ABC journalist Dr Phil Kafcaloudes will host a talk in Sydney on World Radio Day, Thursday 8 February 2024, about his book Australia Calling: The ABC Radio Australia Story, exploring the history of the ABC and radio in Australia.
Organised by ABC Friends, this talk is free to attend with bookings essential: https://www.abcfriends.net.au/nsw_act.
Afterwards guests are welcome to stay for light refreshments, further discussion and to purchase signed copies of Kafcaloudes’ book.
The event commences 11.45am sharp at the Roseville Uniting Church, 7A Lord Street, Roseville.
Radio Australia at its height had 6 very powerful transmitters in Shepparton Vic, Darwin, Townsville and Perth. After Cyclone Tracy they replaced the transmitters with a transmitter in Carnarvon WA. The coverage was for the Pacific, East Asia , New Guinea and Eastern Africa. They were all high frequency (short wave) AM transmitters. The disadvantage of AM in these bands is poor sound quality and the changing of the transmission frequency at dawn and dusk and with changes in season.
In 2017 all Radio Australia high frequency broadcasts ceased leaving 13 FM transmitters covering 13 towns mostly in Eastern New Guinea. Internet streaming which is only available in some Pacific capital cities. and piggybacking on Australia TV on Intel satellite requiring huge dish receiving antennas.
Radio Australia has a competitor, Radio New Zealand. In May this year they will start broadcasting on their new high powered DRM/AM transmitter which cost $AU4 million. The signals covers almost all of the South Pacific and its companion broadcasts have been received in the West coast of North America. The digital signals are used as a program feed to some South Pacific nation's broadcasters because it is a lot cheaper than using satellite or the internet. The other advantage is that the signal from the North Island of New Zealand covers all of the ocean as well as all islands. This is over thousands of kilometres away. Digital broadcasting to the Pacific commenced 18 years ago!
Digital Radio Mondiale produces good quality reception provided the signal is strong enough. Receivers are tuned by selecting a broadcaster from a list, just like we do with TV. Thus there is no need to remember multiple frequencies. It also has an emergency warning function which can wake potential victims, make announcements to them, transmit maps and detailed text instructions in multiple languages. These instructions are indexed which allows for multiple simultaneous emergencies in different locations.