RADIO BEACONS

Grey River Argus, 23 August 1934, Page 5

RADIO BEACONS

OVER 30 FOR N.Z. COASTS. (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON August 22. With the object of bringing New Zealand into line with other progressive countries in installing aids for coastal navigation, and with a hope of making New Zealand’s coastal waters safer for shipping, the Government intends to arrange for the establishment of a number of radio beacons at points along the coast where such warning devices are considered necessary. The Ministenr of Alarine, Air Cobbe, said in an interview to-day, that he hoped to set up thirty or forty beacons. No grant had yet been made for the purpose, but, as soon as money was available, the work would be put in hand. Th© beacons would be erected over a period which could not yet be estimated. Radio beacons, by means of which vessels fitted -with complementary direction finding apparatus, are ab e get approximate bearings from wireless signals, are considered by some authorities as necessary aids <o navigation where fogs or low visibility prevent the ordinary coastal lights from being readily picked up. The beacons .consist of small transmitters, usually operated mechanically, and sending a characteristic signal at fixed intervals on a wavelength of between 500 and 1 OO'.l metres.