WIRELESS DIRECTION FINDING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 50, 28 February 1923, Page 3

WIRELESS DIRECTION FINDING.

VALUE TO SHIPPING. VISITING CAPTAIN'S OPINION. Captain T. Tregoning, of tho Ham liner Trokieve, prior to leaving Auckland for Wellington yesterday afternoon, had a chat with a representative of the "Auckland Star" regarding the value to shipping oi a thoroughly equipped wireless system. "It is quite ; : possible," he said, "to pick up the posi- ; t ; -)n of your ship by wireless direction i when going at full speed iv thick, dirty weather under conditions when it is useless to try and make ordinary observations. The wireless systems on the coast of Canada and the United : States are really first-class. In that ! respect those countries are far ahead !of Great Britain at the present time. ! 1 consider that Canadla is now quite on i a par with the United States in the I matter of wireless direction to shipping. On this last trip of mine I came from Sydney, Cape Breton, up to St. John, a distance of about 500 miles along the coast of Nova Scotia in thick, hazy weather, yet by means of wireless direction I knew the position of the ship the whole time. I had a similar experience running from St. John to New York. jlt was dirty weather the whole distance ;of approximately 550 miles, but wireless direction told mc my position on the ! coast. In those two runs I practically sailed round the compass, and I found ! the wireless direction was faultless." I It was at this juncture the question ' was asked as to whether a wireless direction station on Three Kings would ,be more advantageous than a light? I Captain Tregoing remarked that a light on Three Kings would be up about 900 feet, and therefore very hard to ! see in dirty weather. On the other hand if the light was put near the sea level it could only be seen from certain positions. "In my opinion," he said, "What you really want is a thoroughly up-to-date wireless direction station near the light at Cape Maria. I do not want to be misunderstood, however. It would be ridiculous co have a wireless station in some situations without a light as well. The reason is that while radio enables a captain to learn the position of his ship under conditions when it is impsosible to take an observation owing to the bad weather, still wireless direction cannot at the present time indicate definitely how far the ship is off the land. That is why I say lights are also wanted on the mainland, because as a ship approaches the coast, the water frequently gets shallower, j Now at Three Kings, I understand, there is ample water close In. If a. -bin i. 1 warnea Dy wireless that it is in a channel thirty miles wide, there is no need to run on the land when there is Iso much sea room. A wireless station jat Cape Maria would let the captain of a ship know his position, and he would then be aware he had to look out for the Three Kings, that group being in the vicinity. Such information would be received when at least ten to fifteen miles out, and to be forewarned is to be forearmed."