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Theme
-
00:00
Special Music in place of theme
Youtube: Jimmy Buffett, Christmas on
Christmas Island
Begin at 00:20 seconds,
thus omitting his introduction
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Opening Announcement - 00:20
Welcome to “Wavescan”,
international DX program from Adventist World Radio
Researched and written in Indianapolis,
produced in studios of shortwave WRMI
Program outline
1.
Christmas Island Adventure - 1: The Early Years
2.
WRMI Open House, Interview
3. Philippine
DX Report
4. Special QSL of the
Week: Christmas Island VLU2
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Christmas Island Adventure - 1: The Early Years
- 01:14
In less than two weeks, it will be
Christmas time again! In honor of this
coming happy occasion, we tell the interesting story, both this week and next
week, about Christmas Island Radio.
Well, in reality, there are two islands named Christmas; one in the
Indian Ocean and another in the Pacific Ocean.
However, on this occasion here in Wavescan, we take a visit into the
Indian Ocean, not the Pacific, for “Christmas
Island Adventure”.
The island called Christmas is formed
in the shape of a small terrier dog, looking eastward. It is around twelve miles long and one mile
wide, and it is located 185 miles from Java in Indonesia, and 870 miles from
the nearest coastline of Australia.
Christmas Island is the somewhat
flat surface of an underwater mountain standing nearly three miles high and it
is surrounded by almost impassable cliffs.
It is covered with dense jungle and the highest hill is a little over
1100 feet.
The island offers many exotic
tourist attractions, including several unique and rare forms of biological
species; more than 40 caves for exploration; and wild and winding trails for
walking and trailing. The general
population of permanent residents is a little over 2,000, though there is at
times an influx of service personnel as required on the local scene. The only settlements of housing and industry
are small areas located on the north coast nearby to the only suitable
oceanside anchorage at Flying Fish Cove.
The most notable tourist attraction
is the annual migration of the notorious Red Crab. This remarkable event takes place soon after
the beginning of the annual rainy season, usually in October or November,
according to the phases of the moon and the need for a high tide.
It is estimated that as many as a
million of these Red Crabs migrate over well worn routes from the jungle to the
edge of the ocean every year. Local
authorities have constructed bridges and tunnels in some places so that the
crabs can reach the ocean without crossing the actual roadway surface. When the crabs are moving, they will attempt
to climb any obstruction and they will enter housing and buildings. If a car runs over any of these crabs, their
sharp claws can puncture the rubber tires.
The history of Christmas Island can
be traced back to the year 1643, when Captain William Mynors aboard the East
India ship “Royal Mary” sailed past the
island on Christmas Day and gave it the now recognized name. In March 1688, the English explorer William
Dampier hove to at Dales on the west coast and two of his crewmen went ashore
as the first Europeans to set foot on the island. The island was uninhabited at the time.
Exactly 200 years later, Christmas
Island was annexed by England in order to mine the extensive phosphate deposits
near the north coast. The first
settlement was established at Flying Fish Cove by Mr. G. Clunies Ross who
wanted timber and other supplies for his settlement on Cocos Island, which he
also owned. Subsequently, John D.
Murray, who at the time was a recent graduate from Purdue University in West
Lafayette Indiana, settled on Christmas Island and was sometimes honored as the
king of Christmas Island.
The island was originally
administered from the Colonial Office in London, subsequently by the Straits
Settlements office in Singapore, and then after World War 2 the island was
taken over by the Australian government.
Today, the two islands, Christmas and Cocos, are administered as a
single Australian unit from the government office on Christmas Island.
The first listing of a wireless
station on Christmas Island is shown for the year 1924, when a station was on
the air at the Phosphate Company’s
factory near Flying Fish Cove.
This station, with probably a valve equipped transmitter, was licensed
under the callsign VSM.
In 1936, Mr. J. C. Baker began
employment on Christmas Island as the Radio Officer. It would appear that he was serving with a
new government station replacing the previous commercially owned and operated
station. This new station was a low
powered operation for communication with Singapore. The callsign on Christmas Island is not
known, though it was probably licensed with a Royal Navy callsign beginning
with the letter G.
At the time of the tragic and
disastrous firefight in the Indian Ocean between the German HSK “Kormoran” and the
Australian HMAS “Sydney” during World
War 2, Christmas Island Radio was unaware of the event. This wartime encounter on the high seas took
place 2,000 miles to the south of Christmas Island on Wednesday November 19,
1941.
However, nearly three months later,
a small lifeboat floated ashore at Christmas Island on February 6 of the
following year (1942). Among those who
officially examined the body of the dead sailor on the lifeboat was the Radio
Operator Baker. It is understood that
the dead sailor had been the only possible survivor of the “Sydney”-“Kormoran"
encounter.
Five days later, on February 6,
Christmas Island Radio lost contact with Singapore Radio at the time of the
Japanese invasion of the Malay island.
Some six weeks later, on March 31, a dozen Japanese bombers attacked the
settlements on Christmas Island, and they also destroyed the communication
radio transmitter station. However,
Radio Officer Baker and his wife had been evacuated by boat to Perth in Western
Australia during the previous week. The
surviving radio operator’s
building on Murray Road, Settlement, is now included in the Australian Heritage
List.
One week after the bombing raid,
Japanese armed personnel took over the island which they held precariously for
around 3½ years. The Royal Navy ship HMS “Rother” reclaimed they
island for the Great Britain soon after the end of the war, in October 1945.
More on the Christmas Island radio
scene here in Wavescan next week.
Audio Insert
Jimmy Buffett, Christmas on Christmas Island
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WRMI Open House - 08:15
Interview: Value of Shortwave
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Program Announcement - 19:04
Allen
Graham
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Philippine DX Report - 19:56
Henry
Umadhay
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SQOTW19 Special QSL of the Week: Christmas Island Radio VLU2
- 23:27
On many occasions back 30 and 40
years ago, I endeavored without success to tune in to the lower powered
mediumwave station VLU2 located on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. During that era, we as a family were on
service in the various countries of Southern Asia, and my travels took me to
many different exotic locations. While
at these different locations, such as in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Maldive
Islands, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, I tuned my radio receiver to the
desired 1420 kHz, but alas, never a signal from the distant mediumwave station
VLU2.
However, during a visit to Carnarvon
on the central west coast in Western Australia in 1977, I tried again. During the day, I had visited the (now defunct)
Radio Australia shortwave station a few miles out of town, and in the evening I
took accommodation in a wooden hotel near the shoreline of the Indian Ocean.
Around sunset on that memorable day
August 23 (1977), in came a good signal from VLU2 on 1500 mile distant
Christmas Island with 500 watts on 1420 kHz.
But, would you know it, my trusty Grundig Satellit radio developed an
intermittent problem, thus spoiling the reception of this exotic and highly
desired radio station. It seems that a
dried-out condenser was causing the intermittent reception, a problem which
seems to have been a consistent difficulty with their receivers back in that
era. Nevertheless, in spite of the
receiver problem, enough programming was heard in order to write a good reception
report.
In due course, a response was
received from station VLU2, a nice long letter from Nick Bosely, the Assistant
Broadcast Officer together with my do-it-yourself prepared QSL card, duly
signed and rubber stamped. Due to its
isolation, it can be assumed that very few QSLs have ever been sent out from
the radio broadcasting station located on lonely Christmas Island.
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Music of the World - 25:43
Puerto Rico: Jingle Bells Spanish
Version, group vocal & instrumental
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Closing Announcement - 26:17
Thanks for listening to “Wavescan”,
international DX program from Adventist World Radio
Researched and written in
Indianapolis
Next week:-
1.
Christmas Island Adventure - 2: The Radio Broadcasting Scene
2.
WRMI Insert
3.
A Regular DX Report
Several QSL cards available. Send your AWR & KSDA reception reports
for Wavescan to the AWR address in Indianapolis; and
also to the station your radio is tuned to: WRMI or WWCR
or KVOH, or to the AWR relay stations that carry Wavescan. Remember too, you can send a reception report to each
of the DX reporters when their segment is on the
air here in Wavescan: Japan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Australia &
India. They will verify with a colorful QSL card. Return postage and an address label are
always appreciated.
Wavescan address:-
Box 29235
Indianapolis
Indiana 46229 USA
Wavescan @ AWR.org
Jeff White, shortwave WRMI
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Music Outrun - 27:54
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Program Ends - 28:55
