The Coming of Aeradio Part 1

The archive of the Civil Aviation Historical Society contains the ‘Ivan Hodder Collection’ of photographs, documents, tape recordings and memoirs which reveal much about the coming of civil aviation radio communications to the remote northern parts of Australia before, during and after World War II. The following article is extracted from his journals in which he describes a resourceful, hard but rewarding working life.

Ivan Hodder (1899-1993) was a radio enthusiast by nature, having learned morse code as a sixteen year-old, and went on to join the RAAF Wireless Reserve in 1929. His spare time was spent in building and experimenting with radio transmitters which, he later discovered, was in contravention of military intelligence regulations.

Prior to 1936 there was no wireless organisation available to civil aviation, as no suitable airborne equipment was available. However this situation was now changing and the Director of Signals at RAAF Headquarters, Squadron Leader C. S. Wiggins, was seconded to the Civil Aviation Board (CAB) with responsibility for planning a complete system of Aeradio stations throughout Australia and New Guinea.

In 1938 Mr Wiggins offered Ivan a job as one four Radio Inspectors, the others being Ted Betts, Fred Stevens and Ken Dalziel. This was prior to the creation of DCA, and the small number of CAB staff (about 100) were located at Victoria Barracks in St Kilda Rd, Melbourne.

Some fifteen Aeradio stations were being installed by Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (Limited) - AWA - at the principal aerodromes and along the major air routes between Hobart in the south and Salamaua in New Guinea in the north. It was the duty of the Radio Inspector to see that the installations met the technical specifications before being handed over to DCA. They also assisted AWA by installing several stations on the Adelaide-Darwin route. As if that were not enough, Ivan and his colleagues also installed several 33 Mc ‘Lorenz’ Radio Range beacons to keep aircraft ‘on the straight and narrow’. They were constantly on the move installing equipment, repairing faults and fixing aerial systems at the Aeradio stations.

The Coming of Aeradio - Part 1 by Roger Meyer
The archive of the Civil Aviation Historical Society contains the ‘Ivan Hodder Collection’ of photographs, documents, tape recordings and memoirs which reveal much about the coming of civil aviation radio communications to the remote northern parts of Australia before, during and after World War II. The following article is extracted from his journals in which he describes a resourceful, hard but rewarding working life. Ivan Hodder (1899-1993) was a radio enthusiast by nature, having learned morse code as a sixteen year-old, and went on to join the RAAF Wireless Reserve in 1929. His spare time was spent in building and experimenting with radio transmitters which, he later discovered, was in contravention of military intelligence regulations. Prior to 1936 there was no wireless organisation available to civil aviation, as no suitable airborne equipment was available. However this situation was now changing and the Director of Signals at RAAF Headquarters, Squadron Leader C. S. Wiggins, was seconded to the Civil Aviation Board (CAB) with responsibility for planning a complete system of Aeradio stations throughout Australia and New Guinea. In 1938 Mr Wiggins offered Ivan a job as one four Radio Inspectors, the others being Ted Betts, Fred Stevens and Ken Dalziel. This was prior to the creation of DCA, and the small number of CAB staff (about 100) were located at Victoria Barracks in St Kilda Rd, Melbourne. Some fifteen Aeradio stations were being installed by Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (Limited) - AWA - at the principal aerodromes and along the major air routes between Hobart in the south and Salamaua in New Guinea in the north. It was the duty of the Radio Inspector to see that the installations met the technical specifications before being handed over to DCA. They also assisted AWA by installing several stations on the Adelaide-Darwin route. As if that were not enough, Ivan and his colleagues also installed several 33 Mc ‘Lorenz’ Radio Range beacons to keep aircraft ‘on the straight and narrow’. They were constantly on the move installing equipment, repairing faults and fixing aerial systems at the Aeradio stations.
(Poster: Qantas)	The earliest need was for communications with aircraft flying across open expanses of water. As several aircraft had been lost flying across Bass Strait it was decided to install temporary Aeradio stations at Essendon and Western Junction (Launceston). The other route for which an Aeradio service was needed resulted from the agreement between the British and Australian governments to establish an Empire Air Mail Service between the two countries. The London to Singapore section was to be operated by Imperial Airways, and the Singapore to Sydney sectors by Qantas Empire Airways (QEA). Commencing operations in 1934, QEA intended to make use of the four-engined DH86 which was fitted with the new AWA-built AS-9 50 watt transmitter and the AS-3 receiver. Because of problems with the DH86, Qantas initially used a DH61 on a mail-only service, connecting with Imperial Airways at Darwin. On 26 February 1935 the first DH86 official service left Brisbane for Singapore with Captains G. U. "Scotty" Allan and Bill Crowther. Initially it was still a mail-only service, but with the success of the initial flights and resolution of the airworthiness problems of the DH86 approval was granted by the CAB to carry passengers and this service was introduced on 17th April.
The CAB’s urgent problem was to establish a chain of ground stations between Brisbane and Darwin to support the air mail service. Although the schedule on this segment called for twelve stops (overnight at Cloncurry), very few of these locations had any form of radio facilities. Through co-operation between the CAB, Qantas and various private and official organisations along the route, an effective service emerged. It comprised Archerfield Aeradio (already operated by AWA for some time), Cloncurry Flying Doctor Service, Camooweal Post Office, Brunette Downs (a cattle station), Wave Hill (another Post Office station) and the Darwin Coastal Radio Station (callsign VID) which was operated by AWA. On paper it looked to be a rather motley array with no previous experience of Aeradio communications but it worked well, partly due to the fact that a fully qualified radio operator was carried on every Qantas flight. Soon after, the CAB was again under pressure - this time from Guinea Airways to establish a chain of Aeradio stations along he company’s Adelaide-Darwin route, which it had been operating using Lockheed aircraft for several years without Aeradio backup. AWA was not yet in a position to provide the ‘standard’ Aeradio station equipment so it was considered that, as an interim measure, four stations with 40 watt transmitters and battery operated receivers should be established at approximately 500-mile intervals along the route. This separation fitted in conveniently with aerodromes at Oodnadatta, Alice Springs, Daly Waters and Darwin. The complete equipment for each station was packaged by AWA and forwarded to the various destinations by sea, road and rail around March 1939. As AWA could not spare any engineers, Mr Wiggins decided that the CAB would do the work. Fred Stevens installed the Oodnadatta equipment, while Ivan Hodder undertook the work at Alice Springs and Darwin. Ivan was issued with a tool kit comprising two screwdrivers, a shifting spanner and a pair of pliers. As a parting gesture, he received a ‘good luck’ pat on the back and the dire warning that if he lost any tools, he would have to pay for them! Click here to read Part 2 Back to the Air Traffic Services index page If this page appears without a menu bar at top and left, click here