Fanning Island (From our Archives)
Letter from Desmond Kinnersley (25/2/04):

I am attaching some digital photos of some of the equipment in use on the old telegraph cables. They were taken at Fanning Island in 1962 about a year before the station closed due to COMPAC coming into service.

The equipment pictured was the the tri channel equipment used at Fanning Island on the fast cables between Suva, Fanning and Bamfield(Vancouver) to provide time division mutliplex operation ( even though it was done with cams and contacts). Additional slow speed cables were also operational between these stations.

Both these cable types were capable of SIMPLEX operation only, so the direction of operation on the Fast/Slow cables depended on Traffic peaks.

Normally these cable were switched on a 12 hourly basis.

When working FAST HOMES (towards London) to suit Australian/NZ traffic peaks, the three channels were integrated at Suva:

A channel traffic from Sydney using the Sydney/Southport/Norfolk Island/Suva cables operating at 1087 ch per minute.

B channel traffic from NZ using the Auckland/Suva cable operating at 1087 ch per minute.

C Channel traffic from Sydney on a radio link uisng Double Current Cable Code equipment and later TOR working using Hasler MUX’s.
These three channels were then sent at an aggregate speed of 3262 ch per minute on the Suva/Fanning/Vancouver cables. A/B channels were then sent on to London using the Trans Canada landlines and Atlantic cables.

C channel was terminated at Montreal for Canadian traffic.

To suit UK traffic peaks, the cables were Changed Over to FAST OUTS (towards Australia/NZ).

A & B channels from London and C channel from Montreal were aggregated at Vancouver and sent on the Vancouver/Fanning/Suva cables at a speed of 3262 ch per minute where they were split at Suva into three separate channels.operating at 1087 ch per minute

A channel being sent to Sydney via the Suva/Norfolk Island/Southport/Sydney cable.

B channel being to Auckland via the Suva/Auckland cable.

C channel was terminated at Suva for local traffic.

The Suva/ Norfolk, Suva/Auckland and Sydney/Auckland cables were DUPLEX cables.

Note The speed of transmission on these cables were expressed in centre holes per minute. They refer to the small centre holes on the perforated tape which engage with the sprocket that feeds the tape through the transmitter unit.

 

Kevin O’Brien found these photos.

Mesage from Paul Horder

So much has changed but then so many years have passed since I first visited Ceduna!

I cannot believe I did the HSC 40 years ago. It was strange standing at the earth station and realising my last visit was at the start of my working life. It was sad to see the station locked up and the dish stowed. The lady at the tourist office told me that the cleaners went out once a week and no one else ever visited the site.

The town is well kept and appears prosperous. The foreshore, business area and main roads have been recently landscaped. The Community Hotel has been demolished and replaced by the up-market Ceduna Foreshore Hotel with building work in the final stages. Their motel units are the same as when I stayed there though the street in front of the units is now a secure car park.

Some current photos of the station and town can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11171740@N03/sets/72157627949678222/

Some 1974 photos can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11171740@N03/sets/72157628018303446/

Below is the floor plan of Ceduna 1. I found it on the web. It is from a University document on how to operate the site whilst living there. (Double click on the below image with your mouse to see all of the floor plan)

Aircraft Detection Before Radar

Message from Kerry Adams

Brian Woods kindly sent me some info on Thursday Island but I have some more questions which our members may be able to answer:

1. When did Telstra close the remaining stations?
2. How the New Zealand (TVNZ?) contract came into being? I only heard rumours of happenings after I closed Doonside and Bringelly and retired.
3. Are there only the following 2 stations left? – Charleville (QLD) and Wiluna (WA).
4. I’m interested to know about them technically and are they remotely controlled from somewhere else (AMSA Canberra??).
   What frequencies do they cover? Satellite services? etc.
5. What is the general setup now for GMDSS and coastal operations?

Please post your comments to answer Kerry’s questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben McGee (partially obscured), Graham Stephens (back to camera), Visitor, John Scott (looking at camera)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Hulme Wind Surfing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben McGee Wind Surfing

Family Gathering In ITMC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message from John Hibbard:

 

This blog invites comments from members about their experiences working on Xmas Island.

This post invites comments and stories from members who have experienced strange and unexplainable events in their working lives.