COMMUNICATIONS 



Ice Patrol communications included ice reports, 

 environmental conditions, Ice Bulletins, special 

 ice advisories, a daily Facsimile Chart, and the 

 administrative and operational traffic necessary 

 to the conduct of the Patrol. The Ice Bulletin 

 was transmitted by teletype from the Ice Patrol 

 office in New York twice each day to over 30 

 addressees, including those radio stations which 

 broadcast the Bulletin. These stations were the 

 U.S. Coast Guard Communications Station 

 Boston/NIK/NMF, U.S. Naval Radio Station 

 Norfolk/NAM, U.S. Naval Radio Station Lon- 

 donderry/NST, U.S. Naval Radio Station 

 Thurso/GXH, U.S. Naval Radio Station Kefla- 

 vik/NRK, Canadian Coast Guard Radio Station 

 St. John's/VON, and Canadian Maritime Com- 

 mand Radio Station Mill Cove/CFH. 



International Ice Patrol Ice Bulletins were 

 broadcast by Coast Guard Communications Sta- 

 tion Boston/NMF/NIK by CW at 0018 GMT on 

 5320 and 8502 kHz and at 1218 GMT on 8502 

 and 12750 kHz. After a two-minute series of 

 test signals, the transmissions were made at 

 twenty-five (25) words per minute and then re- 

 peated at sixteen (16) words per minute. Coast 

 Guard Communications Station Boston/NIK/ 

 NMF also transmitted a daily radio facsimile 

 broadcast depicting the locations of icebergs and 

 sea ice at 1600 GMT simultaneously on 8502 and 

 12750 kHz at a drum speed of 120 revolutions 

 per minute. 



Ice Bulletins were also broadcast twice daily 

 by U.S. Naval Radio Stations Norfolk/NAM, 

 Londonderry/NST, Thurso/GXH, and Keflavik/ 

 NRK on the LCMP Broadcasts between 0500- 

 0600 GMT and 1700-1800 GMT on a wide range 

 of frequencies. Canadian Coast Guard Radio 

 Station St. John's/VON made CW broadcasts at 

 0000 and 1330 GMT on 478 kHz, and Canadian 

 Maritime Radio Station Mill Cove/CFH also 

 broadcast at 0130 and 1330 GMT on a wide range 

 of low to high frequencies. 



Special broadcasts were made by Canadian 

 Coast Guard Radio Station St. John's/VON as 

 required when icebergs were sighted outside the 

 limits of all known ice between regularly sched- 

 uled broadcasts. These transmissions were pre- 

 ceded by the International Safety Signal (TTT) 

 on 500 kHz. 



Sea ice information services for the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, as well as the approaches, from 

 58°00'W to 66°30'W longitudes including the 

 Strait of Belle Isle to west of Belle Isle itself, 

 were provided by the Canadian Ministry of 

 Transport during the period from December to 

 approximately late June. Ships obtained ice in- 

 formation by contacting the Ice Operations 

 Officer, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia via any east 

 coast Canadian Coast Guard Radio Station. 



Supplementary ice conditions and navigational 

 warnings for the Strait of Belle Isle, the coast of 

 Newfoundland, and the Grand Banks were ob- 

 tained by contacting Canadian Coast Guard 

 Radio Stations: St. Anthony/VCM, Comfort 

 Cove/VOO, St. John's/VON, and St. Lawrence/ 

 VCP. 



Communications statistics for the period 1 

 September 1976 through 31 August 1977 are 

 shown in Table 2. 



TABLE 2— COMMUNICATIONS STATISTICS 



Number of ice reports received from ships 316 

 Number of ships furnishing ice reports — 52 

 Number of ice reports received from com- 

 mercial aircraft 1 



Number of sea surface temperature reports 1,150 

 Number of ships furnishing sea surface 



temperature reports 44 



Number of ships requesting special ice in- 

 formation 18 



Number of NIK Ice Bulletins issued 195 



Number of NIK facsimile broadcasts 97 



