Focus on Asia: The Philippine Radio Story

General Douglas MacArthur Lands at Leyte Gulf  Philippines (photo via wikipedia)

General Douglas MacArthur Returns to the Philippines: The Radio Story

In May 1944, American personnel on service in Australia commandeered an American ship, the “Apache”, that was under modification in Sydney Harbor and it was fitted out with two transmitters and associated equipment, including two power generators.  An AWA shortwave communication transmitter in storage in Brisbane was modified for voice capability, and two American made International Harvester power generators, each at 50 kW, were taken from American army stores already in Australia and these items were all installed in the “Apache”.

            Back at that time, the construction of a 10 kW medium wave transmitter was nearing completion at a radio factory near Melbourne in Victoria.  This transmitter was originally intended for installation by the PMG Department for use as an ABC medium wave station on 880 kHz at an unstated location. 

            It is possible that this 10 kW unit was originally intended for installation at 6GN at Geraldton in Western Australia on 880 kHz.  A few months later, a 2 kW transmitter was indeed inaugurated as 6GN in Geraldton, though on 820 kHz. 

            Traveling alone along the east coast of Australia, the “Apache” arrived on schedule at the edge of Humboldt Bay on the northern coast of New Guinea, on October 11, 1944.  However, at this stage, the “Apache” broke down and it had to be towed into the bay area at Hollandia, where repairs were quickly carried out.

            For the first time, test broadcasts were made from the two transmitters.  Just before noon on

Friday October 13, 1944, power was applied successfully to the medium wave transmitter.  This unit was then powered down, and then power was successfully applied to the shortwave transmitter.  Next in this sequence, power was applied to both transmitters simultaneously, and then there was a loud pop, and the system closed down automatically.

            Following the quick replacement of a blown large capacitor, the system was again activated, and voice contact was made on shortwave with San Francisco.  Radio silence was imposed at 3:00 pm that afternoon on all ships in the flotilla that were bound for the Philippines.  The “Apache” went silent now for a whole week.

            Another innovative radio ship that joined the flotilla that was bound for the Philippines was the little ship that was identified as “FP47”.  This ship, just 125 feet long, was also built in the United States originally for freight and passenger traffic with Alaska.     

            The “FP47” was also taken to Sydney in New South Wales Australia, where it was completely rebuilt and re-outfitted with radio equipment that included two American army Morse Code transmitters at 500 watts each and two power generators.  The “FP47” also sailed alone from Sydney to Hollandia in readiness for the return invasion of the Philippines.

            The Hollandia contingent of ships set sail at 4:00 pm on October 12 and they were joined by many additional ships from several American bases along the northern coast of New Guinea.  The total invasion force numbered more than 750 ships that made the week long journey of 1400 miles from New Guinea to the Leyte Gulf in the Philippines.

            Included in this massive flotilla were several radio ships, most of which were fitted out with radio equipment in Sydney or Brisbane.  There were five major radio ships in the invasion fleet, in addition to a fleet of smaller and temporary radio communication ships. 

            The “Apache” was intended mainly for the transfer of press and radio information to the United States, as well as for the transmission of American radio programming to listeners in the Philippines.  The “FP47” was used occasionally for the transmission of news and information back to the United States in Morse Code, though its main purpose was for the communication and the coordination of invasion information and tactics.       

            Three radio communication ships that were in use for tactical invasion information were identified as PCER848, PCER849 and PCER850.  These American ships had each been taken to Australia where AWA transmission equipment was installed before they were deployed “up north”.  We could also mention that there were as many as a dozen additional small radio ships, some American and some Australian, that were in temporary usage for invasion events and activities. 

            The massive fleet arrived in Leyte Gulf, Philippines during the evening of October 20, 1944;

the “Apache” made a series of radio broadcasts on shortwave on October 21; and MacArthur announced to the world on October 22, his famous “I have returned” speech.

            At the time of this broadcast, MacArthur was ashore at Red Beach, north of Palo on Samar Island.  An American army vehicle, a weapons carrier, had been fitted up as a mobile communication station, and MacArthur made his speech from this location. 

            This mobile broadcast was picked up on a navy vessel off shore, the light cruiser USS “Nashville”, which was the command ship under General Douglas MacArthur for the return invasion of the Philippines.  From the “Nashville”, MacArthur’s famous words were flashed on shortwave to the “Apache” nearby, and thence across the Pacific to New Guinea, Australia, Hawaii and the United States.

            A location map giving the radio circuits in use for this historic broadcast shows that the radio signals from the two ships, “Nashville” & “Apache” were received and retransmitted by MacArthur’s radio stations at Hollandia in New Guinea and Brisbane in Australia, and thence by RCA and army radio in Honolulu, to RCA and AT&T San Francisco.  In addition, shortwave station KGEI at San Francisco in California relayed the MacArthur speech for shortwave listeners throughout the Pacific. 

(AWR/Wavescan-NWS 301 via Adrian Peterson) 

Radio Broadcasting in New Guinea

The Port Moresby Story - VIG & VHSU
In recent time, we have begun a series of progressive topics here in Wavescan on the story of radio broadcasting on the island of New Guinea. Thus far, we have shared with you the early origins back in the era of the old spark wireless stations; and on this occasion, we take a look at the New Guinea story, in Port Moresby itself.
You will remember from the previous program on this topic that the first wireless station located at Port Moresby in the Papua section of New Guinea was a temporary facility erected on Paga Hill in March 1911. A permanent spark wireless station was erected on the edge of Port Moresby two years later. This permanent 5 kW electrical transmitter was constructed from equipment provided by Father Shaw and his wireless factory on the edge of Sydney in Australia.
Wireless station VIG in Port Moresby was installed for the purpose of Morse Code communication with shipping in the waters nearby to Port Moresby, for contact with Sydney with commercial traffic and government messages, and for inland communications throughout the eastern half of the island of New Guinea. The long distance communications with Australia were often handled via intermediate stations that relayed the Morse Code messages on to the next nearest wireless station. These intermediate relay stations were located at Cooktown and Townsville, on the Pacific coast in the northern areas of the state of Queensland.
In October 1915, all wireless stations throughout the Commonwealth of Australia and all neighboring islands were placed under the control of the Australian navy, which formed part of the British navy at the time. It might be added that Port Moresby was a quite small town during this era, and it was described as having the character of a small outback town in Queensland.
Station VIG in Port Moresby was taken over by the Australian government soon after the end of World War 1, though it was transferred back to the original owners, AWA in 1922.
It was around the year 1925 that the spark wireless stations in coastal areas of Australia and nearby islands were modernized with the installation of electronic transmitters utilizing the recently introduced valves, or tubes, made in England and the United States. The Port Moresby station, along with all of the others in the maritime service throughout the South Pacific, was upgrade with the latest available electronic equipment.
In March 1931, AWA installed a high speed telegraph centre in Main Street, Port Moresby which keyed a new out-of-town facility that contained a 5 kW transmitter and a three mast antenna system beamed on Sydney.
With the progress of the Pacific Conflict, the civilian population in the city of Port Moresby was evacuated to Australia in December 1941, and the main operating facility for the radio station was transferred into Wonga Cottage, at a place called Five Mile, which was of course, 5 miles out of town. Wonga Cottage was in earlier times a quite famous vacation home for a wealthy family living in New Guinea.
That was the story of the AWA communication station VIG, from its earliest installation up to the early 1940s.
However, it so happened that AWA established another radio communication station in the province of Papua during this same era. It was an air radio facility for communication with aircraft and it was operated by AWA on behalf of the government Post & Telegraph Department.
Initially this station was on the air under the callsign VHPM, with the letters VH indicating an Australian aircraft facility and the letters PM obviously indicating Port Moresby. Following the initial series of test transmissions, the callsign was changed to VHSU.
Communication station VHPM/VHSU was heard in Australia, New Zealand and the United States when it was on the air with aircraft communications and also when it was in contact with a similar airways station located at the regional air strip near Salamaua in New Guinea. It was noted in Australia with traffic for various communication stations in New Guinea and Australia, and the messages were read very slowly, and sometimes specific words were spelled out.
Airways station VHPM/VHSU was active from September 1938 to around June 1940. There are no known QSLs from this station.
During this era around the middle of last century, the main AWA shortwave station at Port Moresby, station VIG, was often heard in the same three countries, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. On some occasions, it was noted with communication traffic, and on other occasions it was heard with program broadcasting.
Somewhat independent from the AWA shortwave facility was a new mediumwave station which was on the air under the Australian callsign 4PM, and shortwave station VIG sometimes carried a relay from this mediumwave counterpart for the benefit of distant listeners. Every now-and-again, an old QSL card from the AWA station VIG turns up, though these days they are quite rare.
OK, then on the next occasion in this series of special features on radio broadcasting in New Guinea, we will tell the story of the mediumwave station 4PM and its shortwave relay counterpart VIG.
NWS 14 via Adrian Peterson)