COMMUNICATIONS 



Primary radio communications for International Ice Patrol was 

 conducted In' U.S. Coast Guard Radio Station (XIK). Argentia, 

 Newfoundland. Commencing with the 0048Z broadcast on 11 March 

 I960, this station broadcasted ice advisory bulletins to shipping at 

 0048 and 1248 Greenwich Mean Time until the final broadcast on 

 30 June 1960. Transmissions were made simultaneously on 155 kilo- 

 cycles, 5320 kilocycles and 8502 kilocycles with an output of 2 kilo- 

 watts. Each bulletin was transmitted twice, after a preliminary 

 announcement on 500 kilocycles. The first transmission was made 

 at 15 words per minute, the second at 25 words per miiuite. 



All l)roadcasts included a statement as to the method of ice obser- 

 vation being used and a request that ships report all ice sighted and 

 report sea water temperature, position, course, speed, visibility, and 

 surface weather every four hours when between the latitudes of39°X. 

 and 49° X. and longitudes 42° W. and 60° W. The significance of 

 the ice reports is obvious l)ut the importance of the other information, 

 while equally important, is not so apparent. The sea temperature 

 reports are used to construct isotherm charts which play an important 

 role in the evaluation of berg reports, prediction of berg drifts and 

 estimation of the rate of ice deterioration. The charts prepared from 

 these reports are included as figures 1 through 7. The position, 

 course and speed information is plotted for use in ascertaining the 

 density of shipping in a given area and for possible use in issuing a 

 special warning should a vessel or vessels appear to be standing into 

 danger. The visibility and weather reports are used in determining 

 the feasibility of making an ice observation flight in a given area. 

 The response to the requests for information, while not complete, 

 was gratifying. 



Merchant vessels handled traffic with XIK on their assigned fre- 

 quencies with X'lK working on 427 kilocycles, 6477.5 kilocycles, 8734 

 kilocycles or 12718.5 kilocycles as appropriate. 



International Ice Patrol also operated a branch teletype station 

 from the naval teletype relay at Argentia. This circuit was used for 

 the transmission and receipt of ice information between the United 

 States Xaval Hydrographic Office, the Canadian Department of Trans- 

 port Ice Information Office at Halifax, U.S. C^oast Guard Head- 

 quarters, and other interested agencies. 



During the 1960 season. Ice Patrol communication facilities handled 

 a total of 18,029 radio messages and 22,420 landline messages. The 

 statistics concerning ship reports is given in the following table: 



Number of ice reports received from vessel.^ 1, 008 



Number of vessels furnishing ice reports 275 



Number of sea surface temperature reports 7, 436 



Number of vessels furnishing sea surface temperatures 525 



Number of requests for special ice information 188 



Total number of vessels worked (not including relays) 592 



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