AMATEURS AT THE HOMER

Evening Star, Issue 23379, 23 September 1939, Page 4

AMATEURS AT THE HOMER

EMERGENCY CORPS AND P.W.D. STATIONS DISMANTLED THROUGH REGULATIOHS BUT SATISFACTORY PROGKSS WAS MADE Two transmitting* stations were designed and erected by Dunedin members of the radio Emergency Corps for communication between Camp Marion and Homer tunnel and Awarua. These were completed last month and were proving very satisfactory, enabling the Public Works Department to keep in touch with the camps, but were dismantled through the emergency precautions.

Permission was granted the operators to use their private call signs on the amateur bands. The two operators— Mr W. G. Stewart (ZL4GP) and Mr A. F. Frame (ZL4GA) —members of the R.E.0., were placed on the P.W.D. staff and installed and operated the two stations. Mr Stewart was allotted the Marion station (Hollyford), using the call sign ZLEJ, and Mr Frame the Homer tunnel station, ZLEP. _ The work of choosing sites and erecting the stations was speedily carried out with the generous assistance of the P.W.D. men. Work was completed at Marion on August 25, and. at 6.30 p.m. ZL4GA contacted Mr Frame, sen. (ZL4BQ), on 3.5 me., and a very.pleasing report was received. ZL4GP thus gave his station a good try-out, which was very satisfactory, as ZLXD, Dunedin, reported good strength on all bands. On August 26 ZL4GA proceeded to the Homer site to finalise instalment, and first contact was made at 4 p.m. with Dunedin, and later Marion was in communication. August 27 found ZLEJ and ZLEP busy testing the stations on all allotted wave lengths for best results for communication work between the two camps, which are eight miles apart. Finally a wave length was discovered which gave constant results on signal strength at any time of day. The intervening mountains and hills gave the operators some thought, as they have the effect of producing bad signal " skip,” but this was overcome by the resultant of the tests. Awarua was contacted, .but owing to their being too busy Jackson’s Bay commercial station (ZLQ) took over and kept the channel open for any traffic by contacting -ZLEJ and ZLEP twice daily. During these Jackson’s Bay contacts the strength ; seldom varied, and the fact of these contacts and that Marion and Homer were "in

constant communication meant that, had the expected emergency arisen, it would have been executed without a hitch. The efficiency of the 12-watt input stations was proved by the operators when they used their own personal call signs on 3.5 me., and contacts with Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch. Dunedin, and various smaller centres were established with invariably good reports. On September 4, at 9 a.m., Homer station made good contact with Marion, .although there were 21n of frozen snow on the aerial system. Weather reports were exchanged, and word was then received to dismantle the stations owing to war precautions. A point that may be of interest to broadcast listeners is the reception at Homer tunnel and Hollyford. Daylight reception at Homer is exceedingly bad and noisy, and in the evenings from 7 o’clock the stations come through well. If the receiver is equipped with automatic volume control, programmes can be enjoyed, otherwise fading is prominent. At Holiyford the reception on broadcast is good all the time and the Dunedin community sings are very popular. Both localities are very good for low-wave reception, and the Homer people use Daventry as their entertainer. SUVAN STATIONS Variety’ on the broadcast band is available in the early evening with the fine reception at present of ZJV, Suva, Fiji, on 920 kc. Recorded programmes are broadcast and news is given at about 6.15 p.m. ZJV operates from the same studio as VPD2, which comes on the air at 10 p.m. on 31.46 m, 9,535 kc. Suva time is half an hour ahead of New Zealand, and is the “fastest” on Greenwich in the world. VP 1)2 leaves the air with the National Anthem at 11.30 p.m. New Zealand time.