RADIO EMERGENCY CORPS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20489, 7 March 1932, Page 9

RADIO EMERGENCY CORPS.

SUCCESSFUL TESTS. THE EXPEDITION OF RESCUE WORK. The newly-organised Kadio Emergency Corps, which will bo available at short notice in cases of extreme emergency, "where continuous communication is impossible through the ordinary channels, held a Dominion-wide field day yesterday, with the object of testing out the organisation and apparatus of the different units of the corps. The tests proved highly successful and all the schedules were kept fully up to 1 pitch. The nine stations in New Zealand cooperated in the trials, and all checked in at the central control station at Wellington. Nearly 100 operators took part in the operations, as each station is divided into three parts, each section, requiring several men. There is the outpost station (that whicli is situated at the scene of the disaster), the zone station (that which relays tho messages), and the guard station (sitnated at the centre). The outpost station for the local centre was yesterday situated on the Scarborough Hills, the scene of _an imaginary accident. The zone station, on the New Brighton pier, handled all the messages from Scarborough and relayed them to "the guard station in Christeliurch. One of the messages—"Send warm clothing and food"—was recerfcd in Christchurch about one minute after, it liad been transmitted from the hills. Tn the case of a real accident in the mountains, or a wreck on the coast, the outpost set would be sent on ahead with ,two or three men—the apparatus is very light—and the JStne station would be set up at some convenient point. By this method messages could be got through in a very short space of time and many lives might be as a result. The experiments yesterday -mil be valuable in determining what is required for the future ajjd in the selection of special portable transmitters. ' The Corps is being carried on by an enthusiastic body of men, with Captain W. Ashbridge, officer in charge of the Defence Department Signal System, as supervisor. The co-operation of the Department, Automobile Associations, tramping clubs, and other bodies, is confidently expected, and it can reasonably be anticipated that the formation of the Corps will mark great progress in rescue work* in the Dominion.