1940
“Aliens” in New Zealand were not allowed to listen to radio broadcasts other than from New Zealand and Australia. They had to register their radio sets with the police. They were also not permitted to have telephones.1
Private radio transmitters were impounded under the Radio Emergency Regulations.
“One important unit in the Second World War was the 2nd Divisional Signals. Its various sections included many P&T staff…
…The 2nd Divisional Signals, like its predecessor in the First World War, had the task of opening and maintaining communications for the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Men from Divisional Signals were the first unit to see active service, performing, under Royal Signals’ command, the communication duties of the UK Western Desert Force during Lord Wavell’s Libyan campaign of December 1940. The Corps fought in Crete, North Africa and Italy right up to the liberation of Trieste in May 1945…
…Over the length of the war, some 67 men from Divisional Signals were killed in action or died of wounds; a further eight died as POWs and 15 through illness or mischance.” 2
1942
On 15 Oct, eight P&T radio operators serving as coastwatchers on Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands were murdered after being taken prisoner by Japanese troops.
1943
The ZC1 Mk 1 radio set saw its first action in the Battle of Vella Lavella in western Solomon Islands.
1945
Makara Radio opened in June.
1946
Private radio transmitters impounded during World War 2 were returned to their owners.
1948
The New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZBS) began short-wave service using transmitters purchased from the departing US military. “Later, the service used two Australian-made 7.5kW transmitters, originally (1938) intended for the Post Office’s overseas telecommunications, but after 1945 deemed unsuited to its requirements.” 3
1949
Notes
1 Wilson, A.C. (1994). Wire and wireless: A history of telecommunications in New Zealand 1890-1987, (p 131), Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press.
2 Wilson, A.C. (1994). Wire and wireless: A history of telecommunications in New Zealand 1890-1987, (p 134), Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press.
3 Wilson, A.C. (1994). Wire and wireless: A history of telecommunications in New Zealand 1890-1987, (p 140), Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press.