With the development of commercial air services (and radio) in the 1930s came the need for a supporting ground organisation. This need was reinforced by the tragic losses of the first ANA's Avro X Southern Cloud in 1931, Airlines of Australia's Stinson VH-UHH in 1937 and the second ANA's DC3 Kyeema in 1938.

At first marine radio stations were used for communication with aircraft, but soon a dedicated air traffic services organisation was established, one that continues to play a vital role in safe air transport today. A network of radio navigation beacons was also established, the beginning of the Department's involvement in the development and provision of a range of aids to navigation.

Read about Coastal Radio Stations in the Early Days of Communications With Aircraft

Read about the HF Communication Stations of Sydney
Inside Sydney's Llandilo HF transmitter station

Read about the HF Communication Stations of Melbourne

Photos of HF field strength measuring using a DCA DC-3 - c.1962

The AWA Air Mite lightweight VHF radio - 1948

The Phonetic Alphabet - Old & New

Read about the 'Q' code

Download a Movie Clip: A Position Report, 1950s-style

Photo of the interior of a Douglas DC-4 c.1950 showing the size of aircraft radio equipment

DCA's first computerised message switching system - 1973

Photos of and information about a Linesman at work splicing a cable - 2007

Andrews Spiracone HF antennas at Broken Hill - 2009

Read about Radio Navigation Aids

Direction Finding (DF)

• Photos and history of the Bellini-Tosi MF DF system - 1930s-1950s
• Photos of the High Frequency Cathode Ray Direction Finding (H/F C/R D/F) equipment - 1940

Aural Radio Range

Information about Australia's first pilot-interpreted radio navaid - the Aural Radio Range

33 Mc 'Lorenz' Radio Range

• Read the story of The 33 Mc 'Lorenz' Radio Range System
• Read the letter from C.S.Wiggins to E.C.Johnston describing the the germ of an idea to adapt the German Lorenz 'blind' landing aid for use as Australia's first standard radio navigation beacon
• See a photo of the Essendon Lorenz beacon - c.1938
• Photos of the aircraft installation of the receiver for the 33 Mc 'Lorenz' Radio Range, c.1938
• ANA advertisement 'Flying the Beam' c.1939
• Photos of the Seymour 'Lorenz' 33Mc Radio Range beacon

Homer/Non Directional Beacon (NDB)

• A photo of the Wonthaggi Non-Directional Beacon, c.1960s, and some history about NDBs
• Photos of the Ballarat Non-Directional Beacon, 2005

Distance Measuring Equipment (DME)

• The story of The Australian DME system
• Views of a typical installation:
  • internal
  • external
  • maintenance
• DME antenna development
• Operational Notes on Distance Measuring Equipment
• An early analogue DME(A) cockpit indicator for AWA VAN 3 equipment

Visual Aural Range (VAR)

• Operational Notes on the Visual-Aural Range (VAR) & Marker Beacons
• Photos of the prototype VAR installation at Melbourne/Essendon - 1947
• Photos of standard VAR installations at Hobart and Mangalore
• VAR Field Strength Monitoring - c.1949
• Chart showing the VAR instrument approach procedure for Melbourne/Essendon - 1960
• The spectacular and unique Cowes VAR - 1960s
• Mangalore VAR Instrument Approach Chart - 1967
• Chart depiction of VAR beacons - 1979

Multiple Track Radar Range (MTRR)

• The story of this revolutionary and pioneering Australian navaid of the 1940s - MTRR

Instrument Landing System (ILS)

• Chart showing the Runway 26 ILS Approach procedure for Melbourne/Essendon - 1968

VHF Omni-directional Range (VOR)

• Photos of AME T52 VOR beacons - c.1970s, and some history of the VOR in Australia
• Read about 'Betsy the mobile VOR', used for site testing in the 1970s
• Photo of the Melbourne T73A Doppler VOR (DVOR) - 2007
• Photos of Hobart and Launceston T73A DVORs - 2011

Microwave Landing System (MLS)

• Read a technical article about the INTERSCAN MLS
• Read a history of the development of the INTERSCAN MLS
• Photos of the experimental MLS installation at Melbourne/Tullamarine in 1977 & 2007

Download a history of airport lighting Lights in the Night

Read a description of the lighting at Forrest in 1928 - Australia's first airway equipped for reguar night flying

Precision Visual Glidepath

• Read about the Precision Visual Glidepath landing system
• Read the Pilots Notes for the Precision Visual Glidepath

T-VASIS

• Read about the history of The T-VASIS Landing System
• Photo of the first production T-VASIS installation, Hobart - 1965
• Photo of a typical T-VASIS lightbox
• Aerial photo of a typical T-VASIS installation
• Read the Pilots' Notes on the "T"-Visual Approach Slope Indicator System

Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI)

Photo of a typical Rotating Aerodrome Beacon

Read about the Calvert Cross Bar Approach Lighting System

See a photo of typical approach lighting systems for a precision approach (ILS) runway.

Photos of the experimental Light Weight Air Warning radar at Essendon - 1940s

• external
  
• internal

Photos of the Type 276 experimental Aerodrome Control Radar at Essendon - early 1950s

Photo of the Sydney CSF Route Surveillance Radar - c. early 1960s

Photos of the Melbourne CSF Route Surveillance Radar:

• transmitter - c.1970s
• antennas - 1984

Examine a chart showing the extent of radar coverage - 1967

Early satellite ranging experiments - c.1970

Read a Departmental 'Information Paper' on The Use of Radar in Air Traffic Control - c.1980s

Read an essay on Air Traffic Control surveillance systems, including the difference between Primary and Secondary radar

Early days - DC-3 and theodolite

Modernising - F28 and Optical Tracker

Today - Super King Air and Laser Tracker

The Phonetic Alphabet - Old & New

Australian Company Radio Callsigns

Read about the DCA publication Airway Navigational Facilities - ANFAC

Chart showing the VAR instrument approach procedure for Melbourne/Essendon - 1960

Photo of an Isuzu 500 light truck with portable generating equipment at Essendon Tower - 2007

Download the CAHS Technical Library Catalogue (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Download a partial catalogue of the CAHS collection of Aeronautical Charts (requires Acrobat reader)

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