Leigh switches off marine radio

The plug has been pulled on a marine radio base at Leigh, which has been operating for at least the last 34 years.

Leigh Radio, operating on Channel 74, was run on a community basis, with some funding for administration from the Leigh Fishermen’s Association.

Association life member Ron Perry says the closure is a sign of the times.

“There’s less boats fishing out of Leigh and more people are using cellphones to keep in touch,” he says.

“Additionally, both commercial and pleasure boats are so much more reliable than they used to be. In essence, the service has out-lived its usefulness.”

Ron says in the station’s hey day, the service was utilised by 50 to 60 commercial vessels, but this has dropped to about 24 and the number of pleasure craft on the radio is also declining.

The radio started on four schedules a day when it was used mainly to coordinate fishing vessel arrivals at Leigh Wharf and convey messages to families.

Ron’s wife Jocelyn, who was the service’s secretary for many years, says in the early days, the radio was a lifesaver for the wives of fishermen.

“Sometimes they were out fishing for five days at a time,” she says. “At least we knew we could ring the operator and know they were safe and get a message to them if we needed to.”

One of the early operators was Cora Johnston, of Matheson Bay, who used a double sideband radio, which had a range of about 100 miles.

“It was either homemade or ex-army, no-one was ever quite sure where it came from,” Ron says.

When Cora retired in 1980, Pam and Ross Kellian took over utilising a single sideband set and a VHF base set. A repeater was installed on Pakiri Hill about this time, which provided coverage from about Whitianga to Cape Brett.

Other operators were Leanne Davies, Elsie Douglas, Bev Holden, Glenis Penney and more lately, her daughter Lynette.

“We’ve been very lucky to have had some brilliant operators, who have sounded the alarm for countless marine incidents, from boats sinking to fuel and mechanical problems.”

Ron says the closure is the end of an era and he is sad to see the radio go.

“The new system isn’t as user-friendly – some of the fishermen have had to learn to txt which isn’t easy with big, wet hands.”

But it will mean the end of calls in the middle of the night to set out in search of a boatie in trouble. The area will, in future, be covered by the Great Barrier service.

Anyone who is interested in purchasing any of the radio equipment, power packs or fax machines, can contact Ron on 422 6257.

Pictured: Ron Perry signs off on behalf of Leigh Radio. He says it’s the end of an era.