Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Coastal Telegraph Stations Message-ID: <10762@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 12 Aug 90 15:24:40 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: Public Health Research Institute, New York City Lines: 39 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 563, Message 6 of 12 > St.Thomas in the Virgin Islands has HF voice station WAH that is > growing, as do several of the other nations' Caribbean islands If you've ever cruised the Virgin Islands, you know that WAH (more popularly known as VI Radio) is more than just a way to phone home. The nearest National Weather Service transmitter is on Puerto Rico, and doesn't quite reach St. Thomas, let alone the other islands. So, on a regular schedule, VI Radio (who, with the tallest mast on St Thomas, apparantly can hear NWS Puerto Rico) rebroadcasts the NWS weather reports. They can be heard all over the USVI and the BVI on VHF 16, and even further on HF. Everybody tunes in at 1000 to hear the list of waiting traffic and get the weather. They also don't seem to mind being the universal ping object, answering requests for radio checks from anybody within range. There seem to be more VHF radios in the Virgins than telephones. Every business that has anything to do with boats (i.e. most of them) stand by on 16 (or some other channel which they advertise next to their phone number) waiting to take dinner reservations, schedule diving trips, or anything you might normally pick up a phone to do. We once had to call our charter company to arrange for some spare parts. We couldn't get them on VHF (probably their little antenna was below our horizon) so we called VI Radio and had them place a phone call. When they still didn't answer, we kept VI Radio on the line for what seemed like for ever, trying different numbers (in conditions under which we could barely hear each other) until they finally got through to somebody. Never once did they suggest that the amount of their time we were taking up (for a non-emergency), compared to what they must have been able to charge for the phone call, certainly worked out to a substantial loss for them. Roy Smith Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy