Typical of the remote location of many navigation aids in Australia is the Mount Hope VHF Omni-directional Range, or VOR, seen here under a big Australian sky in the early 1970s. Mount Hope is located on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula at the eastern end of the Great Australian Bight, which can be seen at left in the photo above. At this time the Mount Hope VOR was a vital navigation aid for aircraft flying across the continent to and from Perth: the next on-track aid was the Esperance VOR, more than 700 miles away.

The photo below shows a simlar, though unidentified, early type of VOR. The hut contained the duplicated transmitters and power supply, whilst the 'thimble' above contained the actual antenna. Note the ubiquitous DCA vehicles, coloured yellow with white roofs.

In the late 1950s the VOR was selected to replace the earlier Visual-Aural Range (VAR) as the main en route trunk navigation aid. The principal operational advantage of the VOR was that it offered 360 possible courses, as opposed to the two visual and two aural courses of the VAR. This made accurate track guidance possible over a much greater number of routes than had hitherto been possible, with a similar number of beacons.

The first VOR was installed at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport in 1960-61. This was followed by another at Darwin in 1961/62. The primary purpose of these two units was to "give guidance to international aircraft operating to these two airports". By the following year ten additional VORs had been ordered at a cost of £135,000, with delivery expected in 1964. A total network of 22 VORs was planned (supplemented by many more simpler and cheaper NDBs).

As at February 2005 there are 92 VOR beacons in Australia and its territories. VORs are currently scheduled to be phased out by 2010 in favour of the GNSS (Global Navigation Sattelite System).

(Photos: CAHS collection)

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