RADIO TELEPHONE

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1930, Page 8

RADIO TELEPHONE

STATEMENT BY POSTMASTER. The Postmaster-General announced on Saturday that ’the radio telephone service between New Zealand and Australia will be open for public’ use from 1 p.m. on Tuesday. Thereafter the service will be available between the houis of 11 a.m. and' 9 p.m. daily, except. Sundays. . ■ ’ . ; Persons desiring to ring Australia should communicate with the toll branch of the telephone exchange and supply the name and address of the person required. After making inquiry the exchange attendant will inform applicants whether the desired communication can be arranged. As Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory are not linked up with the main Australian telephone system there will be no service for the present to those parts of Australia. The matter of the later extension of the service to the United Kingdom and certain other countries is receiving attention, and it is expected that a service to those countries will be available within a few weeks. The charge'for a call to Australia lias been fixed at the rate of £1 .per, minute, with a minimum charge of £3 to ■ cover a threeminute call. ’ The Department will make every effort to afford a completely satisfactory service,’ but, owing to the variable conditions on radio telephone channels, which are in most instances beyond human control, the continuity of a conversation is liable to momentary interruptions. Only effective conversation is, however, charged for, and for that reason specially trained observers listen across the radio channel and, by means of cumulative stop watclies, any interference to the radio channel or associated landline is allowed for. At the end of three minutes, six minutes., etc., the control telephonist announces the duration of the call, and it is incumbent on the caller to decide just how long he will carry on his conversation. The charge is based on the effective period during which he Speaks over the radio channel. The calling person should avoid allowing an extension telephone to be connected at his end during the course of conversation, as the switching together of two telephones during the call will considerably impair the quality of the conversation. The service will embody a system of “person to person” calls—calls to or from' specific persons, and, in certain’ circumstances arising from the inability; through no fault of the service to arrange the conversation, a partial charge, termed a “report charge,” will be made. The circumstances in which this particular amount would be payable will be determined by the telephone exchange officer.