THE BRANDON ANTENNAS

THE BRANDON ANTENNAS

My Visit to the Former Radio Australia Transmitter Site

During our two month trip north from Mount Evelyn through Queensland and New South Wales back in July and August 2016, we had an opportunity to visit the former Radio Australia transmitter site near the little town of Brandon, about 85 km southeast of Townsville in Far North Queensland. Well, actually I visited the site while my wife Jan sat in the car, exhibiting a state of relative boredom!

Officially, I had not made arrangements to inspect the transmitters. We were just passing through the town one warm Sunday afternoon. The site is only 5km out of Brandon on Jack Road. The topography is quite flat, making it ideal land for the sugar cane plantations that grow vigorously throughout this region. Here you'll find the powerhouse 50 kW mediumwave outlet of 4QN Townsville on 630 kHz with local programming from the ABC North Queensland studios. This frequency is well heard across a 250 km radius during the daytime, and easily heard throughout most of Queensland (and well beyond) in the evenings. Indeed, 4QN has been broadcasting reliably from the Brandon site to its local communities throughout all sorts of weather including many tropical cyclones since 1958.

However, in 1989 two 10 kW shortwave transmitters from the dismantled Lyndhurst transmitter site in Victoria were transported to Brandon for installation and operation at the beginning of April that year. Ten years later, a third transmitter was also added. In 2006, the old 10 kW units were upgraded with two new 20 kW DRM-capable RIZ transmitters from Croatia. My long time DXing colleague, Craig Seager VK2HBT tells me that these RIZ transmitters were bought because they could operate between 6 and 26 mHz in either AM or DRM. However, they were only operated at 10 kW (....as far as we know!). Craig indicated that running these senders at half power would have been a good energy saving (and hence cost-saving) measure while also potentially providing a longer transmitter life. Radio Australia's shortwave services from Brandon were finally decommissioned in March 2015.

However, on my recent visit I didn't see any of the transmitters. They were all tucked away in the transmitter buildings on the site, behind high wire fences. So, my camera could only capture the antenna systems there.

Craig advises that the two shortwave antennas are possibly TCI dipole arrays, ITU type HR2/2/x 6-12 MHz. (See Update note below) Dipole curtain arrays have been an important part of high powered shortwave broadcasting. Techniques utilizing half-wave folded dipoles have enabled better wide-band operation. From my research, it would appear that the shortwave antennas used at RA-Brandon are possibly something similar to the now superseded TCI 611 model. 

One antenna is set up at azimuth 10˚, targeting Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Samoa and other communities in the northern Pacific. The second antenna is at 80˚ azimuth, pointing towards the Coral Sea, the greater eastern Pacific communities including New Zealand, Cook Islands and Samoa. I confirmed these beam headings with my trusty iPhone compass!

Prior to the closure of shortwave broadcasts from Brandon in March 2015, the three frequencies of 5995, 9660 and 12080 kHz were in scheduled use, with reportedly very good reception observed throughout most of the targeted countries.

Although not currently in use, both antennas still appear to be maintained in good condition by Broadcast Australia, the company that leases the facility to the ABC and Radio Australia. It's pleasing to see that the antennas have not been dismantled yet. Hopefully, they might be used again one day.

There are two other antennas on this site. As mentioned earlier, there's the main 4QN tower for 630 kHz mediumwave. It's a monster! Of course, it needs to be large because of its low frequency allocation in the MW band. So prominent is this thing that you can see it on the horizon for many kilometres before you arrive at the site. In addition, there is another antenna, which Craig and I believe is a backup antenna for mediumwave, although it is absolutely dwarfed by the main 4QN tower.

Below are photos of the site from a variety of angles, focusing on specific antennas, feedlines and buildings. I was helped on the day by a bright blue cloudless sky, which proved to be a good backdrop for detailed clarity of the antennas. The camera's zoom lens helped, too! Many of the photos were taken on tiptoes, holding the camera high up above my head over the top of the wire fences.

UPDATE (Sept 14, 2016): Mat Magee VK2YAP confirms that the shortwave antennas are specifically the HR2/2/0.4 for the 10˚ dipole array and HR2/2/0.6 for the 80˚ antenna. (If you'd like to know more about these antennas, click this link for its specs. http://www.antenna.be/ant-hr224.html). Mat reports that the shortwave equipment is maintained and ready to press into service at short notice. Mat also reminded me that Brandon was used later in 2015 for several weeks under contract to the PNG national broadcaster for shortwave coverage of the South Pacific Games. (Thanks Mat! - Rob)

UPDATE (Oct 10, 2020): I read somewhere (I can't remember where and cannot find the original source) that the 4QN mediumwave antenna is currently down and being renovated. Does anyone have any further information on this?

NOTE: Click on each photo for an enlarged view.

Entrance

The four antennas on the Brandon site.
Photo taken some distance up Jack Road to get it all in view.

The 4QN antenna with a shed at the base of the antenna gives some idea of the scale of this monster!

The main transmitter building.

The backup MW antenna in the foreground and part of the 80˚ Pacific antenna behind it.

The top part of the 10˚ dipole curtain array.

Part of the open feed lines to the two shortwave antennas, and the bottom part of the 10˚ curtain array. 
Behind the antenna is a crop of sugar cane in a neighbouring field.

The full view of the 10˚ antenna.

This building houses a Detroit 2-stroke diesel generator.
Mat Magee describes it as "Simple, reliable and damn LOUD!"

A closer view of the feed lines, near the main transmitter building.

The shed at the base of the 4QN antenna.

A close up of the shed at the base of the backup antenna.

Another shot the the massive 4QN antenna as viewed from Jack Road.

Brandon transmitter buildings.

A close up view of the top of the 80˚ array.

Another shot of the open wire feed lines.

The two shortwave antennas with the backup antenna on the far right.

A full shot of the 80˚ antenna.

A slightly closer view of the 10˚ array.

From the road, power lines into the complex.

REFERENCES AND CREDITS:
Craig Seager VK2HBT, Editor - Australian DX News, ARDXC
Bob Padula - The History of Shortwave Radio In Australia (updated: August 1, 2015)
TCI Communications - TCI Website
TCI Model 611 Shortwave Broadcast Antenna Data Sheet
ABC North Queensland Website
Jan Wagner - Wifely Patience Above and Beyond the Call of Duty!!!!

NOTE: You can search Google Maps for a satellite view of the Brandon site. It is located at the intersection of Jack Road, Colevale Road, and Gordon Road, Brandon, QLD.
On closer inspection of the Google map after my visit, the two shortwave antennas look to be situated closer to Gordon Road than Jack Road. Stupid me! I would possibly have got some photos closer to those antennas if I had walked up Gordon Road as well! Doh!! Oh well, I'll do that next time!

UPDATE (Sept 21, 2016):  I've been having some fun making a YouTube video of the above photos in a short high resolution HD movie. This is best watched at 1080p in fullscreen mode for some closeups of the antennas. Check it out at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1buQ09ivHE

73 and good DX to you all!

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

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