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 

 conduct 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 Thurso/GXH, U.S. Naval 

 Radio Station Keflavik/NRK, Canadian Coast 

 Guard Radio Station St. John's/VON and 

 Canadian Maritime Command Radio Station Mill 

 Cove/CFH. 



International Ice Patrol Ice Bulletins were 

 broadcast by Coast Guard Communications 

 Station 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 repeated at 

 sixteen (16) words per minute. Coast Guard 

 Communications Station Boston/NIK/NMF also 

 transmitted a daily radio facsimile broadcast de- 

 picting 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, 

 Thurso/GXT 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 scheduled 

 broadcasts. These transmissions were preceded 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-OOW to 66-30W 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 information 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 obtained 

 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 1977 through 31 August 1978 are 

 shown in Table 3. 



Table 3— Communications Statistics 



Number of ice reports received from ships 399 



Number of ships furnishing ice reports 84 

 Number of ice reports received from 



commercial aircraft 10 



Number of sea surface temperature reports 478 

 Number of ships furnishing sea surface 



temperature reports 44 

 Number of ships requesting special 



ice information 19 



Number of NIK ice bulletins issued 249 



Number of NIK facsimile broadcasts 124 



Of the number of ships furnishing Ice Patrol with 

 ice reports and special sea surface temperature 

 observations, the eight most outstanding con- 

 tributors for the period 1 September 1977 to 31 

 August 1978 were: 



M/BAKKAFOSS/TFXQ 108 



CSS HUDSON/CGDG 30 



M/V ATLANTIC SAGA/SLNA 28 



USNS MIRFAK/NZAE 16 



M/V ARTADI/5MAN 13 



M/V FINNFOREST/OGIL 12 



M/V SANDGATE/GVZG 11 



M/V MELTEMIZ/SYCH 10 



