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From: contact!ndallen@uunet.uu.net (Nigel Allen)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Coastal Telegraph Stations
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Date: 8 Aug 90 00:39:00 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 547, Message 1 of 15


Before INMARSAT began to provide satellite radio service to ships at
sea, the only way to send a message to a ship was through a coastal
radio station, either by voice or by telegraph. (I think that teletype
service was available through Rogaland Radio in Norway, but not in
North America.) INMARSAT is quite expensive ($12 per minute from
Canada), but even so coastal radio stations are closing down in the
U.S.
 
{Popular Communications} Magazine reports that Western Union has filed
with the FCC to shut down its coastal telegraph station KFS (location
unspecified), and that some other coastal telegraph stations, WPA,
WOE, WMH, WSL and KOK (locations and owners unspecified) have already
been closed down. No doubt some traffic that formerly moved through
these stations now uses cellular phones.
 
I have seen references to coastal telegraph stations operated by RCA
and TRT, but this was ten or twelve years ago. Does anyone know
whether there were competitive coastal telegraph stations in a given
market, or whether such stations had a local monopoly?
 
Coastal radio stations in Canada are operated by the Canadian Coast
Guard.
 

Nigel Allen            telephone (416) 535-8916
52 Manchester Ave.       fax (416) 978-7552
Toronto, Ontario M6G 1V3  
Canada