A fisherman caught out at sea in cyclone Trevor has a harrowing story to tell.
Of course when ABC Shortwave was closed we were assured there is excellent VHF FM coverage in remote regions along with on line service.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-0...n/10922104
The wisdom of the ABC dropping their HF service aside, given what he said about radio conditions affecting the BoM HF marine services, he wasn't likely to hear Radio Australia anyway.
(21-03-2019, 07:30 AM)VK3RX Wrote: [ -> ]The wisdom of the ABC dropping their HF service aside, given what he said about radio conditions affecting the BoM HF marine services, he wasn't likely to hear Radio Australia anyway.
That may be the case, but keep in mind the HF broadcasters, run a lot more power and far, far bigger arrays than marine HF stations, than even government sites.
That "may" have made the difference.
(21-03-2019, 07:04 AM)VK4ADC Wrote: [ -> ]From https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-0...n/10922104
The article has been PDF'd for posterity as I am unsure how long the ABC articles are held available.
Thanks, it is a good article and worth keeping. One of the most short sighted disasters in Australian communications made by a person with a completely blinkered outlook.
(21-03-2019, 07:56 AM)VK2EHQ Wrote: [ -> ] (21-03-2019, 07:30 AM)VK3RX Wrote: [ -> ]The wisdom of the ABC dropping their HF service aside, given what he said about radio conditions affecting the BoM HF marine services, he wasn't likely to hear Radio Australia anyway.
That may be the case, but keep in mind the HF broadcasters, run a lot more power and far, far bigger arrays than marine HF stations, than even government sites.
That "may" have made the difference.
The quality of reception in the middle of thunderstorms, I'm not sure.
In any case, it would be relying on RA just happening to be broadcasting a warning about the cyclone at the time, and I don't know if they did that sort of thing in the later years, or the programming was simply a rebroadcast of RN programming.
I would be surprised if the cyclone was a complete surprise to everyone in the region, which would suggest it would/should have been known about in advance, and therefore it's movements something to keep monitoring.
If the ATSB are investigating, I suspect they will look at all aspects of the incident.