In 1975 I was transferred as SRO from Townsvilleradio/VIT to Thursdayislandradio/VII.

At that time OTC on T.I. was the only CRS station left manning a Flight Service (FS) Unit on behalf of D.C.A.

At VII, CRS and FS units had separate operation rooms, divided by a large glass window.

In 1977 Weipa took over the FS function from OTC.

1) Does anybody have a photo of the CRS and Flight Service Unit console on T.I.

2) I remember that the DCA RX and TX equipment was ancient. Does anybody know what type of RX and TX were used by DCA on T.I.

Thank you and regards,

Herman Willemsen,

Employed by OTC & Telstra Coast Radio Services

1966-1996

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.