Radio Stations in Alaska 



By Vincent I. Kraft 



RADIO communication plays an im- 

 portant role in Alaska. Many cities 

 and towns which would otherwise be iso- 

 lated are kept in touch with the rest of 

 the civilized world by this agency alone, 

 and the United States Government em- 

 ploys it to communicate with govern- 

 ment vessels in North Pacific waters, 

 and to receive the weather reports from 

 all parts of the northland. Remote as 

 Alaska is from the source of radio in- 

 ventions and improvements, the Alaskan 

 stations represent strictly up-to-date 

 methods of radio communication. 

 During the past ^^j.s' /o^er 

 few months a great 

 deal of construc- 

 tion work has been 

 done in Alaska, 

 both in improving 

 the existing sta- 

 tions, and in the 

 erection of new 

 ones. The past 

 year has witnessed 

 the completion of 

 the Ketchikan unit of the new chain of 

 semi-high-powered stations. Here the 

 Marconi Company has built a 25 kw. 

 plant, which is at present in daylight 

 communication with a similar outfit lo- 

 cated at Astoria, Oregon. This first 

 span of the new chain is over a dis- 

 tance of 640 nautical ' miles, and con- 

 nects Ketchikan, the southernmost city 

 of importance in Alaska, with the 

 United States. Astoria was chosen as 

 the United States terminus of the chain, 

 after a series of tests in many parts of 

 Washington and Oregon, on account of 

 its natural adaptability to Alaska work. 

 Another station, of ten kilowatts ca- 

 pacity, will soon be erected at Juneau, 

 the capital of Alaska, and will be within 

 daylight range of the Ketchikan station. 

 The erection of a fourth station, in the 

 vicinity of Seward, the terminus of the 

 new Government railroad, is contem- 

 plated. Other stations will probably be 

 erected later. 



This chain of stations will be capable 



20 /v/res eac/) /ooo ' /ong 

 Diagram of the antenna system at Ketchikan, 

 Alaska 



of rendering service that the United 

 States Army cable does at present, be- 

 tween the United States and the above- 

 mentioned points. Experiments are still 

 being conducted between Ketchikan 

 and Astoria, the longest of the spans, 

 and although the wave lengths that will 

 be employed in actual commercial com- 

 munication had not been definitely de- 

 termined upon up to last August, it had 

 been found comparatively easy to cover 

 the distance satisfactorily, using waves 

 between 3,000 and 5,000 meters in 

 length. Signals ranging in strength 

 from 1,000 to 1,500 

 times audibility are 

 received at Ketchi- 

 kan from Astoria 

 in daylight, and 

 this intensity is 

 considerably more 

 than necessary for 

 good commercial 

 operation, employ- 

 ing a typewriter at 

 the receiving sta- 

 tion. 



The installation at Ketchikan, the 

 largest of the stations of the new chain, 

 includes four steel towers of the self- 

 supporting type, 315 feet in height, be- 

 tween which is supported an antenna of 

 20 wires 1,000 feet in length. The sta- 

 tion is equipped with a 60-cycle trans- 

 mitter of 25 kw. rated capacity, provided 

 with a synchronous disc discharger. The 

 transmitter is able to operate at 100 per 

 cent, overload. The receiver is of the 

 standard Marconi panel type, adapted to 

 the reception of waves up to ten thou- 

 sand meters in length. The station at 

 Astoria, Oregon, is a duplicate of the 

 Ketchikan installation. 



The United States Navy, which has 

 maintained stations for many years in 

 Alaska, is improving its present installa- 

 tions and building new ones. The sta- 

 tion at St. Paul (Pribilof Islands), 

 since its erection some four years ago, 

 has been equipped with a set of five kw. 

 capacity Telefunken apparatus. The 



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