Melbourne
Radio (VIM)
This was the first coast station commencing
service from Melbourne's Domain site, and started on February 8, 1912.
It was
equipped with a 2.5 kW quenched spark gap transmitter operating on the frequency of 500 kHz, and fed into a vertical antenna
about 50 metres high.
The station was located on the hill on
Domain Rd, just south of Melbourne’s CBD.
In the mid-1920s, local longwave and mediumwave broadcasting started in Melbourne,
and listeners, particularly those in the southern suburbs had complained bitterly of severe wideband interference caused by
VIM, which blanketed the entire bands.
As a result of these problems, in August 1926, the
VIM transmitter was transferred from the Domain to the AWA site at Braybrook, west of Melbourne, at that time a rural area,
where the 3LO mediumwave, and AWA’s shortwave 2ME transmitters were located. The receiving equipment remained at the
Domain, and the transmitter at Braybrook was remotely keyed.
In 1931, the receiving equipment was moved to Ballan,
50 km west of Melbourne, at the new site managed by AWA for the shortwave Beam Wireless service.
In 1932,
the Domain facility was demolished.
In 1938, the 3LO transmitter was relocated to St.
Albans (Sydenham), along with 3AR mediumwave (which had been operating from Broadmeadows.
In 1966, the Ballan Beam Wireless station closed down,
and VIM operations were transferred to a new station at Cape Schanck from where it provided safety services for Bass Strait
and Tasmanian coastal waters until its closure on 30th June 2002 along with all the other Australian coast radio stations.
The Cape was chosen because it was 'electrically quiet', that is it was well
away from the overwhelming electrical 'noise' that has developed in the city. The Cape Schanck Facility occupied over 100
hectares. Most of it was open paddock where the large antennas were located. The buildings occupied a very small part of the
site, which incidentally was kept in 'you could eat off the floor' condition.
From the testimonials at the station it was highly regarded by seafarers
for its helpful service in providing weather reports, ship to phone communication links and communications services on a range
of bands in voice and, until recently, in Morse code.
The services provided by Melbourne Radio, such as Morse code,
were gradually closed down due to changes in policy and developments in communication technology, for example, satellite communications
systems.
