the callsign VLD. The usage of this callsign began in New
Zealand more than 100 years ago, before it was transferred for implementation
at Shepparton in Australia.
An original maritime wireless
station in New Zealand was installed in a small building on the roof of the
Central Post office in Auckland and it was taken into service on October 24,
1912 under the callsign NZK. The first
two letters in this three letter callsign, NZK, stood rather obviously for the
initial letters in the two word title of their country, New Zealand, and the K
identified one of the letters in the city name Auckland. Towards the end of the year 1913, the
callsign for Auckland Radio was changed from NZK to VLD, due to new
international wireless regulations.
However just three years later, this
small maritime wireless station VLD on top of the post office building in
Auckland was closed in favor of the new and stronger VLA at Awanui, 150 miles
distant at the top of the North Island.
At this stage though, station VLD was not dismantled; instead it was
maintained for later regular or emergency usage.
In 1923, the station was moved from
the roof top to the first floor of the same post office building which was
adjacent to the Central Telegraph Office.
Then in 1927, the callsign was changed from VLD to ZLD, due again to
changes in international radio regulations.
Three years later, the station was
reactivated for regular usage; then three years later again, a new station was
built at a new location; and that station was ultimately and finally closed in
1993.
Thus, for an intervening period of
some 15 years running from 1927 to 1942, there was no known usage of the
callsign VLD; not in New Zealand, not in Australia, nor in the Pacific. However, around the middle of World War 2,
the callsign VLD was noted on the air in Papua New Guinea. An outpost communication station located at
Mt. Hagen in the central areas of the Australian mandated territory of Papua
New Guinea was noted as VLD5 in contact with the coastal station VIV in Madang.
However, comes the year 1956, and
plans are well underway for international news coverage from Australia for the
Olympic games, which were staged in the city of Melbourne in the state of
Victoria. Plans were already well
underway for a modernization project at the Radio Australia shortwave station
near Shepparton in central Victoria, and among these new developments was the
installation of new transmitters.
One of the new transmitters slated
for installation at Shepparton at this stage was an American made 50 kW RCA
unit model no. BH506. This new
transmitter under the callsign VLD was installed and taken into special service
for the Summer Olympics which began on November 11 (1956). After the conclusion of the Olympics, the new
VLD continued in service with Radio Australia, carrying their regular
programing from studios in Melbourne.
At the end of October 1961, Radio
Australia dropped the usage of callsigns, and instead used the final letter in
each callsign as the identification for a program line from the Melbourne
studios to the various transmitter bases.
Thus, line VLD, or just D, became the identification for the program
line to a 100 kW transmitter at the Shepparton shortwave transmitter
station.
The usage of the transmitter
callsign VLD was in use on the air with Radio Australia for a period of a
little less than five years, from November 1956 through October 1961.
A few QSL cards carrying the
callsign VLD are known, though not many.
The Radio Australia QSL card in use at the time showed a map of
Australia, inset with a Kookaburra, and the Shepparton transmitters and antenna
towers. The earlier cards in this series
showed the postal address in Melbourne as Box 708H, and the later cards as
428G.
Shortwave Term Callsign VLD
It
was back on December 1, 1960, that our DX Editor, Adrian Peterson heard the
comparatively new Radio Australia callsign VLD on his shortwave radio. At the time, he was living in a small country
town in South Australia, and Radio Australia was on the air via the 50 kW RCA
transmitter under the callsign VLD7, indicating a 7 MHz channel 7220 kHz.
The QSL card verifying this
transmission depicts a map of Australia with inset photographs showing a
Kookaburra, together with the Radio Australia transmitters and antenna towers
at Shepparton. The return address on
this card shows the latter Box address in Melbourne as 428G.
(AWR/Wavescan-NWS 338)