CANADA’S FROZEN NORTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 July 1936, Page 3

CANADA’S FROZEN NORTH

SUPPLY OF RADIOPHONES The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals is preparing to fill the subarctic skies with whispering words of aid and direction to northern aeroplanes, mining camps, and the lonely prospectors and trappers in the hinterland of western Canada. From Fort McMurray to Aklavik, down the Great Mackenzie Basin, the Government wireless stations operated by the R.C.C.S. are to be modernised and equipped for air-to-ground and ground-to-air and two-way wireless communication. At Outpost Island, and Goldfields, the present portable sets will be replaced by modern equipment, while a new station will be built at Fort Chipwyan. All the other stations down the Mackenzie Basin, with the exception of Fort Simpson and Aklavik, will be immediately modernised, while these two stations will be modernised as fast as it is possible to get the equipment through. I The air traffic down the Mackenzie) and the commercial air traffic in the | mining areas of the new North, have] increased to such an extent that radio communication is needed on a more adequate scale than heretofore. Starting at Fort McMurray, where rail, air and water meet, a new radio station will be built to replace the old discarded R.C.M.P. building which has housed the R.C.C.S. station so far. Then down at Fort Chipwyan, where the radio station is a portable set in a little old shack three quarters of a mile from the aeroplane docks a new building will be put up. At the Goldfields station last winter a portable set "was dropped down by plane with an R.C.C.S. signalman, who camped with his set in a tent. Through out the winter he sent and received signals. Most of the trappers and traders, miners and prospectors have little radio receiving sets and so each day special broadcasts were sent out for their benefit.

STRONG REPRESENTATIONS J. A. MacKinnon, M.P., for Edmonton West, made strong representations to the Government about the need for radio communication in the North, and lan Mackenzie, Minister of National Defence, has issued instructions to the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals to go ahead with their modernisation. The station at Fort Rae which had been closed down is to be re-establish-ed. The Fort Chipwyan station, which is to be built, has proven its value with a portable installation so far. For many years Chipwyan was one of the very few important trading stations in the territory to be cut off from the outside world. I The operators of the R.C.C.S. stations are all enlisted men of the force. One of them was dumped down in a remote post a few years ago, with a portable set, and when the post grew and a bigger station was installed, he was given leave of absence and went to Queen’s University, graduating this year as Bachelor of Science. I The R.C.C.S. hopes later to extend its northern communications. '