VARIETY OF USES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26677, 24 January 1948, Page 10

VARIETY OF USES

TWO-WAY RADIO SYSTEMS INQUIRIES IN BRITAIN FROM NEW ZEALAND From A.W. Mitchell, N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent LONDON, Jan. 21. British radio manufacturers have been asked by the New Zealand ‘Government to tender for supplying >ery high-frequency radio-telephone •'systems for use by the police, fire services, and port authorities. One Wellington taxi company, I understand, made inquiries about the possibility of equipping its fleet of cabs. '*• Radio-controlled cars are now well established in the United Kingdom. They are used chiefly, perhaps, by the police in cities, and the Home Office is now engaged in installing radio telephone systems in every county in England and Wales. They are also being used by public corporations and by commercial firms. One of the first private concerns in Britain to secure a licence and operate two-way v.h.f. radio-telephony was a taxi company in Cambridge. It is using the same amplitude modulation' System as that supplied by the Home Office to the police, and it is stated that in six months it has paid for the cost of the installations. These were £l4O for every car and £175 for the control station. Now it is reported that at least 40 taxi companies in various parts of the country are applying for licences, and many other concerns are interested.

A greengrocer in Torquay, for instance. has applied for a licence to control a fleet of 20-ton lorries in a bid to capture the trading market, which he estimates at £500.000. A doctor in a London suburb has secured it licence, and many others arc applying. Public concerns arc also operating the system, and others are inquiring into its possibilities. The London Passenger Transport Board will experiment with it to cut delays on the London underground railways. Ferries on the Mersey River are now equipped. In foggy weather their position is pinpointed by shore radar, and the captain is informed of his position by radio-telephone. The Glasgow Corporation has vans equipped for the rapid handling of breakdown vans servicing tram lines.

The British Press is interested in its application for news gathering, and the Newspaper Society’s tele-commu-nications committee is at present negotiating with the Postmaster-General for 15 frequencies for mobile cars and one for a walkie-talkie. “We regard v.h.f. radio-telephony as the thing of the future for newspaper work,” said the secretary. “It has great possibilities. With a walkie-talkie link to a mobile car which is in communication with the newspaper office, news gathering will be made quicker and easier ’’