THE HISTORY OF SHORTWAVE RADIO IN AUSTRALIA

1933 (to 1969) - Shortwave Radio Clubs in Australia

Home
Project Overview
1800s - Land Telegraphy
1874 - Guglielmo Marconi - a Tribute
1895 - Wireless Telegraphy
1901 - Wireless Telegraphy
1902 - Wireless Telegraphy in Australia
1904 - Australian Coastal Radio
1906 - Wireless Telephony
1912 - Melbourne Radio - VIM
1914 - Shortwave Wireless Telephony
1920s - Commercial Shortwave Telephony Development
1920s - Receivers
1920 - The huge RCA Longwave Station in New York
1920 - Wireless broadcasting in Australia
1920s - First shortwave stations in Victoria
1921 - Discovery of Shortwave Propagation
1921 - Koo Wee Rup (Victoria) Experimental Wireless Receiving Station
1923- Longwave Broadcasting in Australia
1923 - Evolution of Australian Domestic Radio
1924 - 3LO - Melbourne's Second Broadcaster
1924 - 3AR - Melbourne's first broadcaster
1924 - The Braybrook (Melbourne) Transmitting Site
1925 - First Shortwave Stations in Western Australia
1926 - First Shortwave Stations in New South Wales
1926 - RAAF Communications - Laverton (Vic)
1927 - Beam Wireless Worldwide
1927 - Beam Wireless from Australia
1928 - ABC Lyndhurst (Victoria)
1930 - AWA Receiving Station at La Perouse (Sydney)
1930 - AWA Radio Centre at Pennant Hills
1933 (to 1969) - Shortwave Radio Clubs in Australia
1936 - Ship Broadcaster - the MS Kanimbla
1939 - Belconnen Communications Station (Canberra)
1940 - RAAF Receiving Station at Werribee (Victoria)
1941 - RAAF Frognall (Melbourne)
1941 - ABC Brisbane
1942 - Army Wireless Chain - west of Melbourne
1942 - Dutch Stations in Australia
1943 - ABC Radio Australia - Shepparton (Victoria)
1943 - Army Shortwave HF Stations in Melbourne
1944 - ABC - Radio Australia - Looking Back
1945 - PMG Receiving Station - Highpark (Victoria)
1945 - Radio Australia - DXers Calling
1946 - Radio Australia - Communications Programs
1946 - VNG Time Signal Station
1948 - Radio Australia QSL Cards
1948 - ABC Sydney
1966 - ABC Cox Peninsula (Darwin)
1970 (to 2012) - Shortwave Radio Clubs in Australia
1975 - ABC Gnangara (Western Australia)
1975 - ABC Carnarvon (Western Australia)
1978 - Omega Navigation Station - Woodside (Victoria)
1985 - ABC Northern Territory
1989 - ABC Brandon (Queensland)
2003 - Private Shortwave Broadcasters
Timeline - Part One - 1839 to 1927
Timeline - Part Two - 1928 to 2012
SPECIAL - Licencing of Shortwave Broadcasters
SPECIAL - Radio Receivers for Shortwave
SPECIAL - Radio Monitoring as a Hobby
Epilogue
Bibliography, References and Resources
Links to the author's personal websites

Note: This Chapter is an abridged version of stories in the author's on-line autobiography "Looking Back - the Autobiography of Robert V. J. Padula, OAM - 1939 to 2011"

 

Beginnings

1922
The commercial magazine “Wireless Weekly”, which started in 1922, later be coming the monthly “Radio and Hobbies” in 1938, published a vast amount of information about radio in all its forms, including shortwave, medium wave and long wave.

The Listener In Magazine
1927
This was a weekly publication, sold across Australia, which first appeared in 1927. It was small format, about half A4, and by the late 1930s had grown to over 60 pages! It contained details of daily mediumwave radio programs from Auistralian stations for the following week, and was published by the Herald and Weekly Times, Melbourne..

A shortwave section was introduced in 1930.

Details about daily shortwave transmissionschedules were also given, in order of language: listings of May 23 1937 showed broadcasts from the German station DBA in various languages, and from Czechoslovakia OLR.Italian programs from RO were also provided. I think RO was the Italian Radio! Broadcasts from the French station TPA were provided

The magazine had many features, including constructional articles for receivers, crystal sets, antennas, amplifiers, adverts for Melbourne-based firms selling radio and electrical equipment, ads for cough medicines, books for home mechanics, Ju-Jitsu schools.

There was a special "Junior Section". An article of May 23 1937 was titled "DX Listening and Reporting - how to tune in distant stations and how to get verifications of reports".

In 1933, the magazine started a listeners' Club, know as the "Australian DX Club".Membership was 1/- annually, and people joining received a Membership Certificate and Badge, and allocated membership numbers based on their States of residence.

In 1938 the Melbourne ADXC members set up a newsletter, due to the limitations of space allocated in the "Listener In". This was offered for 3/6 annual subscription. This was orgiinally mediumwave, but was extended to include shortwave.

A shortwave section was introduced in the early 1940s.

I was a keen reader of the LI, which I had started buying in 1947.

The "Listener-In" ceased publication in 1954. TV had started in 1956, and a new magazine for Melbourne readers appeared in 1957, known as "TV Radio Week", the name being later changed to "TV Week", which survives to the present day.

All editions of the "Listener In" are on file in the Serials Section of the State Library of Victoria, Swanston St, Melbourne, where they may be viewed and copied..

1950
Following the collapse of the Australian DX Club in 1949, there was no national hobby organization in Australia dedicated to people interested in monitoring distant radio stations on shortwave and medium wave for the next two decades.

1953
Enthusiasts in Australia could join one or both monitoring clubs based in New Zealand - the New Zealand DX Radio Association ((NZDXRA - founded in 1933 closed down in 2008) or the New Zealand Radio DX League ((NZRDXL - still active at the present time).
I had joined both Clubs.

1957

The Victorian Branch of the NZDXRA had its inaugural meeting in Melbourne on August 29, 1957, and other Branches were formed in Perth, Hobart, and Sydney.

1963

During 1963 a large and rapid increase in Australian memberships for both New Zealand clubs had occurred.

At around that time, general purpose communications receivers were appearing on the Australian market, as were good quality, relatively inexpensive receivers from disposal/war surplus sources.

The first general purpose receiver to go on sale in Australia in that era was probably the Lafayette HE30, with its direct and band spread tuning dials, with good sensitivity and selectivity

There was a short-term boom with the “CB Radio” madness, and the Wireless Institute of Australia's Youth Radio Scheme encouraged youngsters to move into active radio as hobby.

Radio construction was attracting large and sustained interest for younger people in the mid-1960s, and the hobby of "DXing" was seen as a logical and natural progression for many youngsters in their teenage years.


Branches of New Zealand DX Clubs in Australia
1964
On December 5, 1964, the Sydney Branch of the New ZEALAND RADIO DX LEAGUE had its first meeting. It had been set up specifically for later conversion into a re-born all-Australian Club.

In Melbourne, a Branch of the NEW ZEALAND DX RADIO DX ASSOCIATION was operating, for similar reasons to the Sydney Branch of the League.

The Sydney Branch of the League issued its own bulletin, the “Australian DX News”, and the Victorian Branch of the NZDXRA published "The Victorian DX Listener".

I moved into the position of Branch Secretary in December 1964.

The Victorian Group met each month on Friday nights at members’ homes. Monitoring weekends to relatively noise-free locations were arranged, such as to the Mornington Peninsula. These became colloquially known as “DX-peditions”, borrowing the term from our amateur radio colleagues!

Day trips were also made to various technical centres, including the Australian Army’s Receiving and Transmitting facilities at Rockbank and Diggers Rest, west of Melbourne (in 1964), and to the Watsonia Military Base, north of Melbourne. We also visited the Lyndhurst Transmitting Station of the then PMG' Department, south east of Melbourne.

In late 1964, I started producing taped DXing programs for local mediumwave stations, titled “The World at Your Fingertips”.

The Australian Radio DX Club
1965
On June 19 1965 the Sydney Branch of the NZRDXL was annulled and the Australian Radio DX Club was set up in its place, and the Australian DX News now became the printed voice of the newly formed national society.

1966

On April 15 1966, the Victorian Branch of the NZDXRA was wound up and became the Victorian Branch of the ARDXC, and the inaugural meeting attracted 15 people.

In that year, several trips were undertaken between Melbourne and Sydney by a small core or members. In July, I travelled to Sydney, to participate in a monitoring trip to the Blue Mountains with two members from Sydney. We went to Mt Victoria, near Katoomba, driving in a blizzard. We stayed in an earthen-floor cabin, and that weekend was one of the coldest ever experienced in the area! Heating was from an old iron wood stove!

In 1966, I also travelled to Adelaide to meet the members of the South Australian Branch.

ARDXC Transfers to Melbourne

1967
Unfortunately, serious doubts had emerged in late in 1965 as to the long-term viability of the new all-Australian Club.

There were no Rules or Constitution, and the club was administered by a single individual, a young bank-clerk, with one other person (a teenage student) to assist. The Club was in essence a hand printed newsletter, produced on a Fordigraph purple-print duplicator. A second-hand ink-type duplicator, using wax stencils was subsequently acquired.

The Victorian Branch of the ARDXC continued to publish its own magazine, the Victorian DX Listener, which was often bigger and more timely than the parent Australian DX News, in Sydney.

The December 1966 ARDXC bulletin was the last to be published from Sydney, following the resignation of the people delivering key administrative functions there.

In a desperation move, a few Melbourne members, headed by myself, following a request from the Sydney people, decided to accept the administrative responsibility for the Club and in publishing its bulletin on a temporary basis. The only alternative was to dissolve the club, which by that time had grown to over 100 members.

We created a Management Committee in Melbourne, mainly composed of younger people

The January 1967 issue of the Australian DX News was the first to be published from Melbourne, using the antiquated hand-operated ink-type duplicating machine, and wax stencils, sent down from Sydney.

I was part of the ARDXC administration team continuously, from inception in June 1965, until I disassociated myself from the organization in 2000.

In early 1967, we introduced a basic Constitution and Rules, which stood the test of time for the next 30 years!

We also developed the first version of the QSL Competition Points List and Radio Countries List.

In 1967 I received a special award for “Service to ARDXC, in the form of a beautiful engraved cup, made possible by the generosity of a Club Patron, Mr Fred Kluth, in country NSW.

1968

By that year, Branches had started to appear outside of Melbourne across Australia, including a reformed Sydney group, Brisbane, Hobart, Launceston, Wollongong, Adelaide, Hamilton, Perth, Canberra, and the Goldcoast. Regrettably, most of these regional groups had lapsed by the mid 1980s.

These Branches were simply groups of members in defined geographical areas, who met informally from time to time. They had no power or authority in management of the Club’s affairs, but were consulted for their opinions and suggestions on major issues and proposals.

Click here for a continuation of this story, for the year
s 1970 to 2012

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