Shortwave Radio Recordings: ABC Radio Far North as Cyclone Ita makes landfall

tropical-cyclone-ita

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Mark Fahey, who has shared this special recording: a shortwave relay of the ABC Far North radio service.

Mark explains:

“ABC Radio (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Far North (Queensland, Australia) Emergency Broadcast Service during the period that Severe Tropical Cyclone was making landfall in Australia’s Far North Queensland region. This capture of the shortwave broadcast was made near Sydney, Australia on 6.15MHz at 2119 Queensland Time (1119 UTC) on the 11th April 2014. The broadcast was being transmitted via a re-purposed Radio Australia transmitter in Shepperton, Victoria.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Ita is a tropical cyclone that crossed the coast of Queensland, Australia on 11 April 2014. The system was first identified over the Solomon Islands as a tropical low on 1 April 2014, and gradually moved westward, eventually reaching cyclone intensity on 5 April. On 10 April, Ita intensified rapidly into a powerful Category 5 system on the Australian Scale, but it weakened significantly in the hours immediately precedinglandfall the following day. At the time of landfall at Cape Flattery at 12 April 22:00 (UTC+10), Dvorak intensity was approximately T5.0, consistent with a weak Category 4 system, and considerably lower than T6.5 observed when the system was at maximal intensity. Meteorologists noted the system had, at such time, developed a secondary eyewall which weakened the inner eyewall; as a result, the system was considerably less powerful than various intensity scales predicted. Ita’s impact on terrain was attenuated accordingly.”

Click here to download this recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below. Note that this broadcast has also been added to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archiveplease subscribe to our podcast to receive future recordings automatically.

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3 thoughts on “Shortwave Radio Recordings: ABC Radio Far North as Cyclone Ita makes landfall

  1. ShortWaveOTG

    Good piece of audio and a reminder that its been a while since I visited the Shortwave archive, just had a quick look and it seems to be coming along a treat.

    Thank you.

    Reply
    1. Thomas Post author

      Mehmet, I meant to send this to you, but got distracted and forgot. Glad you got it anyway! I thought this was a brilliant use of shortwave radio and an example for other countries.

      Best,
      Thomas

      Reply

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