Views of the Station

The Carnarvon Tracking Station covered a large area (approx 2.6 sq km) on Browns Range.

These photos give some idea of the scale of the station.

Carnarvon Tracking Station Panorama

Click the image for a 6.6MB PDF panorama. It was assembled from several black and white photographs taken from the newly-completed 9 metre USB antenna in May 1966. The PDF file has two pages – the second one is the same, but without the annotations.

The photographs were probably taken by a Department of Supply photographer. With thanks to Trevor Mosel, Stuart Wattison (who scanned them), Paul Dench and Terry Kierans. Panorama assembled and annotated by Colin Mackellar.

Other photos from the same set may be seen here.

Carnarvon Tracking Station from the air

Hamish Lindsay took this photo covering the whole station in late 1966.

Click the image to download a 5.7MB PDF file. The PDF file has two pages – the second one is the same, but without the annotations.

Telemetry and Control Building from the air

Hamish Lindsay took this photo in late 1966.

Visible in this photo is the T&C Building – the new Apollo extension is at the top of the picture. To the right is the 9 metre USB antenna, and to right of it are the troppo-scatter antennae for communications to Geraldton.

Scan: Colin Mackellar.

The bitumen road from the junction near the SPAN facility, looking towards the T&C Building (left of centre) and the USB antenna (right).

Notice the Dallas – Fort Worth Turnpike sign by the side of the road.

Paul Dench was leader of the team of eight from Carnarvon doing USB training at the Collins factory in 1965. (Collins Radio was the Unified S-band manufacturer, based in Richardson, Texas, just north of Dallas.)

Paul was one of the four who “rescued [the sign] from its lonely existence half way along the turnpike.” He says, “It is now fixed to my verandah wall.”

Update: As of June 2012, it is now on display at the Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum.

Large, Larger.

Photo: Tom Sheehan, 1971.

Here’s the field-of-view superimposed on a station map.

And you can just make out the Turnpike sign arrowed in this 700kb detail from the panorama taken from the USB dish.

Aerial view – Apollo configuration – looking South West.

USB antenna on left, T&C Building on right.

Large (340kb), Larger (1.7MB), Very large (6.1MB).

A key is coming soon.

Photo from the Tidbinbilla archives, scan by Glen Nagle.

Aerial view – Apollo configuration – looking South East.

The FPQ-6 Radar. The T&C Building and USB antenna are visible in the distance, left of centre.

Large (430kb), Larger (1.4MB), Very large (5.2MB).

A key is coming soon.

Photo from the Tidbinbilla archives, scan by Glen Nagle.

The Carnarvon Tracking Station Telemetry and Control Building – before Apollo.

The foundations for the Apollo USB extension are laid out in the foreground.

Taken just after sunrise, this photo shows the sea in the distance. The old Verlort radar, from Muchea is at right.

Photo: Hamish Lindsay.

Aerial view – Apollo configuration.

Note that the Apollo extension is now completed.

Hamish Lindsay, who worked at Carnarvon before going to Honeysuckle Creek, writes

“On the left are the two tropospheric scatter dish antennas for a link to Geraldton, introduced when all the land lines out of Carnarvon were lost to a lightning strike early in the Gemini Program. Next is the 9-metre USB Apollo antenna.

The big building is the T & C (Telemetry and Control) building, with the Apollo extensions visible nearest the camera with its battery of airconditioning units needed to compete with the heat of the surrounding desert.

At the top right corner of the T&C building are the two Gemini Acquisition Aid antennas, while the old Verlort radar from Muchea with its vans and small concrete tower is visible in the top right of the picture.”

The powerhouse and FPQ-6 radar were established in separate locations.

At its peak Carnarvon (CRO) was the largest tracking station outside the USA.”

Photo: Hamish Lindsay. How was it taken? Hamish writes, “I was flying in a light aircraft without the door on (the pilot pulled fencing wire out of the hinges to remove the door!), and when he banked to turn all my gear would slide towards the open door.”