Norfolk Island

NORFOLK ISLAND

Scott Richardson - VK2XYI

Norfolk Island is a Volcanic outcrop 8km long and 5km wide. It is located 1600km to the South East of Sydney, about 2 and a half hours flying time from Sydney. Norfolk Island is the size of a small country town but has its own Government, Customs service and Laws.

It was discovered by Captain Cook in 1774 and used as convict settlement from 1788 until 1814. And again in 1825 until it was closed again some 27 years later. Bishop Wilson found conditions so bad that he recommended its closure. In 1856 the descendants of the Bounty were brought from Pitcairn Island to settle on Norfolk Island.

The population is around 1800 and swells to 3500 in peak tourist season. The Island is now home to the many Pitcairners, the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the rarest bird in the world, the "Boo-Book Owl".

The Island claims to be virtually Pollution free, Tax free, and Crime free.

Norfolk is a territory "under the authority" of Australia but receives NO money from Australia except funding to maintain the Historic Convict buildings at Kingston and to manage the National Park.

I am a Free-lance Television cameraman and I was sent to Norfolk Island recently to shoot a story about the claim by some Islanders that they are Indigenous, and should have indigenous rights. I packed my camera gear, my AOR 8000 and did a quick search on the ACA CD-ROM with limited success and set of to the Airport.

Upon arrival I saw people with what appeared to be mobile phones, but Telstra told me that Norfolk doesn't have a mobile service. After a closer look, Telstra was right. Every third person had a trunking two way radio, Tait handhelds.

I started searching the UHF trunking bands and it didn't take long until I found some activity in T band.

The trunking system they are using has phone patch. The system is operated by Norfolk Telecom, the government telecommunications company. The radio system was set up a few years ago for the emergency services but became poplar with the public as a mobile phone service. The Islands Government is now looking at putting in an analogue system or GSM, Digital system.

Another interesting feature of the cabled phone system is that ALL local calls are FREE. But calls to Australia are charged at $ 1.50 per minute.

Some of the services on the trunking system are:
Fire Brigade, N.I. Customs, Norfolk Jet Express Airline, the Administrators office, basically everyone.

If you hear alot of Gibberish why you are scanning it is not some new kind of scrambling it only the locals own language. The Pitcairners developed their own language over years, its a mixture of old English and Polynesian.
"How are you ?" is said "Wutaway you"
"Just fine" is "Kooshoo"

If you listen carefully you can work out what they are saying.
The Island is almost crime free so they only have 3 Police officers who work three shifts. They use a Federal Police frequency that is used in Australia so we will keep that quiet. The feds have their own phone patch, but in the 6 days I was there I only heard their wives calling to see what was going on and what time they will home for tea. The island has NO random breath testing so most drivers are half tanked. The biggest problem the cops face is someone hitting a cow, penalty is a $ 200 fine, and costs to replace the cow about $1000.

The Islands TV station plays tourist information except for Friday and Sunday night. Sunday they replay the match of the day, each team gets on air every week, they only have TWO teams. On Friday they have their version of "The Footy Show". Fatty your job is safe.

A few of the locals have satellite dishes that receive NTV from Papa New Guinea. This bird has Channel Nine, CNN and a few others. Soon the islanders will have Galaxy, the sales reps are already knocking on doors.

On my travels around the Island I spotted a large antenna farm that belongs to VK9NS, John. He was first licensed in 1947 and he was elected to the DX hall of fame in April 1986. He works mainly HF for the obvious reasons.

Mt Pitt is the highest point on the island. ALL the repeaters are on it, due to the size of the island it provides good coverage everywhere.

Norfolk Island is a great to visit because of the people and the History, but do your duty free shopping in Australia before you leave.


Trunking

415.5750 FM Control Data
415.8250 FM Voice / Phone
416.0750 FM Voice / Phone
416.3250 FM Voice / Phone
416.5750 FM Voice / Phone
417.5250 FM Voice / Phone


Federal Police

XXX.XXXX FM Frequency not printed because it is a
Federal Police Frequency used on the Mainland.
They use a FM 92 mounted in the Police Car.
The Police also have access to the trunking network via
another radio fitted to their 4WD.

Broadcast Stations

1566 AM Radio NI - Simulcast with 93.9 most of the time.

93.9 FM-W Radio NI - Simulcast with 1566 most of the time.
95.9 FM-W ABC - Classical
95.9 FM-W ABC

Ch 7 FM-W ABC-TV 187.750 (audio carrier)
Ch 9 FM-W SBS 201.750 (audio carrier)
Ch 10 FM-W TV - Norfolk 214.750 (audio carrier)
Ch 35 FM-W TV - Norfolk, Link to Mt Pitt from Burnt Pine


Aircraft

112.4000 AM NDB ex ACA CD-ROM
118.1000 AM Airport Ground, Tower,
Approach & Departures. ex ACA CD-ROM


Other Services

85.0000 FM Australian National Parks ex ACA CD-ROM
Parks also have trunking Kyodo
handhelds on the trunking system.
84.4800 FM Volunteer Rescue ex ACA CD-ROM
400.1500 FM Met ex ACA CD-ROM
469.7250 FM Mobil ex ACA CD-ROM
469.8750 FM Mobil ex ACA CD-ROM
11.3000 SSB? Administrator of
Norfolk Island ex ACA CD-ROM