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Loss of ABC Shortwave put fishermen at risk
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:32 am
by VK2AOH
This news story popped up about a commercial fisherman and his crew caught at sea in Cyclone Trevor.
Of course we were told of the excellent on line service and VHF FM network which are accessible to all.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019- ... n/10922104
Re: Loss of ABC Shortwave put fishermen at risk
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 7:31 am
by VK3RX
The wisdom of the ABC dropping their HF service aside, given what he said about radio conditions affecting the BoM HF marine services, he wasn't likely to hear Radio Australia anyway.
Re: Loss of ABC Shortwave put fishermen at risk
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 8:21 am
by VK2AOH
The ABC ran much more powerful transmitters than would BOM.
Re: Loss of ABC Shortwave put fishermen at risk
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 3:23 pm
by VK5PJ
The HF vertical shower service at Katherine would have been audible with a crystal set
but the BOM services are a lot further south and as others pointed out probably not the 50 or 100 KW that the old vertical shower services ran at. These services gave fantastic coverage during their service and as one of the many people who serviced them, it was a privilege to have been part of that era.
BOM HF info is here:
http://www.bom.gov.au/marine/radio-sat/ ... adio.shtml
Re: Loss of ABC Shortwave put fishermen at risk
Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2019 9:18 am
by VK3RX
The quality of reception in the middle of thunderstorms, I'm not sure.
In any case, it would be relying on RA just happening to be broadcasting a warning about the cyclone at the time, and I don't know if they did that sort of thing in the later years, or the programming was simply a rebroadcast of RN programming.
I would be surprised if the cyclone was a complete surprise to everyone in the region, which would suggest it would/should have been known about in advance, and therefore it's movements something to keep monitoring.
If the ATSB are investigating, I suspect they will look at all aspects of the incident.