I think AWA is an ICT company now, although it's consumer electronic brand name has been owned by Woolworths, they're just rebranded chinese generic goods, I will see if I can post some photos of my AWA TV & radios if I get a chance, also found this link:

May have posted elsewhere, but should fit in well, since this is AWA related.

http://users.pipeline.com.au/~burst/awabroadcastx.htm even has a picture of the old 3MA Mildura Transmitter, this site has lots of info!!
This company even made traffic lights too!!

A video of the Transmitters, Thank god for people like us who appreciate this sort of thing, normally these would've gone to scrap

http://youtu.be/xcGwXh5cJX8.

I think AWA is an ICT company now, although it's consumer electronic brand name has been owned by Woolworths, they're just rebranded Chinese generic goods...

Yes, that is correct. Woolworths don't own the brand as such though, they purchased a licence from AWA to use it though it is the case that the products are not made by AWA. In fact the same products are sold at Dick Smith under the DSE brand.

In post-industrial Australia and with the dollar as powerful as it is at the moment, this situation is unlikely to change.

Another link to a proud history:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no81sVUNXiQ.

Here's a film showing dozens of consoles. Lousy camera work but many fine AWA table and console receivers here. There's even a few AGE Bandmasters which were made by AWA and badge-engineered for the Australian General Electric Company.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g91mDcM3Uok.

Hi all.
I have been doing some Trove trawling tonight and came across this article from the SMH dated 04/12/1923. Here is a portion of it:-
"The Directors of Farmer and Company, Limited, have pleasure in announcing that the Company's high power broadcasting station (2FC), which is being erected by Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia), Limited, at Northbridge, is nearing completion. The station has reached a stage where it is now possible to conduct necessary tests of apparatus."
Though 2BL (then 2SB) proceeded 2FC by a few weeks, 2FC was the first station in Australia to be granted a broadcast licence and also appears to be the first station to use AWA equipment.
Not being a Sydneysider, I only have a vague idea of Northbridges location. Would anyone know where this transmission site was and are there any remnants?
Cheers.

Northbridge is about five minutes north of North Sydney. It is famous for the Long Gully Bridge, a castellated sandstone suspension bridge built for Sydney's original tram network though it has since been converted to a concrete arch bridge and opened to road traffic.

Hi.
I may of been incorrect in stating that 2FC was issued its Broadcasters License prior to 2BL. Some further research has turned up this information:-
"Licenses were issued to Broadcasters (Sydney) Limited on August 18, 1923, and to Farmer and Co. Ltd., Sydney, on October 26, 1923. The two stations 2BL and 2FC, were opened for service respectively on November 13 and December 5, 1923."
I think my original information came from an advertisement from 2FC itself.
As to 2FC's original location, a newspaper clip from December 1923 gives it locality as Willoughby - which I believe is close to Northbridge.

P.S. Further to previous post, I've just found this on the Willoughby City Council website:-
"2FC began broadcasting on 5/12/1923. Farmer and Company Limited Broadcasting Service leased land from the (north-east) corner of Edinburgh Road and Lyle Street (now part of Eastern Valley Way) to halfway to Sugarloaf Creek. Powered by 5,000 watts, it was “the world’s largest broadcasting station” (1923 Willoughby Municipal Council Annual Report). Two steel lattice towers 200 feet high and 600 feet apart supported a squirrel type cage aerial. The main operating room and staff quarters were directly below. The studios in Pitt Street were linked to Willoughby by landline. In 1929 the transmitter, by then out of date, was dismantled and moved to Homebush Bay."
Here is a link to some pictures:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abcarchives/4294365592/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abcarchives/4293632899/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abcarchives/4950663486/in/set-72157623270932091

Sugarloaf Creek is close to where I work. On Sunday when I am back in Sydney I will see if there is anything left to get a photo of.

Farmer and Company Limited Broadcasting Service leased land from the (north-east) corner of Edinburgh Road and Lyle Street (now part of Eastern Valley Way) to halfway to Sugarloaf Creek.

Circa 1939, Lyle St became that part of Eastern Valley Way that runs between Victoria Ave and Edinburgh Rd. The north east corner of that intersection back to the creek was developed as housing lots beginning in c1920, so I doubt that any evidence would remain of the 2FC installation.

But there is this plaque in the footpath at the intersection:

http://tinyurl.com/avqk37z.

Interesting to think that the tower was there during the period that Walter Burley Griffin was developing Castlecrag.

It's interesting that the plaque mentions Homebush Bay, as most AM stations in Sydney ended up having their transmitters there.

2UE's original mast, a shorter, freestanding mast without guy wires also remains close to Concord West Railway Station though I believe that 2UE no longer uses this mast. I live not far from there so I might have a dig around and take some photos.

With local AM broadcast bands the ground wave is important, and having your antenna's ground plane near or in salt water is ideal ... hence the attractiveness of the swampy sites at Homebush.

Re the mast at Concord West, I think it may be 2CH's standby transmitter site.

Hi All.
Not far from me is the original Braybrook transmitter site for 3LO. It is situated on Ashley St, Maidstone. 3LO's transmitter was also courtesy of AWA. According to contemporary newspaper articles this site was also used by AWA as a feeder for it's Beam Wireless service. 3LO officially opened on the 13/10/1924, and therefore came into operation after the Sealed-Set Scheme had ended. 3LO's frequency was originally 174.3 kHz (long-wave) but changed to 810 kHz on the 01/07/1925. There were two other stations originally transmitting on long-wave. They include 2FC, 272.5 kHz (changed to 680 kHz on 02/10/1926) and 6WF on 240 kHz. The site at Braybrook still has one small building that dates back to 1920's. I don't know what the building was used for but it is now in poor condition. It is brick & stucco with a terracotta roof.

Getting back to 2FC.
I've just been reading an article by Neville Williams about a AWA communications engineer, George Cookson. George Cookson for a time was resident engineer at 2FC in Willoughby. According to his son, Len Cookson, "2FC's transmitter had been set up on the site of an old dairy at the corner of First Avenue & Edinburgh Rd, Willoughby." This puts this at odds with the location of the plaque as First Ave is four blocks away from Eastern Valley Way. As for Sugarloaf Creek, I'm sure it would run right underneath First Ave, but now as an underground drain. Any one out there got any ideas?

Cheers.

P.S. I've been reading heaps of articles from late 1923 on Trove regarding 2FC. They all say 2FC was the first station in Australia to be granted a broadcast licence. Whats going on?!!

According to his son, Len Cookson, "2FC's transmitter had been set up on the site of an old dairy at the corner of First Avenue & Edinburgh Rd, Willoughby." This puts this at odds with the location of the plaque as First Ave is four blocks away from Eastern Valley Way.

I'm more inclined to accept the official version quoted by the historians. However, I'm happy to visit Willoughby Council and/or Library to look up the old cadastral maps and see what housing subdivisions were already in place around First Ave and neighbouring streets at that time. One of them ought to show the 2FC site.

In the meantime, I've located a 1913 auction notice for the new subdivision, which created First Ave:

"French's Garden Estate, Willoughby Auction date : Saturday, 22nd November 1913 Auctioneers / Agents : Slade & Brown Streets : Edinburgh Road, Alpha Street, Mowbray Road, Remuera Street, Windsor Road, First Avenue, Second Avenue."

I think that tells us that First Ave was developed about a decade before the 2FC transmitter was erected.

This is all very interesting.
I don't know about Sydney, but here in Melbourne, a lot of land sub-divisions were purely speculative. In fact, where I live was sub-divided in 1857, but didn't really take off until the late 1920's. The streets mentioned in the "French Garden Estate" are mainly on the southern side of Edinburgh Rd. I think the area we are interested in is on the northern side. I am not familiar with Willoughby, but I'm guessing the area would of been sparsely settled and parts of it semi-rural up until after the Harbour Bridge opened.
It is indeed possible that the 2FC site was on the Castlecrag side of Eastern Valley Way as suggested by the plaque. But the historians don't always get it right. Late 2013 will be the 90th anniversary of 2FC. It would be fitting to find the correct location of the transmitter site. I hope we get to the bottom of it!

Cheers.