Operation CATALYST: Image Gallery
23 September 2005
Grand Finals pressure in the Middle East
Grand Final pressure has struck a little publicised but vital element of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in the Middle East.
Defence communications technicians are working with an eye on the clock, assembling, installing, and testing nine satellite dishes around the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO) in time for live telecast of the AFL Grand Final on 24 September 2005.
Sports coverage for football fans deployed with the ADF in the Middle East has been sporadic. Sometimes Defence in Canberra has had to courier recordings of matches by air and land vehicles to the area of operation.
When live coverage was available it often was of indifferent quality. Now, with a decision to take ABC Asia satellite television transmissions, almost every ADF sports fan serving in the Middle East will be able to follow their favourite football code live.
After the AFL and NRL finals, the sports coverage available to deployed ADF members will include cricket. So, this week, ADF signallers are working in the heart of Baghdad installing a dish for the members of the Security Detachment (SECDET 8).
They also are working in half a dozen other locations around the MEAO, including the desert sands of southern Iraq so that AFL fans of the Al Muthanna Task Group (AMTG) can gather around a big screen on Saturday morning local time for the big match.
It's a big task but the signallers are quietly confident that when the umpire bounces the ball to start the Swans-Eagles Grand Final, a TV signal will bounce off a satellite in space and down into their dishes in the Middle East so ADF members can join the rest of Australia in watching the big game... live.
| 20050919adf8164295_001 Army Signaller Craig Rootes (left) and RAAF Corporal Matt Burger assemble one of nine new satellite dishes with which ADF members in the Middle East will watch live coverage of the AFL Grand Final. (Date taken: 19 September 2005) Low-res | High-res |
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