Where and how it all began ...
The Tasmanian Smallcraft Marine Radio Group (TSMRG) was formed by Barry McCann and Les Collis in 1975 to establish an economical means of communication between pleasure craft and a shore station. The sole purpose was to enhance the safety of life and property at sea.

The 27mHz base station was set up at the late Doug Bonnitch's home on the Esplanade at Margate in July 1976 and was operated for the next nine years by his son, Len. A VHF service also commenced during this time. A radio was also installed at the Denison Canal and operated by Charlie Curle. this made navigating the canal much easier.

Upon Len's retirement in 1985 the base station moved to South Arm and became Tasmar Radio. This station was run by Rex Griffiths until his retirement in the late 80s. In 1987, a remotely controlled base station was constructed at Snug Tiers and this facility is still an integral part of the much expanded system that is Coast Radio Hobart today.

When Rex retired the base was moved to Denison Canal and operated by the late Robert Wright. The base then moved to the homes of various volunteers when second and third control conoles were built. Operators during those years included Elaine Stokman, Bill Lush, Ted Thorne, Stu Braunholz and Mike Hooper.

The name change from Tasmar Radio to Coast Radio Hobart had no bearing on the self-funded and voluntary nature of this network. It was a decision made by the body that oversees the national High Frequency Radio Network, for which we operate Coast Radio Hobart. The local service we provided as Tasmar Radio, of course, still continues.

In 1993, the State Government granted TSMRG control and sole use of the old Hobart Radio receiving station on Bruny Island. This station, now fully re-equipped, forms a vital back-up and provides monitoring of the international distress frequencies. Our operations room at the old Hobart Radio building on the Domain began service in May 2004, continuing a marine radio service from this site since 1912.

Where we are today...
Huge technical improvements have been made over the last year with the help of technical volunteers Andrew Boon, John Parker, Maurice Riley and CRH directors, Barry McCann, Stu Braunholz and Brian Muir. We have outgrown the capacity of the radio links between our control centres and our remote transceiving stations. A new Link Hub station is being constructed at Albion heights to house new digital link equipment. Equipment at the Domain, Snug Tiers and Bruny also needed replacement. Telstra and Transend Networks again came to our aid with the donation of surplus multi-channel digital broadband radio equipment and facilities. A special thanks to Brian Muir for the many hours he has devoted to this very complex upgrade. CRH is constantly improving the coverage and quality of our transmissions and work is ongoing. Watch this space.