A map showing the route taken by the Northland Coastguard Air Patrol plane in its search for the source of the white noise. Image / Supplied
The Northland Coastguard Air Patrol flew from Kerikeri to Rāwene on Friday via a very circuitous route, on a very unusual mission.
"We were asked by Radio Spectrum Management, the agency that administers New Zealand radio frequencies, to identify the source of a 'white noise' transmission that was continuing to
block some usage of the VHF Channel 16 distress channel," vice-president Peter Heath said.
"It's quite a big deal if people can't call for help on the radio, so it was potentially a very serious situation."
The search began at 9am, using the aircraft's radio direction finding kit, technology dating all the way back to WWII, to locate the source of the problem.
"It didn't take too long for pilots Andrew Roberts and Larry Sutherland, aided by observer Ted Kirkbride, with observers Jan Kennedy and Tim Hamer crewing the Ops Room to maintain contact with the aircraft and relay messages, to figure out that it was coming from somewhere on the west coast. From there it was just a matter of narrowing down the search until we had a likely location.
