The Alaska daily empire., 1922-05-18
(By ASHMUN BROWN

WASHINGTON, May 1S.-Not until
midsummer will the government
most distant experiment in radio
.elephony be known Far off on the
governments two most isolated light
houses. namely. those on Cape
Sarichef and Scotch Cap at the en-
trance to Unimak Pass in the Aleu-
/ tan Islands, each manned by little
group of keepers, there are two radio
! telephone receiving devices which
were installed last year For 10
months these two lighthouses have
been shut off from the world. no
vessel having landed there and Meth
err station having any method OF
! transmitting messages.
How have the two receiving sets
worked? How much of the great
volume of broadcast telephone mes.
sages sent out in recent months
has reached them? Have the keep
ers been able to keep in touch
through these instruments with what
is going on in the world? What
will the results of the experiment
, show in regard to the distance tray
! eled by radio telephone messages?
Sets Installed Last Year
J BY cooperation with the Navy,
these radio telephone receiving sets
were installed last year by the light
house tender Cedar She will make
her annual visit to Scotch Cap and
I Jot r1u
July, but until then no news will
come from the two stations.
These experiments are in line with
others that are being conducted by
the lighthouse service, with a view
to providing better living conditions
FOR members OF the service whose
employment isolates them, and also
10 aid in navigation.
Perhaps the newest things in radio
as an aid to shipping is the installa-
ton on Iightships OF radio fog sig
nal apparatus used continuously dur
ing foggy weather to furnish accu-
rate bearings to ships possessing the
radio compass Three such radio fog
signI stations were established "a
year ago in the vicinity of New York
harbor. Last week the first one was
. established on the Pacific Coast on
The San Francisco lightship.
1t is the intention of the Light
house Service, as speedily as pos
sible, to equip the lightship on Swift
sure Bank at the entrance to the
Strait OF Juan de Fuca, with this
system, and likewise to equip the
lightship at the entrance to the Co
.umbia River and the one near San
Pedro. in California, in a similar
manner.
! The apparatus is an automatic
radio telegraph sending apparatus OPP
Grated by clock work. sending at
brief intervals the international code
+ ror signal on a 1,000-meter wave
length. The radio compass installa-
+ ton, now being placed on an ever in
creasing number of ships, catches
this signal and from it can be ascer-
/ taned the direction from which il
proceeds. Ordinary fog signals, such
IS sirens and bells, never have been
able to make known to ship their
exact direction frem that vessel. The
radio fog signal in connection with
| ne radio compass installation makes
! direction certain.
! The first three stations on the AT
! iantic have proven so successful that
/ the Lighthouse Service proposes to
/ extend the service to all coasts as
rapidly as its funds will permit
Can Locate His Ship
THE most valuable use of the
radio fog signal" says the Light
house Service of the Department of
Commerce. twill probably be as a
leading mark. as, for example, to en-
able a vessel to make a lghtshiT
anchored in the approach to harboI
or to pass outside of a lightship an
chored to guard against dangers off
/ the coast. The navigator will also
be able, as in navigation using visible