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| photo via Bob Padula |
Thank you Ray Robinson and Jeff White for sharing the latest edition of Wavescan
Jeff: In our feature this week, we present the little-known story of some of the first radio broadcast stations on the Australian continent, and especially their use of the longwave spectrum. Here’s Ray Robinson in Los Angeles.
Ray: Thanks, Jeff. Radio broadcasting was first launched in North America and Europe in the early 1920's. Just two wavelengths were allocated initially for use in the United States; weather reports and essential news on 485 metres (618 kHz), and entertainment and lectures on 360 metres (833 kHz). As the number of stations began to proliferate, additional channels were allocated for broadcasting, and ultimately the medium wave Broadcast Band as we know it today was established.
Over in Europe, the first radio broadcasting stations were allocated channels in two major areas of the electronic spectrum in what we would now call the longwave band and the medium wave band. It was considered at the time that the best way to gain extensive radio coverage was with very high power on longwave. And indeed, it has since been proven that the ground wave from a high power medium wave transmitter can perhaps travel 150 miles during the daytime, whereas the ground wave from a high power longwave transmitter can easily travel 800-1,000 miles during the daytime, providing medium wave-like reception quality with no skip zone and no fading. Consequently, with very large territories to cover, some of Australia's first radio broadcasting stations also transmitted for some years in the 1920’s on what subsequently became the European and Asian longwave band.
Back in the early 1920s, a total of five different stations in Australia were issued licenses for longwave broadcasting; only three of these stations were actually launched, and all three were also involved in shortwave broadcasting. This is what happened.
License Number 1 was issued by the Post Master General’s (or, PMG) Department in Australia to Farmer & Company in Sydney, New South Wales, in 1923. The allocated callsign was 2FC, and the allocated channel was 1100 metres with 5 kW. This longwave frequency corresponds to 273 kHz. The station was constructed by AWA, with studios in the Farmer's Building in downtown Sydney, and a transmitter in suburban Willoughby. 2FC, the very first radio broadcast station in Australia was officially opened on December 5, 1923.
At around the same time as License no. 1 was issued for 2FC in Sydney, four more licenses for stations on the longwave band were issued by the PMG, as follows:
2FL Sydney .5 kW 770 metres 390 kHz
3FC Melbourne 5 kW 1720 metres 175 kHz
5MA Adelaide 3 kW 850 metres 353 kHz
6WF Perth 5 kW 1250 metres 240 kHz
However, other stations were also being issued licenses to operate in the medium wave band, and so there arose a conflict as to which band was the most cost effective for broadcasting. Longwave stations required larger antennas, and since the main audiences the stations were targeting were in the cities, the reduced range of the medium wave stations was adequate for their purposes. So, as time went by, the majority of stations were operating on the medium wave band, and the few on longwave chose to migrate to medium wave where most of the listeners were tuning.
In 1926, the 2FC transmitter in Sydney was re-sited to the AWA facility in outer suburban Pennant Hills, still on longwave. However, it was at the beginning of the following year, 1927, that 2FC moved from the longwave band, to 442 metres, 680 kHz in the standard medium wave band. So, 2FC operated on longwave for over 3 years. Off-air recordings from the 1920’s are very rare, but here’s one of 2FC closing down in January 1928:
< Audio Clip – 1928 01 00 – 2FC, Sydney (680kHz) – 2345 closedown >
2FC also experimented on shortwave with its famous VK2ME in the late 1920’s. Like many of the early stations, it was taken over by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (the ABC) in 1932. In 1939, this station’s studios were used for the first broadcasts of Australia Calling. For many years, greater coverage was gained by simulcasting on shortwave domestically using a 2 kW transmitter with the callsign VLI from Liverpool, NSW. Today, 2FC is still on the air, though now under the callsign 2RN, with 50 kW on 576 kHz.
So let’s look now at the other four stations.
Around the same time that 2FC was licensed, the owners, Farmer & Co., obtained a license for a second commercial station in Sydney under the callsign 2FL. This additional station was allocated a longwave channel of either 880 metres, 341 kHz or 770 metres, 390 kHz, with a power of ½ kW. However, station 2FL was never launched, and the license was cancelled.
In Melbourne Victoria, this same commercial organization, Farmer & Co., obtained another license for a longwave broadcasting station with 5 kW on 1720 metres, 175 kHz. The projected callsign for this station was 3FC, though the call was changed to the now well-known 3LO before the station was officially inaugurated on October 13, 1925. Like 2FC in Sydney, 3LO also experimented with shortwave broadcasting using the equally famous VK3ME in Melbourne. 3LO moved onto the broadcast band at 810 kHz in the middle of the following year, 1926. And thus, 3LO operated on longwave for only about eight or nine months.
Also like 2FC, 3LO was subsequently taken over by the ABC, and had a long association with Radio Australia. Domestically, it was also relayed at times via the 10 kW shortwave transmitters at Lyndhurst, Victoria – VLR, VLG and VLH. 3LO is still on the air to this day, now with 50 kW on 774 kHz, but remarkably, still using the same callsign, 3LO.
The fourth license for a longwave broadcasting station in Australia was issued to Millswood Auto & Radio Co. Ltd., in Adelaide, South Australia. In 1923, they were allocated the longwave channel 850 metres, 353 kHz with 3 kW under the callsign 5MA. Millswood announced that they intended to inaugurate their new station towards the end of 1923, though a delay occurred.
In preparation for their new radio broadcasting service, they installed a temporary transmitter with just 250 watts output. It would appear that some test broadcasts were radiated from this temporary unit, but when the PMG Dept issued a new set of regulations for radio broadcasting in Australia, Millswood withdrew, and the license for 5MA was cancelled.
And finally, over on the west coast in Perth, Western Australia, early wireless experimenter, Wally Coxon was involved in the start-up of another longwave station, 6WF. This station was located in the Westralian Farmers Building in downtown Perth, with two massive radio towers, each weighing 3½ tons on top of the building.
Longwave broadcasting station 6WF was inaugurated on June 4, 1924, with 5 kW on 1250 metres, 240 kHz. This station remained on longwave much longer than any of the other broadcasting stations in Australia, not leaving longwave for the medium wave frequency of 690 kHz until five years later. Station 6WF was also involved in shortwave broadcasting; and it too was taken over by the ABC. Three shortwave transmitters were installed using the callsigns VLW and VLX, with some simulcasting for the domestic audience, and also with Radio Australia programming for South Africa and Indonesia. 6WF is still on the air today, now with 50 kW on 720 kHz, but again still using the same callsign 6WF.
Thus, a total of 5 different licenses for longwave broadcasting were issued by the PMG Dept in Australia. Two stations, although projected, were never inaugurated; stations 2FL in Sydney and 5MA in Adelaide. Three stations were placed on the air; 2FC in Sydney, 3LO in Melbourne, and 6WF in Perth.
The era of longwave broadcasting in Australia began on December 5, 1923 with the official inauguration of 2FC Sydney, and it ended nearly six years later when station 6WF in Perth was transferred onto the medium wave band on September 2, 1929.
All three of the early longwave stations are still on the air today, though on medium wave, and all three were involved in early shortwave broadcasting.
Back to you, Jeff.
