COMMUNICATIONS 



From 14 March to 21 July ice information 

 was broadcast twice daily to shipping by Inter- 

 national Ice Patrol Radio Station (NIK) at 

 0018 and 1218 G.M.T. simultaneously on 427, 

 5320, 8502, and 12880.5 KHZ. Each broadcast 

 was preceded by the general call CQ on 500 

 KHZ with instructions to shift to the above 

 operating frequencies. A two minute series of 

 test signals transmitted on the operating fre- 

 quencies facilitated receiver tuning. Each 

 broadcast was transmitted twice, first at 25 

 words per minute and again at 15 words per 

 minute. In addition to ice broadcasts, ice broad- 

 casts, ice bulletins were transmitted by teletype 

 to a number of organizations including the 

 U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, the Canadian 

 Department of Transport, and the Canadian 

 Forces Radio Station at Albro Lake, Nova 

 Scotia. The Naval Oceanographic Office further 

 disseminated the Bulletins via U.S. Naval 



Radio Station Washington (NSS), and daily 

 and weekly Notices to Mariners. 



Ice conditions were also transmitted by 

 facsimile at 1330 G.M.T. daily on 5320, 8502, 

 and 12880.5KHZ at a drum speed of 60 R.P.M. 



Duplex radio operations were used between 

 NIK and merchant ships for general radio com- 

 munications. Merchant ships worked NIK on 

 500 KHZ and 8 and 12 MHZ maritime calling 

 bands. NIK worked 427, 8734, and 12718.5 

 KHZ as appropriate. 



The International Ice Patrol Radio Station 

 (NIK) is also Coast Guard Radio Station 

 Argentia (NJN). About half of the traffic it 

 handles during the ice season concerns Ice 

 Patrol services, and the rest is Coast Guard 

 traffic. Statistics concerning ships reporting to 

 or requesting information from Commander, 

 International Ice Patrol are presented in Table 

 2. 



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