EMERGENCY RADIO

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 55, 3 September 1934, Page 3

EMERGENCY RADIO

Th© New' Zealand Radio Emergency Corps held a successful national field clay yesterday, when sections at Auckland, Tauranga, Gisborne, Napier, Baetihi, Taranaki, Wellington, Blenheim, Nelson, Christehurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill, were operating.

Eaeli section was equipped with several small transmitters and receivers, capable' of providing emergency communication, and yesterday's operations wero to test the efficiency of these sets, as woll as the message-handling ability of the operators. The Wellington section operated three sections: Outpost under Mr. Wilson, ZL2CI; zone under Mr..Turnbull (section leader), ZL2CA; base under Mr. Liddell, ZL2BI. With these three the outpost in the Akatarawa Valley was able to exchange test messages with the Christchurch outpost located at the Waimakariri River. A message originating in the Akatarawa was first transmitted to the zone station at the top of the Blue Mountains, where it was relayed to the base in town, which in turn relayed it to Christchurch. In all 20 test messages were handled at tho outpost in very good time, and credit must also be given to the intermediate relay stations for the rapid dispatch of traffic.

Radio conditions throughout the day were excellent; tho three Wellington stations reported hearing signals from all districts at very good strength, which is unusual on a blight, sunny day. Tho operators yesterday again showed how amateur radio can provide an efficient means of communication when tho existing channels have been broken.