N.Z. LINKED TO MANY LANDS BY RADIO TELEPHONE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 75, 28 July 1950, Page 7

N.Z. LINKED TO MANY LANDS BY RADIO TELEPHONE

People in the Bay of Plenty may connect by radio telephone with many countries. Just a call through to a local post office and connection may be made with the United States, England or Norway. On a switchboard in Wellington’s exchange building is a mass of dials and plugs which connect New Zealanders with more than half the telephone users of the world—this radio telephone service is increasing its span.

Iron Curtain Pierced Even the Iron Curtain is pierced by messages to and from New Zealand. Czechoslovakia and Hungary are both linked through London, though there is no communication with Russia.

The service which began in 1945 has proved an increasing popular one. Last year more than 10,000 calls were handled. ‘ Last month there were 1400. The New Zealand Voice is transmitted from Tinakori, and the overseas speaker’s is received at Makara. The voices are “scrambled” both ways to avoid any “picking up” by outside parties. The Wellington station has direct communication with London, Oakland and Sydney, and with two ships, the Hinemoa and the Monowai. Calls to other'countries, which include Mexico, " Cuba, Finland, Jamiaca and Newfoundland, are made through the bigger centres. Thus the operators of the Wellington switchboard have made friends with people they may never see. Remarks like “How’s the weather in California?” and “What’s doing in Sydney?” travel miles across the ocean and are heard in a split second. Many Social Calls

Though many social calls are made by radio telephone, commerce makes the biggest demand on the service. All conversations are monitored by operators, and if a call is interrupted by noise the time lost is subtracted from the cost. Weather reports are on an international basis. Dispatches from Washington announce the likelihood of interference in the ionosphere through auroral or solar effects, or through magnetic storms. Sunspots have caused minor delays. South Africa and Fiji are still not connected in the link.