Tait system improves safety at sea

More lives are likely to be saved at sea thanks to a new radio communications system by Tait Electronics. The Western Samoan fishing industry is adopting this multi-channel system, which is expected to be operational before the end of the year. It will initially be used by 100 fishing boats off the coast of Western Samoa. The fishermen will be able to use a marine distress channel in emergencies.

This way, they can place individual or group calls among one another, contacting a base in Apia and placing calls through the telephone network. Phone calls will also be placed to the fisher men. The system includes 10 VHF repeaters located on the two islands, Savaii and Upolo.

Fishermen who will use Tait T3OlO hand portable radios enclosed in waterproof ‘aqua bags’, will be able to place calls through repeaters to boats in distant fishing areas, or place ‘back to-back’ calls directly to hand portables on nearby boats.

Tait Pacific Islands manager John Billows says the new sys tem will significantly improve communications for the fishing

industry, particularly in emergencies.

“Recently lives have been lost at sea and this system will pro vide a fast, dependable communications link when boats are in distress,” Billows said.

“The Tait system was chosen because of our reputation for providing reliable wide area coverage and because Tait offers a

complete solution.

“All the components, which include the base station, repeaters and hand portable radios, have been designed and manufactured to work well together.”

Billows said the system was very impressive and was a cost effective communication system for the Western Samoa fishing

industry.

“We also have a very good dealer in Apia, Procamm Systems, which will be installing the system and providing the customer service.

This is a very impressive, cost-effective communications sys tem for the Western Samoa fishing community,” Billow said.

He said they were looking at the possibility of installing simi lar systems elsewhere in the Pacific.

Tait also has a project in Fiji it also expects to be quite suc cessful.

It is supplying the third phase of the rural phone system. The installation of eight radio sites will enable a further 200 rural phones to be connected to the system.

It has also supplied a trunked radio system for the Fiji Police Department.

Billows said the Tait Net trunking system will replace a 30year-old overloaded system where calls had to be placed through the operator. “With the increasing need for communications, often over rough and varied terrain, tmnked mobile radio has proved an efficient and cost-effective solution.”

The system interconnects with the existing Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the use of Tait T7OO full duplex radios enables simultaneous two-way communications.

A marine system is in use in Vanuatu and other Tait radio sys tems can be found in Western Samoa and Tonga. Tait communi cation systems are widely used in the Pacific. ■