WIDE USE POSSIBLE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 18, 18 February 1942, Page 6

WIDE USE POSSIBLE

EMERGENCY RADIO SHORTAGE OF TECHNICIANS Developments, of the greatest importance to the maintenance of national security are expected as the result of a conference of representatives of the Government and the services with members of radio construction firms throughout New Zealand-, Great progress in the same direction has been made in Australia, •where radio communication has reached a high state of efficiency. Radio technicians have stated that therfe is a wide field for the employment of wireless communication between units of fighting forces on 3and, on the sea, or in the afto - , and that its full use would displace the •visual aud aural signalling apparatus; on which army communications Jjitherto have been based. The chief difficulty is in finding a sufficient

number of expert operators who would be able to undertake the necessary duty of servicing their equipment. The radio trade states that the need for such technicians lor a long time past has had to remain unsatisfied. Drain on Trade Sources An extension of the system would drain the trade of these men to the extent that the making of radio sets for the local market would be severely restricted and the demand Avould soon exceed the supplj'. However, there is no technical field that has remained untapped to a great degree. There are 24 radio stations operating in the Dominion, and it is contended by public men that at the present time the four YA stations would be sufficient to supply all entertainment programmes, news sessions and emergency announcements. From the remaining 20 stations could be drawn a number of well-qualified men to reinforce these from trade avenues. By their use as instructors they would become an invaluable nucleus of a countryside wireless chain es-J tablished at all points.

Wired 1 Systems Unreliable Under emergency conditions telephonic interchanges invariably become unreliable and the hazards In attempting to maintain them arc high. The importance of "the Avire" in the last Avar Avas borne out oil innumerable occasions and before a general advance of any dimensions, wires intended for forward communications Avcre buried to a considerable depth. under the best circumstances the signals section had an uneirviable task, a task in which many new problems haA r e been provided by modern Avarfare.

Similarly, visual signalling by day has a very limited scope, as the points of sending and receiA'ing must be in sight of each other. Signal lamps haA-e a Avider use at night, but there is a serious and obvious objection to their employment near an enemy force. What are known to the trade as radio transceiA r ers, that is transmitters and Avould assure the fullest contact at all times between units in the field and distant bases. These instruments arc portable. ,