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"Wavescan" is a weekly program for long distance radio hobbyists produced by Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, Coordinator of International Relations for Adventist World Radio. AWR carries the program over many of its stations (including shortwave). Adrian Peterson is a highly regarded DXer and radio historian, and often includes features on radio history in his program. We are reproducing those features below, with Dr. Peterson's permission and assistance.
Wavescan N578, March 22, 2020
The Happiest Place on Earth: Vanuatu in the South Pacific Back on Shortwave
The travel brochure informs us that Vanuatu is the Happiest Place on Earth, due to its idyllic location, and the relaxed lifestyle of its inhabitants. These days, Vanuatu is really beginning to encourage international tourists to come visit their islands and enjoy a happy tropical vacation to the utmost.
Vanuatu is a cluster of 82 South Pacific Islands, 65 of which are inhabited, and they are located 1,000 miles east of Australia. These islands stretch north and south for 800 miles, and, interestingly, two of these islands, Matthew and Hunter, are claimed by, and administered by, France as part of New Caledonia.
There are several active volcanoes on Vanuatu, both above sea level and below sea level, and these produce frequent earthquakes, though fortunately not serious. The largest island is Espiritu Santo, though Efate is the capital island, with Port Vila as the capital city.
The total coverage of the islands is 1,800 square miles, though the land areas are generally quite steep and somewhat unstable. Only 9% of the land areas are suitable for cultivation, and the availability of fresh water is quite limited.
The unusual Flower Pot Snake was apparently introduced inadvertently to Vanuatu during the colonial days. This snake is blind, non-poisonous, and it is sometimes mistakenly identified as an underground worm. Salt water crocodiles have appeared in Vanuatu in more recent times, and it is understood that they were blown in from the Solomon Islands and New Guinea during cyclones and heavy weather storms.
The first inhabitants of Vanuatu were Melanesians who came in from South East Asia two and three thousand years ago. The first European visitor was the Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós, who was leading a Spanish expedition in 1606. Soon afterwards, a Spanish settlement was established, though it did not survive for very long.
The notorious French Admiral Bougainville rediscovered the islands again in 1768, and the famous English Captain Cook, who named the islands as the New Hebrides, arrived six years later. In 1906, the British and the French agreed to administer the islands jointly; some 5,000 Vietnamese village people were brought in subsequently as field laborers; and the Americans swarmed in by the thousands during the Pacific War. The New Hebrides gained their independence in 1980 as Vanuatu.
These days, Vanuatu has a local population of a quarter million who speak 100 different languages and dialects, though Bislama, English and French are the official languages. The predominant religion on Vanuatu is Christianity.
The local economy is dependent upon foreign aid, and China holds 50% of their indebtedness. Tourism is beginning to substantially add to their economy, and the sale of offshore citizenship at $150,000 each accounts for 30% of their national income.
The first wireless station in the New Hebrides was installed in the era before Word War I. It was back in December 1909 at a Pacific Wireless Conference in Melbourne, Australia that plans were laid for a South Pacific network of wireless communication stations, which would include also the New Hebrides.
Approval for the installation of a medium power longwave station at Port Vila on Efate Island was granted in early 1910, and the station was installed quite soon afterwards. The location for this new wireless station, under the callsign HNV, was upon a hill top on the small 69 acre Iririki Island in Mele Bay opposite Port Vila.
During the mid-1920s, the wireless equipment at Port Vila was removed and a new valve transmitter (probably from AWA in Australia) was installed. At the same time, the callsign was changed from HNV to HVW.
It appears that the new station was installed by Mr. Francis H. Harvey, originally from Western Australia. He had a QSL card printed, listing the communication station as HVW and his own amateur callsign as A4NW. Apparently the New Hebrides back then was shown as part of Queensland as far as amateur radio was concerned.
In 1978, the communication station was listed with two callsigns, YJA and YJZ, and the location was given as now on the capital city island itself, Efate. After independence in 1980, the one callsign is shown, just YJM, which indicates that Vanuatu retained the same callsign sequence as before independence.
In our next topic on the radio scene in Vanuatu, we plan to present the story of the American radio station on the island of Espiritu Santo.
Audio insert: Radio Vanuatu: Theme, English identification announcement; drums, sound of the shell; Radio Vanuatu song.