Tidbinbilla MSFN Wing
the Honeysuckle Wing
Each 85 foot (26m) Apollo tracking station had a wing station
nearby with a similar-sized antenna.
Tidbinbilla before the MSFN wing was built. Photo supplied by Keith Aldworth. |
Tidbinbilla after the Apollo wing was built. Photo supplied by Milton Turner, scanned by Betty Saxon. |
Tidbinbilla after the Apollo wing was added. Photo courtesy of Glen Nagle, CDSCC. Mike Dinn writes: The microwave dish in the foreground is the link to HSK via a passive repeater on Mount Tennant. In about 1970, the tower had to be moved to behind the main ops building, because the DSS43 construction was going to block the line of sight to Dead Mans Hill. The tower in this [new] position was used into the 1990s to carry dishes for links to the ridge above the station then into Black Mountain. One link was for general comms and the other to Parkes for the Voyager realtime combining. [Black Mountain is the main telecoms tower in Canberra.] |
Tidbinbilla with the Apollo wing, July 1969. Image DSS42 1869 05 July 1969. |
The MSFN Wing DSS42 at Tidbinbilla in 1969. Starting from lower centre and going clockwise: Antenna Dave Arman The Comm centre was behind the Ranging equipment [at the far end on the left, facing the camera], and the 1218 computer was usually operated by John Flaxman who is not shown for some reason. Photo probably taken by Hawker Siddeley. With thanks to Bruce Window for the photo and description. |
The Honeysuckle Wing DSS42 at Tidbinbilla. This photo is taken from the other end of the USB section. |
Here’s a key to the photo. Click the image for a PDF file. |
Tidbinbilla viewed from near the current Visitors Centre in 1969. Photo by Ted Barnes, whose wife Leonie worked at Tidbinbilla. |
DSS-42 in 1969. Photo: Ted Barnes. |
The Wing receivers in 1969. Photo: Ted Barnes. |
The Wing receivers in 1969. Photo: Ted Barnes. |
The new wing built to support
Apollo is at the far end of the building. |
Tidbinbilla, October 1971. Note that the microwave tower has been moved from its
former position on the far left to behind the ops building. This was because the structure of DSS-43 would block the line of sight to the passive repeater on Deadman’s Hill to Honeysuckle Creek. Photo: Colin Mackellar. |