Background
According to letters sent out from the Chronohertz station VNG in Llandilo, in New South Wales, this station was closed down on December 31 2002. It is planned that calibrations by GPS satellites will replace the signals broadcast by shortwave station VNG.

 

It is possible however, that the low powered 1 kW service on 2500 kHz for the Sydney area may still remain on air.

 

The history of VNG, with its familiar ticking sounds, goes way back more than 50 years.

 

March 1946
At that time, test broadcasts from a 2 kW transmitter at Lyndhurst in Victoria under the callsign VLX were noted. At the time, this transmitter was carrying a relay of the ABC programming in parallel with the other shortwave station VLR. Soon afterwards, this transmitter began to broadcast only time signals with a standard tone on a constant frequency.

 

The callsign was changed to VNG reminiscent of earlier time signals that were emitted by maritime radio stations as XNG. The NG stood for navigation and the X was an abbreviation for transmission.

September 21, 1964
An improved service was introduced on  using a 10 kW STC transmitter.

 

Subsequently, two more transmitters at 10 kW were installed at Lyndhurst for this chronohertz service.

 

Closure

1987
In this year, the ABC closed its Lyndhurst radio station though the VNG service remained on air for a few months longer. 

 

1988
In this year, four of the 10 kW STC transmitters were removed from Lyndhurst and transferred to Llandilo in New South Wales where they were re-installed at the International Transmitting Station operated by the Civil Aviation Authority.

 

A few years later, VNG bought two more transmitters; one was the 10 kW ABC unit VLQ near Brisbane in Queensland and the other was a 2.5 kW Harris transmitter at commercial station 2KA in the Blue Mountains out from Sydney. 

 

Over the years, various transmitter configurations have been used on various frequencies at VNG Llandilo.

 

Their QSL card shows four main frequencies; 5000, 8638, 12984 and 16000 kHz.

 

All four transmitters were STC units at 10 kW, with the old VLQ in operation as a standby unit. The transmitter for the Sydney coverage on 2500 kHz is listed as a 1 kW Harris transmitter.  The antennas for the four main transmitters are described as quadrant dipoles, and the antenna for the Sydney service was a vertical monopole.