Marine Radio Base

Marine Radio Base

The Brunswick Heads Marine Radio Base is located at the entrance to the Brunswick River. The Marine Radio Base offers the following services to the boating community:

 

 

 

• Search and Rescue Coordination Centre.
  
• Radio coverage on 27MHz and VHF radios.
  
• Logging and monitoring of vessels leaving and returning to the river.
  
• Emergency support to vessels in trouble.
  
• Assistance with local navigation.
  
• Current weather forecasts, weather and sea observations, plus tidal information.
  

The Bar viewed from tower

The Marine Radio Base commenced operation from a caravan in March 1994 with 6 operators and was only manned on weekends, public and school holidays. The caravan was located behind Torakina Beach and had to be placed in position before each shift and removed at the end of the day. The present tower was constructed by members with community support and was officially opened on 23 September 2001 by Don Page and Larry Anthony.

Caravan at Torakina

The Marine Radio Base has approximately 35 trained radio operators all of whom are qualified and licensed by the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) for radio communications with vessels at sea.

Radio equipment

Radios monitor channels 16, 22 (repeater),67 and 73 (local working channel) on VHF and channels 88 and 90 on the 27MHz band. The radio base is manned by rostered operators between 0600 and 1700, 365 days of the year.

Over 12 months, operators provide approximately 5,000 hours of voluntary service.