Tas Maritime Radio Timeline
How did we get here?
1973
Barry goes fishing
blah blah blah
1975
TSMRG created
Not-for-profit company set up by Barry McCann and Les Collis to enhance safety of life and property at sea. A 27 MHz service was set up with 14 members who each subscribed $200.
12 July 1976
Margate Base
TSMRG commenced operations as Margate Base. Doug Bonnitcha provided a back room in his Margate home and his son Len became the first operator.
1987
Snug Tiers Base
James Bylett allowed TSMRG to set up a base on his property at Snug Tiers. The base used 27 MHz and HF transceivers.
1987
TasMar Radio
After Len Bonnitcha's retirement, operations moved to Rex Griffith's home at South Arm and the name changed to TasMar Radio.
1993
New HF base
The Tasmanian Government hands control of the old Hobart Radio station on Bruny Island to TasMar Radio.
1998
Maria Island Base
TasMar Radio takes operational control of Maria base on behalf of MAST who continue to maintain the site.
1998
VHF comes to TasMar Radio
27 MHz retired in favour of VHF.
1999
Maatsuyker Island Repeater
A repeater was established on Maatsuyker Island (VHF Channel 82) and integrated into the TasMar network.
2001
HF monitoring commences
TasMar Radio begins to monitor HF frequencies 2524, 4125, 6215 and 8291 kHz.
2001
Coast Radio Hobart
TasMar Radio name is changed to Coast Radio Hobart.
2002
After-hours monitoring
Tas Ports commences after-hours monitoring for Coat Radio Hobart from 1900 each evening until 0700 next morning.
2004
Queens Domain
Coast Radio Hobart was granted space in the old Hobart Radio building atop the Queens Damain. The building had been erected in 1912 to support the Mawson Antarctic expedition.
2004
New link hub at Mount Nelson
In order to integrate the Queens Domain site into the network, the Mount Nelson link hub was established on the secured grounds of TasNetworks. The sites were linked via a UHF connection.
2008
New Bruny Island base
A new VHF base was established on Mount Mangana on South Bruny Island.
2010
New North-East Base
Digital links between bases established – Transend
South Sisters base established
2010
Sites linked together digitally
Analog links between bases was upgraded to Digital with the assistance of Transend
2011
New Base on Flinders Island
A new base was established on Flinders to extend the VHF range well into Bass Strait.
2011
Better weather services for the south-east
A new service was introduced on VHF Channel 1 and broadcast in Tasmania's south-east from the Snug Tiers base every hour and half hour every day. Known as Tinman, this PC automatically queries the Bureau of Meteorology for updates, converts them to audio clips and broadcasts them. This service provides forecasts for the Derwent River, Frederick Henry Bay, Storm Bay and the d'Entrecasteaux Channel.
2011
A new operations console
The Australian Antarctic Division donated an unused console to Coast Radio Hobart which was integrated into the small operations room at the Queens Domain.
2012
Local AIS Receiver
An AIS (Automatic Identification System) receiver was installed at Mount Mangana base. AIS-Equipped vessels periodically automatically transmit location, heading and speed data which Coast Radio Hobart sends to Marine Traffic in Piraeus in Greece where it is included in the marinetraffic.com website.