COMMUNICATIONS 



Ice Patrol communications included reports of 

 ice and environmental conditions, Ice Bulletins, 

 voice broadcasts, and administrative traffic neces- 

 sary to operate the patrol. The Ice Bulletin was 

 disseminated by teletype from the Ice Patrol office 

 in New York to about 28 addresses, including the 

 Naval Oceanographic Office, the Canadian De- 

 partment of Transport, the British Admiralty, 

 and cooperating radio stations. International Ice 

 Patrol Ice Bulletins were broadcast twice daily 

 by Coast Guard Radio Station, Boston/NMF/ 

 NIK, U.S. Naval Radio Station, AVashington/ 

 NSS, Canadian Coastal Radio Station, St. 

 John's/VON, and Canadian Maritime Radio Sta- 

 tion, Mill Cove/CFH. The Ice Bulletins dissemi- 

 nated this year made no inference to the effective 

 lane of the North American Atlantic Lane Track 

 Agreement. This was because the agreement, 

 which had been in existence since 1890, was abro- 

 gated by the contracting parties effective 1 Sep- 

 tember 1969. 



The phase down of the U.S. Naval Station at 

 Argentia and the resulting closure of the Coast 

 Guard Radio Station, Argentia, NJN/NIK, ne- 

 cessitated a number of changes in Ice Patrol com- 

 munications. Coast Guard Radio Station, Bos- 

 ton/NMF, assumed most of the duties of Ice 

 Patrol Radio Station/NIK, transmitting the Ice 

 Bulletin to shipping daily at 0018 gmt and 1218 

 GMT. Each transmission was preceded by a si- 

 multaneous "CQ" call on 5320, 8502, and 12750 

 kHz. After a 2-minute series of test signals 

 transmitted on these frequencies, NMF/NIK 

 transmitted the Ice Bulletin first at 25 words per 

 minute and then at 15 words per minute. 



A new service of the Ice Patrol was inaugu- 

 rated 11 June 1970, when a voice summary of the 

 International Ice Patrol Bulletin was included 

 as part of the United States Marine Information 

 Broadcast for the High Seas of the North At- 

 lantic. This summary was broadcast daily by 

 Coast Guard Radio Station, Boston/NMF, on 

 7865.4 kHz (8764.0) upper sideband mode com- 

 mencing at 0130, 0730, 1330, and 1930 gmt and 

 on 8764.0 kHz double side band mode commenc- 

 ing at 0149, 0749, 1349, and 1949 gmt. After 24 

 June 1970, the NMF double side band broadcasts 



were made at 0200, 0800, 1400, and 2000 gmt. 



Merchant ships calling to transmit Ice Patrol 

 traffic were requested to use the regularly assigned 

 international call signs of the Coast Guard Ocean 

 Station, East Coast AMVER Radio Stations, or 

 Canadian Coastal Radio Station, St. John's. 

 Coast Guard Stations were alert to answer NIK/ 

 NJN/NIDK calls, if used. "When communicating 

 with the above stations, merchant ships were re- 

 quested to call and pass traffic as shown in table 2. 



Table 2.— Communications With International Ice Patrol 



Frequencies which should 

 Purpose be used 



Calling 500 kHz (if 500 kHz is be- 

 ing used for distress traf- 

 fic then 512 kHz may be 

 used as supplementary 

 calling frequency ) , 2182 

 kHz (voice) assigned HF 

 (CW) calling frequencies. 

 Assigned MF, 2 MHz 

 - (voice), HF (CW) mari- 

 time mobile working fre- 

 quencies. 

 Transmission of traflSe by 

 the following Coast 

 Guard Stations : 

 Ocean Station 

 4TB, 4YC, 4TD, 

 4YE, 4YH 



Transmission of traffic by 

 merchant vessels 



.466 kHz (CW), 2670 kHz 

 (voice). 



-472, 8465 kHz (CW). 

 .486, 2670, 12718.5, 17002.4 

 kHz (CW). 



.466, 2670. 8465 kHz (CW). 

 .478 kHz (CW). 



AMVER Radio Sta- 

 tions : 



NMF (Boston) 



NMT (New York) . 



NMN (Norfolk- 

 Portsmouth) 



Transmission of traffic by 

 Canadian Coastal Radio 

 Station, St. Johns/VON_ 



Communication statistics for the period 1 Sep- 

 tember 1969, through 31 August 1970, are shown 

 in table 3. 



Table 3. — Communication Statistics 



Number of Ice Reports received from ships 439 



Number of Sea Surface Temperature Reports 



received from ships 1,014 



Number of ships requesting special information 22 



Number of Ice Bulletins issued 248 



11 



