Houses under construction on Browns Ridge for OTC(A) earth station personnel – October 1966.

My wife Laima and I lived in one of these houses whilst I was posted to Carnarvon.

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Houses under construction on Browns Ridge for OTC(A) earth station personnel – October 1966.

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Houses under construction on Browns Ridge for OTC(A) earth station personnel – October 1966.

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Distant view of OTC(A) staff houses and earth station antenna. (Probably Nov. 1966)

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Houses constructed on Browns Ridge for staff at the OTC(A) Carnarvon Earth Station (probably Dec. 1966).

Panorama from photos 19661200002_1 & 2.

OTC(A) Earth Station antenna visible in distance from causeway over Gascoyne River. Probably October 1966.

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Visit by OTC(A) and Page Communications management – November 1966.

From left: Ron Knightley (Supervising Engineer from OTC(A) Head Office in Sydney), Jim Green (Vice President, Page Communications USA), Bob Kuhn (Page Communications on-site engineer), Guntis Berzins and Don Kennedy (OTC(A) on-site engineers).

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Cassegrain antenna during earth station construction. Antenna and Operations van.

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Cassegrain antenna during earth station construction. Antenna and Operations van.

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Earth station equipment vans – Power van on the left, Maintenance and Operations vans in the distance on the right. (Probably Nov. 1966)

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Working inside the Operations van. Engineer Don Kennedy on the left. Nov. 1966.

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Cassegrain antenna during sunrise. Operations van on left, with engineer Guntis Berzins on the left at the door. Power van on the right. (Probably Nov. 1966)

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Cassegrain antenna during sunrise. (Probably Nov. 1966)

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Page Communications engineer (believed to be Bill Humphries) filming at the earth station.

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OTC(A) Carnarvon Earth Station Christmas card used by station staff to mark Christmas in 1966.

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Satellite earth station and staff houses from the air. Probably 28 December 1966.

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Satellite earth station and staff houses from the air. Probably 28 December 1966.

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Satellite earth station and staff houses from the air. Probably 28 December 1966.

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Satellite earth station and staff houses from the air. Probably 28 December 1966. View is towards the sea.

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View from over Carnarvon looking inland. Visible In the distance is the OTC(A) Carnarvon Earth Station and the NASA Tracking Station. Probably 28 December 1966.

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Annotated version of the photo above. Click the image for a PDF file.

View of OTC(A) Carnarvon earth station in January 1967.

The main building is on the left. On the right is the power station with a diesel generator for emergency supply of power. Occasional breaks in the town power supply were not unknown.

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The earth station’s cassegrain horn antenna.

In the distance is a Fokker F.27 Friendship with undercarriage down, on its way into Carnarvon Airport (thanks to Bill Mellberg for the ID).

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The earth station’s cassegrain horn antenna. The upward pointing feed horn, from which signals were transmitted and received can be seen in the middle of the main parabolic. The reflector at the top was a hyperbolic shape reflector. The antenna had an azimuth and elevation tracking mount.

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Main building of the Carnarvon earth station. Visible on the right is part of the antenna and the trailer housing all of the electronic equipment for the station.

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