MODERN FIRE PROTECTION OF FORESTS

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 40, 15 October 1952, Page 7

MODERN FIRE PROTECTION OF FORESTS

Protection of its 176,000 acres of pine forests from the menace of fire will be considerably strengthened. during the fire season, opening on October 1, through the introduction of New Zealand Forest Products Ltd. of a radio communication system unique in the British Commonwealth. The equipment -has two basic features — a short-wave, high lrequency network for both mobile and point-to-point communication, supplemented by a method for sound sirens, and a ultra-simultaneous two-way communication which works in conjunction with the telephone exchange. Through radio it is possible for company personnel in the remote fastnesses of the forests, miles from civilisation, to be connected lirectly to the phone at the Kinleith °r Auckland offices or to any other phone subscriber . Six times as high as that used by the B.B.C. in television, the frequency is the highest continuous wave service operating in this country. The company is the first organisation in New Zealand to use both short and ultra-short waves for automatic relays here . Sirens on logging trucks and other transport in the bush can be automatically alerted by the press of a button miles away at Kinleith so that the warning can be heard above the noise of tractors, motors and saws. The signal is on the very high frequency of 240 megacycles. All equipment was perfected by the company's electronics engineer, Mr Graham Bryce.