HMAS Diamantina is a River Class frigate, and was built by Walkers in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. She was commissioned in 1945.
Today she is owned by the Queensland Maritime Museum, located at Southbank in Brisbane.
Please visit the museum.
HMAS DIAMANTINA
An amateur radio station, VK4RAN, is operated from Diamantina's W/T office. The
equipment used is all models which were used during the ships career, ranging from World War 2 vintage up to 1960s vintage.
This is the shack as it is today. That's me at the key.
AT13C Transmitter
The AT13C is a RAAF design built by AWA, circa 1943. It was also used by the Navy. It can
emit up to 500W on CW, on MF and HF. It has a built in antenna tuner. Four 813s are used for the finals. Diamantina had one of these installed in 1956 to replace her original equipment. I am looking for one of these.
B40D
The B40D is a HF Admiralty communications
receiver built by Murphy radio. It was used extensively in the RAN. It is capable of receiving CW, AM and FSK. Built in the sixties, this example was still in service aboard the ship when Diamantina payed off. The B41 is the MF version.
C6940 Lunchbox Receiver.
This receiver is of the type used aboard Diamantina in 1945. Four receivers of varying frequency range were used. The receiver was also used in the 3BZ set. Like much radio equipment of its era, it was built by AWA in
Sydney. Next to the receiver is an 813 valve as used in the AT13C.
A618
The A618 was built by Telecommunications Company of Australia, a division of Phillips. The photograph shows two A618 sets. Two power supplies are shown at the bottom. At top right are
two HF transmitters, at top left are shown two receivers. Not shown is the MF transmitter. One of these sets was fitted to Diamantina at the time of her decommissioning.
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