RADIO COMMUNICATIONS 



The vital importance of the radio to the plan of an ice patrol 

 warning approaching ships of the dangers in their paths is quite 

 obvious. It would be literally impossible to perform this humani- 

 tarian service if it were not for Marconi's pioneer invention. Natu- 

 rally the efficiency and value of the patrol, as it proportionately 

 assists to increase the safety of life on the North Atlantic, is closely 

 wrapped up in the entire subject of radio. Not only is it the ice which 

 is actually found by the patrol that is reported to shipping, but also is 

 included the ice from a much larger area than that which the patrol 

 could possibly hope to cover. Such accomplishments can only be 

 realized with the cooperative assistance received from passing ships 

 which report to the patrol from positions scattered over the entire 

 danger region. It can be seen that under such circumstances the 

 patrol vessel assumes the role of a radio clearing house and thus 

 becomes the disseminator of a digested report for the whole region. 

 The story of the past season's work, as in former years, has been one 

 of willing and efficient service on the part of the merchant vessels. 

 We also want to add that the Canadian direction-finding stations 

 and the Cape Race Commercial Radio Station have done everything 

 possible to make the radio operations run smoothly and successfully. 

 The summary of the work performed during the 1926 season will be 

 found in the report of the ice patrol commander, page 17. 



A survey of the radio communications during 1926 particularly 

 impresses us with a feature which excels previous years; and the part 

 we have in mind refers to the great improvement regarding the ship 

 to shore communication. The patrol, in its early years, depended 

 upon forwarding its traffic to Washington via the nearest coastal 

 station. Cape Race, Newfoundland, by means of an ordinary 2- 

 kilowatt spark transmitter. There were, however, times during 

 the first few weeks of the ice season, say until April 1, when direct 

 communication was possible by this means, but for the major part 

 of the season, it was necessary to transmit messages via Cape Race. 



Because of the expensive tariffs by this route it has long been the 

 desire to establish official communication between the patrol and 

 naval radio stations situated in the United States. When the then 

 new ships Tampa and Modoc, in 1922, were assigned to patrol duty, 

 more frequent communication with United States coastal stations 

 was effected by means of arc sets with which these vessels were 



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