Woodside Omega Transmitter near Woodside, Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, was a transmission tower that was completed in 1982 and demolished in 2015. Until its demolition, it was the tallest object in the Southern Hemisphere.

History

In 1977, The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

governments agreed to establish an

OMEGA navigation system Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The wo ...

in south-eastern Australia. The agreement was extended in 1995, to 30 September 1997. Station G was an Omega transmitter that used an

umbrella antenna An umbrella antenna is a capacitively top-loaded wire monopole antenna, consisting in most cases of a mast fed at the ground end, to which a number of radial wires are connected at the top, sloping downwards. One side of the feedline supplying po ...

carried by a tall grounded lattice steel guyed mast. Unlike many of the other Omega Transmitters, Woodside was not a "hot tower," that is, one which is insulated from a ground connection by large ceramic insulators that support the entire weight of the structure. Rather, the tower was electrically insulated from the topmost guys which served as the radiators, similar to the metal radials of an umbrella without cloth covering. The mast simply supported the downward sloping guy wires which are the active elements. The guy wires were also used to hold the tower itself in place. This mast was the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere. Construction of this station was originally planned to be built in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

but after protests from anti-war protestors it was built in Australia, although not without controversy. The tower was officially opened in October 1982, but had been operating for 3 months prior to that, with the first broadcast at 10am on the 16th of August, having taken 3.5 years to construct, however the tower itself having taken only 30 days to be constructed. After the shutdown of the OMEGA navigation system on 30 September 1997, the station was used as a transmitter for uni-directional communications to

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s on 13 kHz under the callsign VL3DEF until 2004. Until December 2008, it had been transmitting a 100 baud MSK modulated signal on 18.6 kHz.

Current status

The station was decommissioned in November 2008.

Aircraft warning lights Aviation obstruction lighting is used to enhance the visibility of structures or fixed obstacles which may conflict with the safe navigation of aircraft. Obstruction lighting is commonly installed on towers, buildings, and even fences located in ...

continued to operate on each of the 10 43m platforms, although some of the lights had stopped working. On 25 January 2014, a

BASE jumper BASE jumping () is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend to the ground. BASE is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antenna (radio), antenna ...

was killed during an attempt to parachute from the tower. It was demolished by explosives on 22 April 2015. Transmission equipment from the Omega navigation system is now on display at the Port Albert Maritime Museum. Culture Victoria - Port Albert Maritime Museum
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Notes

External links

* http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b98 * http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?id=s0023209 * http://sale.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/omega-tower-shuts-down/1396883.aspx * http://www.minister.defence.gov.au/2015/04/23/parliamentary-secretary-for-defence-defence-completes-demolition-of-omega-tower-at-darriman-23-april-2015/ * http://nofingerprints.net/blog/climbing-the-omega-tower/ * http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/tallest-structure-collapses-in-a-heap/story-e6frfku9-1227317556363 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vlf Transmitter Woodside Omega navigation system Former radio masts and towers Radio masts and towers in Australia Towers completed in 1982 Buildings and structures demolished in 2015 Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion Demolished buildings and structures in Victoria (state) 1982 establishments in Australia 2015 disestablishments in Australia

History

Current status

See also

Notes

External links