RADIO BEACONS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 81, 2 October 1929, Page 13

RADIO BEACONS

FEW SHIPS EQUIPPED

NO WELLINGTON INSTALL-

ATION

As so few ships have been fitted with radio direction-finding apparatus, and in view of the rapid'development that is taking place in this field of discovery, the Marine Department has decided that the money appropriated for the installation of radio-beacons at "Wellington and Lyttelton will 'be better spent in the meantime in improving existing lighthouses and inproviding. further lights., '"" '..' \'

The annual report of the-Marine Department says that the use of. radiobeacons has been considerably; .: extended, and there are •Many.--.af these 'aidsj' installed- at salient points on. the coasts of North America and Europe,- and a few elsewhere; ' 'A considerable' number' of large ships' are now equipped with'a ra^dio directionfinder so as to enable them to ihake use of adjacent radio-beacons during; their •voyages. ■ ■'- '. ' ■••■■ ,'„ .-....-.',: '

The development of the radio-ieaeon has resulted in the • adoption- of the valve system of transmission^ the Bpark system being largely' discarded; and some of these beacons recently installed on the coasts of England' are operated automatically, and' are 'giving efficient service to a large number of ships. ... ',". .. -■ ;. "

In this Dominion one spark-system radio-beacon was installed at Cape Maria in November., 1926, owing to a popular desire that a fog-signal should be provided to serve the locality-of Three Kings Islands. This radio-bea-con has operated continuously during foggy weather since its installation;'it has satisfied the purpose' for wMch it was installed, but it has not been'extensively made use of, as few ships passing that locality are, equipped with a radio direction-finder to enable them, to make use of the service provided by the radio-beacon. ■ • ;.