Overseas Telecommunications Commission - Earth Station

On the horizon quite visible from Mungullah community is the Satellite dish. So I had to take a drive out there to have a look. Here is the background of the dish which just sits there now.

By 1963 a number of countries had begun discussions on creating of a global satellite communications system.

In Washington in August 1964, eleven Governments, including Australia, agreed to form an International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (INTELSAT). The aim was to have a global communications satellite system in place by 1967 (later revised to 1968).

By 1968, 63 member countries were involved. Australia, through its government owned international carrier, The Overseas Telecommunications Commission, had an ownership share of 2.5% of the space segment and was the sixth largest contributor.

In April 1965 the first internationally-owned commercial communications satellite, INTELSAT I (also known as Early Bird), was placed in a geosynchronous orbit above the Atlantic Ocean and enabled reliable telephone communication between North America and Europe.

Also in 1965, NASA approached INTELSAT with the aim of acquiring a satellite communications network for its rapidly expanding needs. An agreement was reached – INTELSAT would launch and manage two INTELSAT II satellites for NASA’s purposes – one above the Pacific, and the other to serve the Atlantic area and part of the Indian Ocean area.

In addition to the satellites, a network of earth stations was needed to relay voice and data from the NASA tracking stations, ships and the ARIA aircraft, back to NASA centres in the US.

This background explains why Australia’s first satellite earth station was built at Carnarvon.

It was at the end of Brown’s Range, just 4 kilometres north of the existing NASA Carnarvon Tracking Station. It was purpose built to support the NASA station’s communications needs for the Gemini and Apollo Programs. The two stations were linked by landlines.

Initially, the OTC Carnarvon earth station had one 42 foot (12.8m) antenna, serviced by three semi-transportable vans (operations, maintenance and emergency power), housing the major equipment.

Permanent fixtures included two buildings, one for supplementary equipment and stores, and another for primary power.

The whole station, including equipment, buildings and staff housing, cost $3 million, and was completed in under 12 months. It was opened in late 1966.