Tangimoana Station facts for kids

The Tangimoana Station is a special place in New Zealand. It's a radio communications station run by the New Zealand Government Communications Security Bureau, often called the GCSB. This station is located about 30 kilometres west of Palmerston North.

What Does Tangimoana Station Do?

The Tangimoana Station opened in 1982. It took over from an older station near Waiouru called Irirangi. This station's main job is to listen to radio signals. It's like a big ear that picks up communications from far away.

Tangimoana's Role in Global Listening

Experts say that Tangimoana Station is part of a large worldwide network. This network is called ECHELON. It's a group of stations that listen to signals all over the world. Several countries work together in this network. These countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. They share information they gather from these signals.

Peace researchers like Owen Wilkes and Nicky Hager have studied the station. They found that the equipment at Tangimoana can listen to many different types of signals. This includes signals from radios and satellites. It can even pick up signals that are about New Zealand citizens.