Radio "War" On Whales

Radio Record, 19 June 1936, Page 22

Radio "War" On Whales

a di ah Picton Chasers Expect to Double Their Catch With Radio-Telephone. A ||)

HE radio telephony to be used in directing whale chasers has ‘ now been installed to the order of Messrs, A. Perano and Company, of Picton, who operate one of the two whaling stations in New Zealand. The apparatus was constructed by the Electric and General Import Company of Christchurch. The whaling season had an unusually early opening this year-about May 15-and continues for about four months. The whaling fleet con-_ sists of the mother ship and a‘num ber of fast chasers,.and in the past © the fleet has had to be at the base to receive instructions from the lookout station, Now, however, the radio telephone service will allow communication to be established between the look-out station and SR RR) Be Ht} rn tn tn nn i in

-the mother ship when the fleet is out in Cook Strait, and the fleet will be able to receive directions without coming back to the base. The apparatus is as simple to use as a_ telephone. The operator speaks into a mitrophone and the reproduction is through an ordinary loudspeaker. The only controls are an "‘on and off" switch and a switch for changing over from the transmitter to the receiver. A meter on the panel registers the aerial output. Last season 52 whales were caught, but it is estimated that fully twice that number would have been caught if there had been communication between the ‘base and the fleet such as should be given by the radio-telephone apparatus, a AT I TH TH = Td A Wh SU EA TTT van