A visit to vim Melbourne Radio

VIM was part of the Australian coast radio network and was
on air from 1912 till 2002 .It carried MF, HF and VHF general and safety communications with ships as well as regular weather broadcasts. This film is a compile from two visits in 1998 and 2002. Various aspects of the station
and the chaps at work are seen.The station was situated on the Boneo Rd near the turn off to Cape Shank, apart from the building and a cell phone tower nothing exists of
the facility now.

[@karlament6939]

I happen to know these things because I am also a longtime ham radio operator up here in Northern Ontario Canada thanks for the lovely video cheers

[@martinyourn8943]

I was invloved with Marine Search & Rescue in the 1980's and visited D24 (Victoria Police Communications) and Melboune Radio as part of ongoing training. I recognise the voice of the VIM radio operator and also remember when the 2 tone Mayday alarm sytem was introduced to "wake up" ships radio's in the event of an emergency. This video has brought back lots of memories. Thank you so much for posting this!

[@ektpuahify]

This brings back old memories when tje mf/hf coaststations were still in use in the 90's. James Puah 9V1JP

[@TheArtofEngineering]

So sad it is gone I am a High school art teacher but i'll always be proud of being a ships sparky (RO) amongst the last.... best job on the ship! Makes me homesick!!! Thankfully not seasick! HI HI

[@KrisDX]

Thanks for posting this video. Realy nice to see the transmitters and receivers.

[@Ray-VK3CEO]

Good post, it gives people an insight to how these radio stations operated. We did a field trip to VIM with the Gippsland Gate Radio and Electronics Club, and we were very impressed with the facility. We also did VNG.

[@VK3CSJ]

Brilliant stuff Dave...surprised at the quality of the visions for the time!....what a pity all this stuff comes to an end....very sad really....now to take a look at your trip to VNG!

[@troppo4872]

That's my old mate Mick operating....

[@peteroc7395]

Thank you very much for this now I understand where this comes from good work 73s VK3FBEN

[@billrizos7565]

thanks for the great video mate keep the good work up hope to see more of your video posts Shame that they closed it down 73s cheers mate.

[@mfbfreak]

Why is there a Tascam 234 cassette recorder on that desk? The 234 is a studio quality, high speed 4 channel recorder that runs on double the speed of a normal cassette deck. Would normally be used to record bands in small studios. To me, it would make more sense to have a half speed deck. The communications don't need 25khz audio bandwidth and DBX noise reduction.

[@vk3ase]

I guess it was there to record radio traffic if there was a major incident happening or interference to the network that could be analysed later. It was a government station and cost would not have been a major issue in procuring equipment. Might as well get a well built machine that won't breakdown when needed than save a few hundred dollars for a cheap one. The matter that the specs were higher than needed would not have come into it. Could have been the only one that would fit in the desk with out to much messing around. Anyway would have been good for the operators to make mix tapes with in their down time.

[@vk3ase]

Actually the place was full of racks of expensive commercial receivers but when on skeds the operators tended to use the Kenwood rx as it had all the frequencies programed in and was also easy to manual tune or use the IF shift if conditions were bad. All the main frequencies were patched from the professional sets to the many speakers around the desk. I was told as far as performance the kenwood was not much different to the Collins Racal etc if connected to good antennas.

[@krustyone]

Nice lightning storm in the background

[@vk3ase]

The Transmitters were high power kilo wattish units as shown in the video.

[@TomR459]

Go ahead johnny

[@boweandrew3]

Did the station have modified ham radio transceivers for the marine frequencies?

[@nigelholmes9332]

No. 1 kW SSB ATS-1 5:51

[@bjjopson]

Ha yes I spoke to them through my CB radio from the UK.

[@karlament6939]

Ooooh watch for that audio feedback headsets work Wonderful in preventing audio feedback or better yet turn the volume on your speakers down just a little bit LOL