During WW2, Radar operators at the RNZAF Mt Bates Station on Norfolk Island noticed strange bursts of “radio noise” at sunset and sunrise. Les Hepburn, in charge of the station, reported these to his superiors in New Zealand. Dr Elizabeth Alexander, in charge of radar research in the Radio Development Laboratory in Wellington, set about [ Read More ]
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Local muso Age Pryor, is an esteemed member of The Wellington International Ukelele Orchestra, The Woolshed Series, Fly My Pretties and the Cosmic Noise Expedition, the latter an experimental group with Chris O’Connor http://www.agepryor.co.nz/cosmic-noise-expedition/ The picture shows Age (left) with Sam Auger and Megan Salole when they played the Barnett Hall for Protect Piha Heritage [ Read More ]
Have recently come across two detailed papers by New Zealander (based in Australia) Wayne Orchiston about people involved in the work on radio stars in New Zealand. Ruth Alexander In 1945 an Air Force radar unit stationed in Norfolk Island detected solar radio emissions, dubbed “the Norfolk Island effect”. This radation was investigated through 1945 by [ Read More ]
Dr Miller Goss’s latest visit on the trail of radio astronomers Bolton and Stanley led to another site visit to try and trace the remains of some of the Radar Station infrastructure. In the meantime local historian Sandra Coney had found a map of the station showing where fences and buildings were located. During the [ Read More ]
On 28 January a group gathered at the end of Log Race Road, Piha, to unveil a plaque to a unique event that occured in 1948. In that year two radio astronomers from Australia arrived at the mothballed WW2 Radar Station to conduct experiments to pinpoint the sources of radio waves from the heavens. Englishman John [ Read More ]
On Tuesday 17 November 2009 a small disparate group of people gathered on the regional parkland at the end of Log Race Race, Piha, on a strange expedition. The leader of the group was a tall lanky American, Dr Miller Goss, a radio astronomer from the National Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico. Goss was on the [ Read More ]