VLF Transmitter Woodside, Radio transmission facility near Woodside, Victoria, Australia
The VLF Transmitter Woodside is a radio facility in Victoria, Australia, built around a steel lattice mast standing 432 meters tall. The mast was fitted with electrical insulation at the upper guy cables to send very low frequency signals across oceans and continents.
The facility was originally planned for New Zealand, but local opposition led to the site being moved to Australia, where it began operating in August 1982. After it was built, it was the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere until 2015, when another building took that position.
The Omega navigation system was used by ships and aircraft around the world to find their position at sea and in the air. The station at Woodside was one of only eight in the world that worked together to form this global network.
The facility is no longer in operation, but the mast is still visible from a distance and can be seen from outside. Walking through the surrounding countryside gives a better sense of how tall the structure actually is when viewed from different angles.
Instead of placing the full weight of the mast on ceramic insulators, the electrical insulation was built directly into the upper guy cables themselves. This approach was uncommon among similar transmitters elsewhere in the world.
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