Tas Maritime Radio Timeline
How did we get here?
1973
An Incident occurs
Barry McCann goes crayfishing and engine breaks down – no radio!
1975
TSMRG
Barry McCann and Les Collis establish Tasmanian Smallcraft Marine Radio Group to enhance safety of life and property at sea.
10 July 1976
Margate Base
Margate Base comes on air on 27 mHz with operators Len & Doug Bonnitcha with Barry McCann, Les Collis and 14 new members.
1985 - 1989
Tasmar Radio
After Len Bonnitcha's retirement, operations moves to Rex Griffith's home at South Arm and the name changes to Tasmar Radio.
1985
Snug Tiers base
James Bylett allows TSMRG to set up a base on his property at Snug Tiers. The base uses 27 MHz, VHF and HF transceivers and is controlled remotely.
1999-2004
Home Operators
A number of operators work from their homes, accessing the remote bases at Snug Tiers and later Maria Island.
1993
Bruny transceiving station
Tasmar Radio is handed control of the old Hobart Radio HF Receiving Station on Bruny Island which is then converted to a transceiving station.
1998
Maria Island base
(MAST) Maria Island VHF base is established, increasing east coast coverage.
1998
VHF
27 MHz is retired in favour of VHF.
1999
Maatsuyker Island base
Tasmar Radio is given access to the Maatsuyker Island base (VHF Channel 82 repeater) which is integrated into the Tasmar network.
2001
HF monitoring
Tasmar Radio begins to monitor HF frequencies 2524, 4125, 6215 and 8291 kHz.
2003
Coast Radio Hobart
Telstra Maritime close all HF stations around Australia. Tasmar Radio is asked to become one of nine new High Frequency Coast Stations and becomes Coast Radio Hobart providing a long range HF service across to New Zealand and mainland Australia.
2003
After-hours monitoring
Tas Ports commences after-hours monitoring for Coast Radio Hobart nightly from 1900 until 0700 next morning.
2004
Queens Domain
Wireless Institute of Australia grants Coast Radio Hobart space in the old Hobart Radio building atop the Queens Domain. The building was erected in 1912 to support the Mawson Antarctic expeditions.
2005
Mount Nelson link hub
In order to integrate the Queens Domain site into the network, the Mount Nelson link hub is established at the Scenic Lookout. The sites was linked via a UHF connection.
2006 - 2014
Radio Waves newletter
This annual newsletter is printed on glossy stock and posted to all members. It keeps members updated with Coast Radio Hobart's activities and other interesting stories. These are available to everyone via the Tas Maritime Radio website.
2007
New website
The new website http://coastradiohobart.com.au is introduced. It contains history and operational information about CRH along with some photos.
2008
New Mangana base
A new VHF base is established on Mount Mangana on South Bruny Island, replacing the old Hobart Radio decommissioned Seaphone site.
2010
New link hub station
TasNetworks invites Coast Radio Hobart to share their secure enclosure at Mount Nelson. This vastly improves the links to remote bases.
2010
New North-East base
The north-eastern base is established at South Sister near Falmouth to extend VHF range to the Upper East Coast.
2010
Automated weather forecasts
A new service is introduced on VHF Channel 1 and broadcast in Tasmania's south-east from the Snug Tiers base on the 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 Estuary, Frederick Henry and Norfolk Bays, Storm Bay and the d'Entrecasteaux Channel.
November 2011
New base on Flinders Island
A new base is established on Flinders Island to extend VHF range well into Bass Strait.
2011
New Operator Console
A new Operator Console is constructed in the Operations Room at the Queens Domain.
2012
Local AIS Receiver
An AIS (Automatic Identification System) receiver is installed at the Mount Mangana base. AIS-equipped vessels periodically transmit location, heading and speed data automatically which Coast Radio Hobart sends to Marine Traffic in Piraeus in Greece where it is included in the marinetraffic.com website.
2014
New West Coast bases
Mt Read & Elliot Range bases are established with assistance from TasNetworks who provide the link between east and west coasts. This provides VHF coverage to the West Coast for the first time. The Elliott Range base now provides VHF coverage to Macquarie Harbour much of Port Davey, and together with the Maatsuyker Island base extend coverage to much of Port Davey.
2014
Tas Maritime Radio
Name changes from Coast Radio Hobart to Tas Maritime Radio reflect extended coverage beyond Hobart and the south-east. Tas Maritime Radio is now truly a statewide service.
2014
Website update
A new larger website (https://tasmaritime.com.au) is created providing information about Tas Maritime Radio as well as useful information for mariners and online tools for members.
2015
New applications
The TasRep Vessel Recording System application suite is introduced to provide closer monitoring of vessels travelling beyond coastal waters.
The TasLog suite was introduced to simplify and enhance operators' logging and information gathering functions.
2015
eNewsletter
Tas Maritime Radio's eNewsletter is now produced in January and July each year and emailled to members as well as being generally available to everyone via the website. The eNewsletter covers TMR's activities, technical tips, member stories and more.
2016
Three Hummock Island base
MAST/TasNetworks provide means of taking over Smithton Radio base which transmits from a remote base on Three Hummock Island whenever Mary Kay is unavailable.
2016
New Northern base
With the cooperation of TasNetworks a new base is established at Kellys Lookout west of the Tamar River, extending VHF coverage across the North Coast.
2016
New base on Maatsuyker Island
A multi-channel VHF base at Maatsuyker Island is established to extend VHF Channel 16 coverage to the south coast of Tasmania from South East Cape to Low Rocky Point and a great distance southwards.
2016
Coverage extended to Central Lakes
The Lakes North base is established at Barren Tier near Miena. This provides coverage for fishermen and recreational boaters in the lakes around the Great Lake where there is no mobile coverage.
2017
Global Electronics Security
Golden Electronics Security takes over after-hours monitoring from TasPorts, continuing statewide VHF coverage from 1900 nightly until 0700 next day.
1 March 2018
New Operations Centre
Tas Maritime Radio moves into the new Operations Building which is located behind the heritage 1912 former Hobart Radio building.
2020
Safety Watch
TMR introduces this new service for members with which they can provide an estimated time of return and operators monitor them closely, with Tasmania Police becoming involved if the member fails to call in upon their return and TMR operators are unable to contact them.
2020
Second Lakes base
A new base is established near Bradys Lake in the Tarraleah area to provide monitoring of the southernmost area of the Central Lakes.
2021
North-western base
The 3 Hummock Island base is now controlled by Tas Maritime Radio following the retirement of Mary Kay. Monitoring of repeater channel 21 is now discontinued.
2021
Safety Camera
A webcam is established at Marion Narrows which operators can pan, tilt and zoom to see Boomer Bay as well as the Narrows. The current operators' view is streamed to Tas Maritime's website where it is gaining popularity among mariners because the Narrows can be difficult to navigate in certain weather conditions.
2023
HF changes
Changes to TMR's HF transmision equipment provides stronger signals with better quality on all HF frequencies. 2524 kHz HF is dropped from the monitoring schedule as increased VHF coverage overlaps its range.
2025
New link frequency
A change of frequency on the Domain to Mount Nelson link provides greater stability and clarity.
2025
New Voice Recording System
A customised VRS system provides operators with the ability to check back on calls if they feel the need to clarify the content of radio calls.
2026
Radio Over IP
The network is being converted to Radio Over IP to provide better quality with less likelihood of interference.