RADIO TELEPHONE SERVICE TO SHIPS AT SEA 



417 



reduced in height and the horizontal links correspondingly elongated. 

 A photograph of the station at Forked River and two of the antennas is 

 shown in Fig. 8. 



The control and operating terminal equipment in New York is 

 identical with that in use on the transoceanic radio telephone circuits. 

 The control positions, as they exist in the New York long-distance 

 telephone building for both transatlantic and ship-to-shore circuits, 

 are pictured in Fig. 9. These control positions have associated with 

 them such things as voice-frequency repeaters, indicators of the volume 

 being transmitted and received over the circuit, gain controls, monitor- 

 ing and testing facilities, and voice-current operated switching de- 

 vices. The latter prevent the speech received from the ship from 

 being reradiated from the shore transmitting station and permit inde- 

 pendent adjustment of amplification in the circuits leading to the 

 transmitting and receiving stations. Thus, the volume sent to the 



Fig. 8 — Forked River station with antenna. 



transmitting station may be kept substantially constant, despite 

 variations in speech volume received from different land line subscri- 

 bers and full modulation of the transmitter may be obtained for over- 

 riding noise on the ship. The function of the technical control operator 

 is that of maintaining the circuit in the correct technical condition for 

 talking. In general, it is the intention that the shore transmitting 

 and receiving stations should function, as far as possible, merely as 

 repeater stations, with the control of the over-all circuit from New York 

 to the ship resting in the New York technical operator. 



The circuit terminates as an operating facility before a traffic opera- 

 tor at one of the long-distance telephone boards. In Fig. 10 is shown 

 an illustration of the traffic positions for the transatlantic radio tele- 

 phone circuits, including, at the right, two positions devoted to the ship- 

 to-shore service. The duty of one of these two girls is confined to the 

 radio circuit itself in that she talks to the ship operator, passes and re- 

 ceives information as to calls, and is generally responsible for complet- 

 ing the connection between the ship circuit and the land line subscriber. 



