Measures Depth Under Ship’s

The Echo Meter

Measures Depth Under Ship’s Keel

A COMPARATIVELY new radio instru ment known as the echometer is proving very useful to Australian ship ping, and should be of great value to navigators in the always dangerous Pacific Islands waters.

The echometer is used for measuring the depth of water under the ship’s keel.

The instrument transmits a signal which strikes the bottom of the sea and is re flected back. The returning signal, re ceived at audio frequency, operates an indicator which is adjusted to show the depth of the water in fathoms.

About twelve months ago the trawler “Alfie Cam” was fitted by Amalgamated Wireless with an echometer, and since that time the trawlers “Beryl II,” “Dur eenbee,” and “Olive Cam,” all of the Cam Line, Sydney, have been similarly equipped. In the trawling fleet the echo meter is in constant use, enabling the vessels to keep consistently to their fish ing grounds. When a trawler is working along the ninety fathoms ledge, off the New South Wales coast, the skipper is aware immediately if he crosses into the adjoining deep water.

Other vessels upon which the echo meter is fitted are the Huddart Parker liner “Wanganella,” trading between Sydney and New Zealand, the Adelaide Company’s “Manoora,” the British Phos phate Commission’s “Triaster,” and the Union Company’s “Rangitira.”

The Tasman Sea is for the most part very deep, but however thick the weather may be, the commander of the “Wan ganella” always knows when he is ap proaching the New South Wales coast by the diminishing depth of the water.

Anyone interested in this equipment should write to Amalgamated Wireless Ltd., Sydney, for details, and mention this article in this journal.