Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-07
ARMY RADIO NET
. HAS BIG BUSINESS
Alaskan Stations Handle
Nearly HaIf-MiIIion Dollars
Worth of Traffic.

The Army radio net In Alaska,
which now includes p radio ana /!
cable stations operated by SlShai
Corps men, and handles nearly
100000 worth of business year
was first established in 1908. to save
the excessive cost of telegraph line
maintenance. The first five radio
stations were installed that year.
1O.kilovatt tranSmittcrS were SET UP
at Nome and Fort Gibbon, and s.
lxilowatt sets at Fairbanks, Clrcle anu
E'ort Erbert. Cooperation with the
naval communications system was ar
ranged. A new naval station M"'
erected at Valdez to operate WIN otka
and that at Tatoosh Island, on the
State of Washington, linking the SSs
tenn to the States. .,..
.tations was increased the next year
and additional 1-llilowatt tranSmlttets
wore installed at Wrangell. petersburg
and Kotlik on the Yukon. Power was
Increased further during the heNt
tbree wears, which found 1O-klloWa'e
etc of Nome and Fort Gibbon ana
renlacements at other points lnio
made nossihle the abandoning Oh lhe
old land line between Guli>aha anu
Fort Egbert: radio service between
Fairbanks and Fort Egbert was hiS"-
~ successful.
Fishing Increases Business.
Radio business began to pick up ma.
terialIy, due to the increased llsii .
business each summer coilii ll.. 90
tio,, with practically Al boats was es
tahlished: most camps lnStaiieu P
able sets. The total business 1 Iiu .l
nv the Signal Corps net III l3to -
$3.50 900. a little less than nan ~ ~
70 around S390,000, and In 49, II
;,,,,ned TO s422 900. BY 1926 1t to;aiea
sa7a 15O, including much cable pusl-
&c h,,t not considerable free service
such as weather reports, news e't.
THE % stations today vary IN poNsI
frop, 1O.kilowatts to local oo-Wats 'uoe
.nensm;tters. The larger stations are
snark and arc sets located at Srals'
Eairbanks, Fort Gibbon ana -Suil.,
hut to be replaced sooE .! ilooo,n n
tube transmitters. Tuoe seq or
located at Bethel. Circle Sot'p
Center, Fort Egbert, Yukon. ro' HOT Hot
Strings. Iditarod, Kotzebue. LNS,e
Sruaw. Livengood, Nulato, RUDY ~
M;chael Tacotna and Wiseman.
NIGHT messages are handled To-Day
over commercial circuits, ana luii
o4.hour service is maintained at .ne
Nome and Fairbanks radio statlohs
ard tho cable stations in the Unlteo
States and Sitka, Juneau, FAIRBANKS
and Valdez in Alaska.
Wiseman Farthest North.
Connection with the naval radio
stations at Sitka and Cordo'a alu
some 40 radio stations OF the nsnlhs
and canning industry in the oufIiiiiei
is now maintained. =
The most northern radio station Is
at Wiseman, located some uis'"!iSe
north of the Arctic Circle, and the
snuthernmost is at Ketchikan, cable
station in southeastern Alaska:
Through this network of cable ana
radio stations, which connect with
naval and commercial communication
facilities, practically the whole OF
Ala ska is served and linked with the
United States. The system Is or very
great value to business interests or
the Alaskan Territory, as well as to
the judicial and military authorities,
and is considered as indispensable.
approximately 1000 messages a |
day and 5000 words of press matter
each night are handled by the Signal
Corps system which passes through
the signal office at Seattle, starting
by cable but ending in radio distribu'
ton throughout Alaska.
Signal Corps radio experts tell a
story on one excellent Alaskan radio
man who could send anything except
the letter &C." it always came in ID.
One of his famous messages read:
"Offiber in bharge. Valdez. Thirty
eight above. Balm and bloudy. Three
caribou floating down the river on a
bake Of ibe. (Signed) Birdie, Alaska"