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In the days before air traffic control people used to climb in their aeroplanes and fly where their fancy took them then they started to fly a bit further from home and felt the need to talk to someone while aviating so of course they turned on their radio and called their local maritime radio station After a while radio stations dedicated to talking to aircraft were established and in NZ these were opened by the Post and Telegraph Department who were also the operators of the maritime stations. So the 'Aeradio Service' was born.

In NZ, and no doubt many other countries, the first aeradio operators were transferred from Post Office maritime service and it seems a great many of them were also radio hams.

Now to the guts of this post, I have been promised the use of a small ex-WWI wooden hut to recreate an aeradio station at our museum so now I have a place for all this stuff I have collected over the years!

Aeradio station ready for fitting out!

(Better photos to come oneday.)

John, your 100 year old wooden hut looks in remarkable condition, did you have much restoration work to carry out? it looks tongue and groove which would expensive for wartime, would be interested to see the fitted out room. Do you have original equipment, or will you be creating reproduction items, more importantly, will you aim to get it to work?

Errr, the first thing I should do is mention the typo in my post, the hut is actually WWII, so not 100, just 75 years old! It is shiplap weatherboards and has a remarkably original interior which we will be keeping.

This is my project at the museum and will be somewhat of a tribute to those NZ Post Office coastwatchers who were captured by Japanese and beheaded. The coastwathers and the aeradio organisation of the time were somewhat entwined and post war aeradio stations all displayed a memorial plaque in their memory. Several of the aeradio officers I knew had been coastwatchers in the Pacific.

There never was an aeradio station at this airfield which allows us to build an exhibit of a typical station and we have chosen to aim for an early 1950's example. Aeradio stations of the time ranged from places like Musick Point..

...art deco in a garden setting to Milford Sound..

...which was a wooden hut somewhat smaller than our museum hut.



I have a goodly stash of genuine equipment but might have to resort to a simulation for some items fortunately there is no shortage of old dials, knobs etc for a transmitter recreation.

There is no intention at this time to put the hut 'on the air', maybe a VHF receiver on the local aerodrome traffic channel and obviously Morse code.

A picture from our aeradio shack exhibit..


https://www.dropbox.com/s/zdjxli2nxw77d ... 09_000.jpg

Recognise the R1155 in the hut, John. Bought one from the army-navy store in the 1950's, and my Dad rigged up a power supply. for it. Spent many happy hours playing.

Alison

The latest news about ATC, if you want a laugh check out the DM comments section

https://ukaviation.news/london-city-bec ... emote-atc/


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech ... ntrol.html

Woody, I must resolve never to look at a DM link. First it was continual repetition with identical text and captions and then random crap.