In an apparent nod to radio amateurs who may have tuned in, Radio Australia’s
VL8A transmitter in Alice Springs signed off on January 31 in CW. The station
sent “73 de VL8A QRT,” before pulling the big switch. Radio Australia announced
last fall that it planned to cease its shortwave transmissions this year. The
broadcaster shut down its Katherine, Tennant Creek and Roe Creek (Alice Springs)
transmitters at the end of January, but it said it would continue to broadcast
on FM and AM bands, via satellite, and online streaming and mobile
applications.
The move has not been popular with those who live and work
in the vast area the shortwave broadcasts reached, with some saying it was the
only reliable broadcast outlet, and that its demise could deprive Northern
Australian listeners of emergency and critical weather information. Northern
Territory Cattlemen’s Association President Tom Stockwell, who lives on Sunday
Creek Station with no access to AM or FM radio or mobile phone service, isn’t
buying the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s explanation. He said the
decision to focus on digital transmission ignored people in the bush. “It
affects a big area of Australia, and it affects those people that are remote
from other forms of communication that rely on radio network,” he
said.
Mark Crocombe of the indigenous Thamarrurr Rangers in the remote
community of Wadeye said his group members spend days and sometimes weeks at a
time away in the bush and out on sea patrols and had relied on the ABC’s
shortwave radio for weather reports and emergency information, including cyclone
warnings. “Sure, it is expensive to keep the shortwave radio service going, but
during cyclones, for the bush camps and people on boats, that is their only way
of getting the weather reports,” he said. “It could be life threatening, if you
are out and you don’t know a cyclone is coming.”
Radio Australia has said
the move was in line with its commitment to dispense with outdated technology
and to expand its digital content offerings and FM services. The ABC said it
would put the money saved from ending shortwave broadcasting into other program
distribution technology.