Radio Broadcast - 1927, May - 61 Pages, 4.9 MB ... - VacuumTubeEra

12 RADIO BROADCAST MAY, 1927well as the good ones. He is known to them faded out completely at times. While goingas "Captain Mac." Captain Mac's own across to Baffin Land it was hardly possiblegenerosity is always backed up by various to get through any amount of traffic tocandy manufacturers who see that the expeditiondoes not leave American shores Radio i AAY (Kenneth M. Gold, Holyoke,the States because of complete fading.without a plentiful supply of all kinds of Massachusetts) was worked a couple ofcandy for the natives. The toys distributed times but it was only possible to get oneby Captain Mac are generally of the nickel complete message of about fifty wordsand dime variety, but some of the most from him. Other stations were worked butdeserving Eskimo men receive presents communications only lasted a few minutesof excellent jack knives.before they faded out completely.Some of the unfortunate Eskimos receivepresents of lemons and a pleasant publicity as being a "blind spot" becauseDavis Straits had received considerablevisit by the expedition's doctor Doctor it so happened that short-wave radio communicationcould not be established fromThomas of Chicago. Doctor Thomas treateda number of cases among the Labrador this location on the previous year. On theEskimos and in one instance performed an recent outward trip, Paul J. McGee, theoperation.operator at WNP, the Bowdoin, succeededAt practically all of the settlements at in transmitting to the States a 2OO-wordwhich we stopped, Captain Mac put on message when going north through themovie shows for the natives. The attendancewas always one hundred per cent. the signals from the States were comingStraits. At the same time I observed that"Robbie," the mate of the Bowdoin, was through with good intensity. Why the conditionson our return trip were so poorskilled in packing whole settlements intoa small room so as to give each Eskimo a seemed to have some connection with thegood view of the screen.aurora because strong displays of thenorthernWE lights were visible as we leftSTART OUR TRIP HOMESukkertoppen/COMMANDER at 2 A.M. on Friday, AugustMacMillan planned the thirteenth.^-" on running south from Godhaven, On the return trip, both McGee and IGreenland, to Holsteinborg, then across seemed to have considerable trouble withto Baffin Land, but the problem of replenishingour fuel supply required some fields off the Labrador coast we wereswinging waves. When we reached the icechanges in the schedule. We went south to hardly able to get through any communicationsalthough, after considerable ef-a whaling station at Edgesminde whereten barrels of fuel oil were obtained, but fort, we exchanged position messages. Thethis was not enough to take us home. ice was fairly heavy but we considered itUsing the engines seemed more desirable not too bad to prevent us from makingthan the sails, so we went further on, to Cape Murchison. About 8 P.M. on theSukkertoppen, where a larger supply could fourteenth, we sighted the cape throughbe had.the fog about a half mile off.This southbound trip included a few The weather kept getting thicker anddays' stop at Holsteinborg, formerly a centerfor American halibut fisheries. In the creased the danger of navigating these un-colder and a strong gale came up that in-cemetery were found a number of graves of charted waters. The harbor where weGloucester fishermen. All foreign fishermen were to meet the Bowdoin was full of ice.are now barred from the coast of Greenland The storm became more severe and theand the Danish Government isoperating night was very dark, so it was consideredthe halibut fishing industry at Holsteinborgwith great success. During our stay ship even though we could find a harbor.too much of a risk to try to anchor theat this port, we enjoyed many meals of halibut.It was delivered to the ship at a price The entire crew stood watch that night.A broken reverse gear added to the hazards.corresponding to one cent a pound. We all wore all the clothes we hadExcept for the fog at sea, the weather we aboard under our oilskins, together withexperienced in Greenland was of the best. hip boots so as to offer maximum resistanceto the cold rain, sleet, and snow thatDuring the day, the temperature generallyran around 70 degrees. This weather, on was driven hard by the gale.the middle western Greenland coast, is Radio communication was establisheddue to a warm ocean current which preventsthe winters from being any more to give our position to the Bowdoin if hewith radio iAAY, and as I was asking himsevere than they are in Maine.could, all signals faded out completely.Our call at Sukkertoppen for fuel lasted At frequent intervals 1 called WNP, theonly a few hours. Before leaving, plans were Bowdoin, but I received no answer.made to set a course for Cape Murchison, As the day started to break, two harborswere located. One was well shelteredBevoort Island. If the ice was not tooheavy, we planned to run up Robinson but we could not get in because the entrancewas blocked by a few large icebergs.Sound, between Bevoort Island and BaffinIsland, and anchor in a harbor that was The other was full of rocks and bergs but,dotted in on the chart. The dots meant: with the skillful handling of the ship, a"Harbor about here."reasonably safe place was located and thenThe radio conditions during our last the hook dropped. Dropping the hook wasfew days in Greenland were very poor. not so easy. The gale was still strong andEven the powerful commercial stations the water twelve fathoms deep, and we hadto let out about forty fathoms of anchorchain. The last twenty fathoms came outof the chain locker in installments of oneand two feet at a time while it was beinguntangled and untwisted.Communication was established withWNP that afternoon on a schedule. Hiswave was swinging badly but I was ableto learn his position and that he washeaded for Hall Island, near the southernend of Baffin Island. Apparently the Bowdoingot the worst of the storm as theystayed at sea and rode it out, for CommanderMacMillan considered the ice tooheavy to attempt to run into the Sound.The danger of the ice was that, if the windchanged, it might pack in on us and pushthe vessel on to the beach.The following morning we pulled in our40 fathoms of anchor chain and headed forHall Island.While passing through the ice, we sawmany seals, and after clearing it, walruseswere plentiful. After quite an exciting timewith artillery, harpoons, and killing irons,we managed to get one of the latter aboardthat weighed about i s pounds.Upon arriving at Hall Island that evening,a radio message was received from theCommander advising us that he had goneon and that we should meet him at SaglekBay, Labrador. At four o'clock the followingmorning, we started out on this longtrip across the Hudson Straits. Fair weatherpermitted us to make Saglek Bay by sixP.M. the following day.OBSERVATIONS ONRADIO FADINGOUR activities at Saglek Bay deserveconsiderable mention. The Bowdoinhad gone up far into one arm of the bay sothat the scientists could make a collectionof some kind of field mice that exist there.Some of the other boys found sport huntingcaribou but they did not enjoy thesuccess the scientists had.McGee planned on setting up a receiv-so that Kennetting set ashore that nightRawson, a member of the Bowdoin crew,could hear his father who was scheduled tobroadcast from WJAZ, Chicago. An elaborateinstallation was made with the help" of" Ken, who was so strong he stretched theantenna wire enough to break The it.heavyequipment had been carried about twomiles up into the hills to an "ideal" location.All this work did not even result ina squeal from WJAZ. This was most disappointingas reception in Greenland fromthis station had been quite successful attimes.good,During the time that McGee was tryingto receive WJAZ, was I trying to receive anyoneI could. At times signals seemed fairlyand then they would fade out completely.Someone informed me that theaurora was quite strong.I went on deck toinvestigate. Never before had I ever seensuch a violent and brilliant display of thenorthern lights.At times we were completely surroundedby the bright blue bands of aurora, andstreamers from all around the horizon