A Year Of Radio Progress.

New Aids for Aviation.

THE year 1937 was marked by note worthy developments in the Austra lian and Pacific Islands radio ser vices conducted by Amalgamated Wire less (Australasia), Ltd. More progress was made in the application of wireless to aviation than in all previous years combined. The controlling authorities have now inaugurated a policy which dissociates flying from dependence upon visible landmarks in favour of reliance upon series of radio-beacons and two way communication between ’plane and aerodrome.

Radio telephony and telegraphy are be ing installed at all the principal aero dromes (including Pt. Moresby and Sala maua), and upon all passenger-carrying ’planes in order that the pilot or radio officer may communicate at all times with ground officials who keep him ad vised as to the weather ahead and give him instructions in regard to landing. He is furnished also with meteorological in formation which enables him to avoid an unfavourable wind or to take advantage of one that is travelling with him. He is told where he may meet a rainstorm or bank of clouds and whether he should fly higher or lower to avoid them.

Radio Beacons.

Under contract from the Civil Aviation Board, A.W.A. is to install radio transmit ting and receiving equipment at every capital city in Australia and at several points on the overland journey between Sydney and Cooktown on the N.G. route. The company is also providing radio course beacons over the main routes at intervals of about 200 miles.

These beacons have brought about a further technical advance in radio manu facture in Australia. They operate on the ultra short wave of 9 metres, emit ting a beam-like radio signal, which the approaching or receding pilot keeps straight in front or behind until he either reaches his destination or picks up the next beacon on his course. Associated with the radio course beacon is the mar ker beacon, which is a ray thrown straight up into the air from a station erected at an aerodrome. The pilot knows from his instruments when he enters the marker ray which means that he is immediately above the marker and that the landing place is beneath, even though the ground may be concealed by fog or rain.

Radio-Phone Service,

Another notable development in radio eommunication during the closing year was the opening of the A.W.A. radio

telephone service between Sydney and New Guinea. Owing to the tropical and equatorial areas to be traversed by the wireless channels, considerable technical difficulties were involved in this ser vice, but these were surmounted and the Rabaul-Sydney telephone circuit became the fourth overseas service of the kind from Australia. The others are Sydney- London, Sydney-Java, and Sydney-New Zealand.

Broadcast Stations.

A.W.A.’s fourth short-wave broadcasting station of world range was brought into operation in 1937. It was VK6ME Perth, companion station to VPD2 Suva, VK2ME Sydney and VK3ME Melbourne. These shorti-wave stations have carried Aus tralian news and influences into every country in and bordering on the Pacific.

Ten years have passed since A.W.A. ra diated from VK2ME the first Empire wide radio programme. To-day the pro grammes of four long distance stations are an A.W.A. contribution to the pub licising of the Commonwealth in the out side world.

Wireless manufacture in Australia has made definite strides and 1937 was note

worthy for the advent upon the air of by far the most powerful broadcasting

station in the Southern Hemisphere.

Station 2YA Wellington, designed and manufactured by Amalgamated Wireless, has a power of no less than 60,000 watts in the aerial, which is ten times as great as the power of the largest broadcasting station in Australia. The completion of this giant transmitter, which is equal in magnitude to any in the British Empire and ranks among the greatest in the world, is final evidence that the Com monwealth has reached the stage where it can be considered self-contained so far as wireless manufactures are concern ed.

Progress Afloat.

In every direction wireless has had 12 months of steady progress. Fourteen ships were fitted with medium or medium and short-wave communication facilities; seven had radio-telephony added. A.W.A. also equipped three Islands vessels and an Australian trawler with recording echometer depth-sounding devices which show continuously the depth of water be neath the ship’s keel. Direction finding gear has been included in the equipment of other vessels.

A number of small schooners, notably those built in Australia for use in con nection with the search for oil in Papua and New Guinea, were also equipped with Amalgamated Wireless radio appar atus.

Teleradio In Islands.

During the year there was a great in crease in the so-called “teleradio” sets used in isolated places in Papua, New Guinea, Fiji, and the interior of Aus tralia.

As a means of breaking down the great distance which separates residents, A.W.A. has introduced small portable wireless sets which keep residents in touch with one another and with centres of civil isation. About 100 teleradio sets are now in operation, and they have been found invaluable not only to prospectors, plant ers, and others of fixed abode, but to ex plorers, patrol parties, and travellers gen erally. In innumerable cases, medical aid has been obtained by means of teleradio in circumstances which otherwise would have precluded the securing of outside assistance.

Overseas Messages.

New records have been created in the exchange of communications by radio.

The figures for 1937 are'not yet complete, but those for the 12 months ended June 30 last show that the Beam traffic ex ceeded the figures of the previous year by 14,280,335 words to 12,776,890. Tak ing all the radio telegraphy services combined there was an advance from 16,- 877,767 words to 18,461,734. The detailed figures give an impression of the magni tude of the wireless ramifications of

A.W.A.

Creating A Tradition.

Although radio is a comparatively new science, already a high tradition of pub lic service is being built up. This tend ency was well marked during the vol canic eruption and earthquake at Rabaul in May last, when the officers of the wireless station stuck to their posts in particularly trying circumstances.

Both at the transmitting station and the operating station of A.W.A. the op erators remained on duty until the lights went out, the electricity supply failed, and the equipment became choked with fall ing ashes. Even so, they were on the job again at next daybreak and by dint of almost superhuman efforts restored the plant to action and re-established com munication with Australia using tempor ary equipment.