Show zm ial 41 R 4 1 i I 1 21 1 I 1 1 A portable beacon apparatus the average listener while knowing to in a general way that the radio compass pa s li in one of the most remarkable developments developments of the age really understand exactly what it Is or why the united states leafa all the world to in ahli ap to tha aid to navigation this appeared to be the case with several members of the house committee considering the navy appropriation bill with the result that the following extremely interesting information forro formation adon regarding the use of the radio compass was brought out oat at a recent hearing representative hardy ol of colorado just jost what la Is a radio compass station commander glasford Glus ford U S N A radio compass la is tor for the p purpose pose primarily of enemy tracking in war in peace these stations are used as aids to navigation in furnishing ships at sea their bearings from the station or stations from which the ships position may be determined debern detern deed the apparatus at the radio compass stations Is so designed as to be aba to determine acou bitely the direction from the station of it radio emission when a ship at sea for instance sends out out a radio emission from her own raA the radio compass station cantell tho the direction or bearing of the ship in foggy weather it Is in very comforting to a calp tain of a alp to know teabow his bearings from tiny any fixed objects on land preferably radio compass stations eions tire are in groups of three in order that a positive check rony may be hod bad by a ship op the interception of bearings sent to him 11 1 representative 0 ayres aires of kansas you speak of the ship out lutat at sea striking 0 on its key and then three dlf different ferent stations receiving the message from different directions being able to locate this particular ship i commander glassford kesslr lr mr ayres now isow that Is yawl ased in what kind of case in th the case base of a vessel being lost at sen sea or fir what different purposes may inn it be wised used commander glas glassford ford for instance when a ship Is ig making new york harbor and she has not teen been able to get a son run sight or star algat sl ight mr ayres ayrea on account of fogal fog or commander Glaas Glai isford ord on account of fogs hazy wea weather t tier strong currents and so forth fc she does not really know ko where she Is except approximately by dead reckoning navigation As she approaches the lie coast by a system of 0 signals everybody concerned understands she will request this group we will say of three radio compass compans stations at the entrance of the harbor of new york about 50 miles apart to alve ive lier her bearings all three compass stations are listening j for their signal from the ship and when it Is madette made ma dethe the stations detect the direction from froin which it Is coming there Is a master station of the three which coordinates vo nil all three of those bearings getting iett ing the necessary information from the other stations by telephone telegraph or radio gives service free frae in a very short time in about 15 seconds we will say this master station charts these three bearings find and if accurate they should meet in a point the bearings are then trans emitted to the ship by a radio db dispatch patch which gives the navigator the basis for n u determination of latitude and longitude this radio compass service Is tree free to all mariners marinero ma representative oliver of alabama Is the business done by those stat stations lons efficient to justify the expense af f maintaining them theat commander the bustness business donaby done by our bur stations sir Is imperative pera tive for tho the proper conduct of the navy the commercial business that our traffic stations do to Is merely incidental for which we receive pay and for which we collected as I 1 said last year but that does not of couram pay for keeping up op the stations mr french too ton speak of this other service for ships that Is free suppose that was paid for on a basis of what other nations charge for similar services approximately what would it be commander glassford the system would pay tor for itself sir sir mr french but in dollars what would it be worth commander glassford the charge a bearing the french sweden we gave bearings during the last fiscal year at the british rate which la would b be the average tw talc arvice th mr oliver do you think it advisable to require that this service be paid for or by those who use it commander glassford Gla saford that has baa been gone into sir air very carefully and we reached the conclusion that it would not for this reason we de dc not believe the mariners marinero ma at sea would use it to the extent they do now in england for instance the ma marineus mariners mari nera use the compass system much less than they do here and what we want Is to have bare our men get the practice and to be effle efficient fent at all times so BO that they are ready in an emergency for or their real job in time of war saves save life and property mr french it means the saving of life and property 1 commander glassford it does and it Is a tremendous boost to our own people at sea we feel that they would not use it ta the extent they do and would not get the benefit that they do now it if they had tv to pay tor for tt it mr anderson it seems to me the beat illustration of the value of th athla s radio compass service I 1 can recall la is abnit two or three years ago ahert was a merchant ship at set seii about 50 or CO 60 miles off norfolk she sent an SOS S 0 8 stating in latitude and longitude what she assumed to he be tier po position the coast guard cutter manning rot got steam up immediately and proceeded to the lie position riven given but there was wag no trace of the die ship to be found the captain of the manning fully cognizant of this navy radio coi co pasa service culled norfolk navy radio and asked norfolk to see if she could rane raise the ship Nor norfolk folli made the call nil and heard it itna call cn calim ll norfolk Nor folli buck back the adlo compass station then lien took boari charted tier her pos position itlen and fillod it haek ta A the manning the manning proe pinc ed cd to the lie new po lalim lon 25 2 i incle away front the lie spot orl inelly given found the ship and towed tier in the cap maln of the vessel did not know where he was and the compass stat lono found him 25 miles away from where he thought he was |