Radio Broadcast (Nov 1926-Apr 1927)

554 RADIO BROADCAST APRIL, 1927 We had no restrictions on the hours of operation during the day so there was an opportunity to carry on some tests with 2 gy on 13,630 kc. (22 meters). While we were on the Labrador Coast, the 22meter signals could be heard at 2 gy during the day but they were too weak to be used in the handling of messages. WE CONTINUE OUR TRIP UP THE LABRADOR COAST AFTER an impatient wait at Indian Harbor, we pounded and cut our way through the heaviest ice pack on the Labrador Coast that Commander MacMillan had ever seen. We made a short stop at Hopedale, the most southern Moravian Mission Station, then went on to Jack Lane's Bay to pick up Abe Bromfield, MacMillan's Eskimo interpreter. Plans were to proceed from there across Davis Straits to Greenland but the ice pack off shore appeared so solid that the Commander decided to take us further up along the Labrador Coast through an inside passage hoping we might work to the north of the pack that had been rapidly moving to the southward. We made two other stops on the Labrador Coast, one at Nain, a Moravian Mission station, and one at Port Manvers where Commander MacMillan and a party made an inspection of some ruins of stone constructed dwellings thought to have been built by Norsemen. From Port Manvers we worked our way up the coast to Cape Mugford, the highest peak on the Labrador Coast, then turned out through the heavy ice fields toward Greenland. A view from the cross trees of the masts as we sailed through this field of ice offered a sensation impressive enough to appear as one of the outstanding features of the trip. I borrowed Commodore Metcalf's Graflexand took a "shot" from thecross-tree of the mainmast. This was my first attempt at operating a Graflex. As a result, the Commodore assigned me the responsibility of using his Graflex and two movie cameras the rest of the trip. I had practically no experience in the art of photography, so he expected the results that most beginners produce. In addition to being radio operator and photographer, I was supposed to be Assistant Engineer, but the Chief Engineer was such a hound for work he required very little assistance. On the run between Bar Harbor and Sydney, I stood a couple of watches in the engine room, and 1 squirted a little oil around the engines on the run to Greenland. OUR ARRIVAL AT GREENLAND THE trip across to Greenland represented three days of ordinary sea travel. The seas were moderate most of the time and generally there was some fog. This caused us to become separated from the Bowel oin after the first day out from the Labrador Coast. After we left the Coast, we encountered no more ice until we came within a hundred miles or so of Greenland. As we approached the Greenland Coast, a thick fog was encountered. At twenty minutes after noon, land loomed up off the starboard bow only a few hundred feet away. From here we cautiously sailed south, keeping in sight of land so that we might pick up the beacons marking the entrance to Sukkertoppen. Our chart consisted of a pencil sketch with no scale of miles. After only a short run of twelve miles, we were welcomed by a fleet of kyaks manned by Eskimos who came out to meet us and point out the channel into the harbor. Commander MacMillan took the Bowdoin to the south of Sukkertoppen then anchored and waited a day for the fog to lift so that he could determine his position and then proceed into Sukkertoppen without taking the risk of running through unknown waters full of dangerous rocks and ledges. The absence of the Bowdoin in the Sukkertoppen Harbor the first night of our arrival gave me an opportunity to operate the radio during the entire night and test it out for distance. The evening started off pleasantly by hooking up with 1 akz (A. Human, Gardner, Massachusetts). He showed signs of being an excellent operator in the way he took a large file of messages in a very short time. Station 1 akz proved to be a very valuable relay station a number of times after that. Before giving the crew of the Sachem a rest from the intermittent wail of the radio generator, I worked 9 dmz (Kansas City, Kansas), 9 aek (Topeka, Kansas), and 6 vr (San Francisco, California). In reply to a call from voq, the schooner Morrissey of the Putnam Expedition, on July 26th, I received the following: "Aground Northumberland Island, Whale Sound, Greenland. If possible tell 2 uo (New York Times Station) or any U. S. station please listen for low-power set." After additional conversation with voq, I sent out a qst notifying the Amateur Radio Relay League Stations of voq's situation. Because our wavelength was below the amateur band I had some difficulty in raising anyone in the States who could take a message for the New York Times. Shortly after three a. m., 3 zo (H. A. Beale, Jr., Parkesburg, Pennsylvania) answered my call. It was not long before the signals faded out so we were no longer able to communicate but we were fortunate in getting through the essential news of the condition of the Schooner Morrissey and its crew before the fading set in. Our trip north from Sukkertoppen included a long run into Strom Fjord, which crosses the Arctic Circle. Just as we were approaching this invisible line, the Bowdoin went hard aground while running at full speed. A strong wind was blowing down between the mountains that bordered the Fjiord so it was difficult to handle the Sachem and get a line to the Bowdoin. After considerable effort and fast work this was accomplished but, before we could clear the Bowdoin, we also went hard aground on the Arctic Circle. To be a little more exact, we were about three thousand feet from the Arctic Circle. For a while it did not look like a very pleasant situation but after a good struggle both the Bowdoin and 1 Sachem managed to get clear, and that j night we learned that the Morrissey had \ also floated herself off the rocks. In trying to clear ourselves, the great power from the I engine was more than the reverse gear | could stand, and it gave way. Resting at anchor almost on the Arctic J Circle, and locked in by high mountains j except for a narrow opening in the Fjord, 1 we had a very successful night with the radio. The signals were received in the New England States with considerable strength although they were weak in the New York district. The signals from the 50-watt ] transmitter of 2 gy, at Garden City, came through well enough so that I was able to copy six messages in a row without missing a word. Our most northern stop was at Godhaven, on the Island of Disko. It was a real [ surprise to find here an excellent modern radio installation that consisted of a thousand-watt tube transmitter for long 1 waves. The equipment was built up and installed in as neat a manner as will be found in any American broadcast station. Direct communication with Denmark is accomplished daily by this station as well as is contact with a series of other stations in Greenland. Godhaven has another institution of modern science. It has a terrestrial magnetic observatory operated by the Danish Government. I had the pleasure of a long conversation with Mr. Olsen, who is in charge of the work, and was givten the j opportunity of helping him in a way by letting him have a few of my spare Ray-OVac batteries. The difficulty of getting signals through to the New York district kept increasing, so a regular schedule with one of the most reliable stations in New England was j established. This station was 1 aay, owned and operated by Kenneth M. Gold, at Holyoke, Massachusetts. The Bowdoin, wnp, was using 1 zk, M. L. MacAdam, at Wollaston, Massachusetts, as a regular relay station although 1 aay also handled a good portion of wnp's traffic, especially during the first. part of the trip. Stations 1 zk and 1 fl, D. G. Meserve, Hudson, Massachusetts, also handled a number of the messages from kgbb, the Sachem. Press was received regularly from the New York Times Station, 2 uo. His signals came through strong and steady regardless of heavy seas and ship static, and I always found it easy to copy him on my Corona, which had been fitted up with a telegrapher's keyboard. Our trip home was found to be as mucn or even more interesting than the outward trip. An account of it, including information on some important observations made of radio phenomena during magnetic storms, will appear in a later issue of Radio Broadcast.