Location: near the village of Cookamidgera, NSW, 2870
Country: Wiradjuri
LGA: Shire of Forbes (Cookamidgera is in the Shire of Parkes)
Region: Central Western NSW
Website:
Map: Below
In July 1969, radio infrastructure installed on the top of Mount Coonambro, a 585 metre hill near the village of Cookamidgera, enabled millions of people around the world to witness the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. This little mountain’s infrastructure now allows thousands of inland music lovers to enjoy Forbes and Parkes’ community radio station 97.9 Valley FM in the IAT town of Forbes, NSW.
The Moon Landing Signal
The radio signal carrying the Apollo 11 video and sound data was received by Murriyang, the Parkes Radio Telescope, then transmitted to two microwave dishes on a service tower about 100 metres east of the telescope, and sent to the radio tower on Mount Coonambro some 30 kilometres southeast of Murriyang. From Coonambro it was transmitted to a repeater in West Orange, then to Redfern in Sydney, and on to the PMG Waverley Exchange and the Paddington OTC station, from where it was distributed to the rest of the world.
For more on the route the Moon Landing signals took, see The Parkes Communication Network: Signal Path From Parkes to Sydney, in The Parkes Observatory’s Support of the Apollo 11 Mission by John Sarkissian, Operations Scientist, Parkes Observatory, October 2000.
Also see The Apollo 11 Television Broadcast, https://honeysucklecreek.net/Apollo_11/main.html
Community Radio Station 97.9 Valley FM
Mount Coonambro’s infrastructure now transmits satellite data to Inland communities, individuals and organisations, including Community Radio Station 97.9 Valley FM in Forbes.
Interview with one of the co-founders of 97.9 Valley FM, 81-year-old retired farmer and music shop proprietor, and ongoing radio enthusiast Kevin Dwyer, at the Vandenberg Hotel, Forbes, NSW, 29 April, 2025. Kevin’s passion for radio began in his youth when he was ‘mucking about’ with a crystal radio set on the family farm, near the village of Gunningbland in Parkes Shire.
More from Kevin Dwyer talking about how radio works, and how he became interested in it in his youth.
Captions:
Top feature photo: Mount Coonambro with its communication masts towering above the landscape.
Gallery photos: Top left, locals Bill Hawkin, Kevin Dwyer and Michael Long on the top of Mt Coonambro c. 2008 to insert a 10 metre extension to the radio mast to improve reception.
Bottom left: Mt Coonambro reflected in a farm dam.
Right: The radio mast and 97.9 Valley FM’s on-site shed made from a watertank.
Photo credit: Merrill Findlay, 11 April 2025.
Co-founders of 97.9 Valley FM, including the inaugural station co-ordinator, the late Don McGuire (pictured in the cutting above), used local print media to promote their community radio station in the 1980s. They received overwhelming public support. Cutting provided by Kevin Dwyer.
Captions
Left: Community Radio Station 97.8 Valley FM building with its dish (far left of photo) to receive satellite content from the mast on Mt Coonambro.
Right: Valley FM volunteer DJ Debbie introducing her Friday Arvo Music Program. ‘I don’t know what it is, but once you get in that chair then something just takes over you and I just love it,’ she said. Debbie works in the Aged Care sector in between her DJ sessions on 97.8 FM.
Photo credit: Merrill Findlay, 11-12 April 2025.
And just for fun: Roger Waters (co-founder of the English rock band Pink Floyd) and his Radio Waves …
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Post published 11 April 2025. Last updated 14 May 2025.