Wellington Harbour from Mount Victoria, c1950. Towers of Wellington Radio ZLW visible at top left. At bottom right is the interisland ferry terminal with two Union Steamship Company vessels: Rangitira (facing out) and the smaller Tamahine (facing in). Photo: Wellington City Council. Click to enlarge
The original 1912 stone building at Wellington Radio was extended and housed the station’s transmitters in the early 1950s. Courtesy Chris
Underwood
Technicians Ray Allsop (sitting) and Rex Beechy at ZLW in the 1950s. Courtesy Chris Underwood.
“Rex was a radio technician and came down from ZLD to ZLW in the early 1950s. An extremely popular man. He died in the early 1990s.”
– Clyde Williams
Jack Colman working on a 5KW RCA transmitter at Wellington Radio ZLW in the early 1950s. Jack died 28 June 2017 in Wellington. Courtesy Chris Underwood
The open-wire feeders from the transmitters left the building via large ceramic feedthrough insulators mounted in the small panes of glass at the top of the windows in the wall behind the transmitters. However for a time there was a central row of transmitters where the feeders went via standoff insulators mounted on the ceiling to the feedthrough insulators in the windows. The photo with Jack in it shows the feeders from the central row, hence the ceiling-mounted insulators.
An interesting feature regarding the open-wire feeders is that above each of the windows holding the feedthroughs a fluorescent tube was mounted. They were not connected to the mains in anyway but they would strike and glow brightly when the open wire feeders were carrying RF from one of the transmitters. You could see the Morse code being sent by the flashing of the tube. When I returned to the station as the Senior Tech in 1970 the open wire feeders had all been replaced by coaxial cable and at first it seemed strange without the flashing tubes although you could still hear the transmitters being keyed. You could tell a lot about the health of a transmitter by the way it sounded.
– Chris Underwood
1951
Wellington Radio ZLW, in conjunction with the Dominion Observatory station ZMO, transmitted time signals using A2 (modulated radiotelegraphy) on 500 kHz.
Extract from List of Special Service Stations, July 1951, ITU Geneva
Notices to mariners were broadcast from Wellington Radio ZLW using A2 (modulated radiotelegraphy) on 500 kHz and A3 (AM radiotelephone) on 2162 kHz.
Extract from List of Special Service Stations, July 1951, ITU Geneva
Medical advice to ships was available from Wellington Radio, using radiotelegraphy.
Extract from List of Special Service Stations, July 1951, ITU Geneva
1952
Cartoon by Nevile Sidney Lodge in Lodge looks at Wellington, 1952, showing eager visitors to the Carter Observatory. National Library of New Zealand
Wellington Radio ZLW transmitted meteorological bulletins using radiotelephone and radiotelegraph.
Extract from List of Special Service Stations, July 1951, ITU Geneva, with Updates from Supplement 4 (1952)
1953
With the opening of Himatangi Radio, near Foxton, Wellington Radio became focused on maritime communications.1
1957
Wellington Radio ZLW on Tinakori Hill in 1957. Four of the six steel lattice towers erected in 1939 can be seen. In the foreground of this photo is the circular “gridpack” antenna, aimed at Colonial Knob. This was part of a two-hop link which enabled Wellington Radio ZLW to utilise transmitters at Himatangi if one of the Tinakori Hill transmitters was out of service. Evening Post photo.
In the shed facing the camera with the large roller door (photo above) lived the notorious engine-alternator plant. During my first week on the station in 1965 I was shown this large beast – it towered over me – and I was told that in future it would be my duty to start and run it once a week for an hour to ensure that it worked. I was warned that, since an accident some years before, it had at least one slightly bent con-rod and didn’t run quite as smoothly as it should.
This was followed by instruction in how to start it. This involved first checking that the power switch for it was locked in the Test Run position. Next was starting the small petrol “donkey” engine mounted on the side of the big diesel. This engine was temperamental and on some days for no apparent reason could be quite difficult to start. Having got it to start, and having let it run for a short time to warm up, came the big moment when you connected it to the big Caterpillar diesel through a dog clutch arrangement and crossed your fingers that the donkey engine wouldn’t stall.
Normally, although the small engine literally groaned with the load, all would be well and the big “Cat” would slowly turn over a couple of times then start. It was in the days before ear protection and it was loud, but you had to stay there until it settled down. Then you could shut down the petrol engine and go out for a breath of fresh air and relative quiet.
After about an hour I had to go back and shut it down; I no longer remember the procedure for this but it was simple compared with the starting procedures. Checking the oil and fuel levels was easy but overall the weekly test run was not one of my favourite duties.
– Chris Underwood
Transmitter controls at Wellington Radio ZLW in 1957. Evening Post photo
“One normally thinks of Morse being sent on CW transmitters but the NZPO normally used MCW (Modulated CW) transmitters. The advantage of this was that if a receiving station didn’t have a proper CW receiver with a BFO, and a lot didn’t, they could more easily read the signal.”
– Chris Underwood
Operators at work, Wellington Radio ZLW, 28 Oct 1957. Supervisor Austin Sumner is in the middle. Each of the operators has two CSR5 receivers made by Marconi Canada. Evening Post photo
The person in the front of the photo above is my dad Owen Bradley.
– Lyn Turner
Working on a tower at Wellington Radio ZLW in 1957. Evening Post photo
Wellington Radio Supervisor Austin Sumner places magnets representing ships on a map of the South Pacific in 1957. Evening Post photo
1958
I was born on Wellington Radio in 1958 when my father Owen (JOS) Bradley was a radio operator there. We lived in the transit flats and were neighbours with Tom Scott and his family.
-Lyn Turner
Notes:
1 Wilson, A.C. (1994). Wire and wireless: A history of telecommunications in New Zealand 1890-1987, (p 138), Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press.
