VNG
Encyclopedia
Radio VNG was Australia's national time signal
service. It was inaugurated by the Australian Post Office on 21 September 1964.
Originally it transmitted on 4500, 7500 and 12000 kHz from Lyndhurst, Victoria. After 1987 it relocated to Shanes Park, NSW, and transmitted on 2500, 5000, 8638, 12984, and 16000 kHz.
were to be introduced, a further voice announcement occurred.
The replacement Radio VNG service operated from 33°42′52"S 150°47′33"E, Shanes Park, Llandillo, NSW, until 30 June 2002 on 2500 kHz and 8838 kHz. The remaining three transmitters (5000, 12984, and 16000 kHz) were finally closed down on 31 December 2002.
Daytime reception of overseas shortwave and longwave time signal services in Australia (and New Zealand) is rather poor as the nearest HF (and longwave) time signal services are BPM
(China), JJY
(Japan) and WWVH
(Hawaii, USA).
Time signal
A time signal is a visible, audible, mechanical, or electronic signal used as a reference to determine the time of day.-Audible and visible time signals:...
service. It was inaugurated by the Australian Post Office on 21 September 1964.
Originally it transmitted on 4500, 7500 and 12000 kHz from Lyndhurst, Victoria. After 1987 it relocated to Shanes Park, NSW, and transmitted on 2500, 5000, 8638, 12984, and 16000 kHz.
Signal properties
Radio VNG broadcast time in binary coded decimal, during seconds 21-58. It also broadcast DUT-1 information during seconds 1-16. Tones were usually of 1 kHz. Radio VNG also broadcast a spoken time signal every 15 minutes. The exact words in earlier years were:"This is VNG Lyndhurst, Victoria, Australia on 4.5, 7.5 or 12 MHz. VNG is a standard frequency and time signal service of the Australian Telecommunications Commission. This is VNG Lyndhurst, Victoria, Australia on 4.5, 7.5 or 12 MHz."If a leap second
Leap second
A leap second is a positive or negative one-second adjustment to the Coordinated Universal Time time scale that keeps it close to mean solar time. UTC, which is used as the basis for official time-of-day radio broadcasts for civil time, is maintained using extremely precise atomic clocks...
were to be introduced, a further voice announcement occurred.
Historical
The original service (Lyndhurst) 38°03′03"S 145°15′44"E was shut down in October 1987, due to a lack of funding. The area has since been converted to housing estates with the only hints to the former site at Lyndhurst and the vast antenna arrays for VNG and other radio services ever existing is "Tower Hill Park" and a road called "Towerhill Boulevard". The original Lyndhust site was owned by the then "Commonwealth Of Australia" and the boundaries of the site were essentially a triangle shape formed by the South Gippsland Highway, Hallam Road and Lynbrook Boulevard.The replacement Radio VNG service operated from 33°42′52"S 150°47′33"E, Shanes Park, Llandillo, NSW, until 30 June 2002 on 2500 kHz and 8838 kHz. The remaining three transmitters (5000, 12984, and 16000 kHz) were finally closed down on 31 December 2002.
Currently available time signals
Many scientific and astronomical users of the service were somewhat inconvenienced with the shutdown of Radio VNG.Daytime reception of overseas shortwave and longwave time signal services in Australia (and New Zealand) is rather poor as the nearest HF (and longwave) time signal services are BPM
BPM (time service)
BPM is the People's Republic of China's national time signal service, operated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is located at .It is broadcast from the National Time Service Center in Pucheng county about 70 km northeast of Lintong...
(China), JJY
JJY
JJY is the call sign of a low frequency time signal radio station.The station is located in Japan and broadcasts from two sites, one on Mount Otakadoya, near Fukushima, and the other on Mount Hagane, located on Kyushu Island...
(Japan) and WWVH
WWVH
WWVH is the callsign of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology's shortwave radio time signal station in Kekaha, on the island of Kauai in the state of Hawaii....
(Hawaii, USA).