Welcome to maritimeradio.org, where you’ll find the stories of New Zealand radio communication stations that were originally operated by the Post & Telegraph Department, and later by the New Zealand Post Office and finally by the privatised company Telecom.
These stations provided not just communications with ships but also point-to-point services internationally and to isolated parts of the country.
Although several such stations once operated from around New Zealand, all point-to-point services have now been replaced by satellites and undersea cables. A single radio station, Taupo Maritime Radio ZLM, operated by Maritime NZ serves shipping and small craft from the middle of the North Island, although it is controlled from the capital, Wellington.
One former station, Auckland Radio ZLD, has been preserved by an enthusiastic group of “ham radio” operators, while the former transmitter building at Awarua Radio ZLB became a museum in early 2016. The other stations live on in memories only, and this website aims to enhance those memories in words, photos and recordings.
Some of the material covering Awarua Radio ZLB comes from a website created by the late Alan Gilchrist. When Alan decided that he could no longer maintain his website due to failing health, he kindly allowed me to republish his material here, where I trust it will be available for many years to come.
Alan’s information came largely from Alex Glennie, whose father was an operator and manager at ZLB, so thanks also to Alex for his cooperation and generous assistance with this project (and for the photos at the top of this page – that’s his dad, Charles Alan Glennie, pictured at the microphone).
Many other people have contributed (and continue to contribute) content for this site, which is greatly appreciated, and they are mentioned in the acknowledgments.
This site now includes significant material on the very impressive Himatangi and Makara stations which were operated by the New Zealand Post Office for long-range communication.
The small radio installations at lighthouses were also maintained by the NZPO technical staff and there are some interesting notes and photos showing life at these outposts.
And of course, coast stations would be very lonely places if there were no ships to talk to, so we have the beginnings of a section on ships’ radio rooms and radio officers.
Your feedback – and any contributions of information or photographs – are much appreciated. And of course, please let me know if you spot any errors or omissions.
– Neil Sanderson, Editor and Publisher