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APPENDIX XII.OPERATION OF NEW RADIO-TELEPHONE LINKS TO VARIOUS ISLANDS.Cléireach, An Coiste um Chuntais Phoiblí, At the proceedings of the Public Accounts Committee on 24th November, 1955, I undertook to furnish information regarding the new radio-telephone links to various islands. 1.—Under a scheme completed in 1942, thirteen islands were given telecommunication facilities with the mainland by means of radio links. One of the main problems with the links is that of the electric power necessary to operate the island terminals. The original radio systems used, which were the same as those adopted by the British Post Office for similar services, featured “windchargers” for charging the batteries on the islands. 2.—The facilities provided by these early radio links were extremely limited. Each island had contact with one point only on the mainland, messages could be exchanged only at fixed times and there was no service at night. The links proved most unreliable in service and there were frequent and prolonged interruptions. The main sources of trouble were the “wind-chargers”; because of their very exposed positions they were frequently damaged by storms. 3.—Similar difficulties were being experienced with the British island radio links and, as a result, the British Post Office decided to develop new radio equipment designed specially for use under the conditions obtaining on the islands, one of the primary considerations being that the new equipment should be capable of operating at the island ends off dry batteries which would not require -charging. 4.—We learned in 1950 that a prototype of the new equipment was undergoing test and, as soon as the equipment was passed as satisfactory, we placed an order for sets of this new equipment to replace the existing island radio links. The British requirements were more extensive than ours and the fact that the British Post Office, with the resources of a considerable research organisation and of the whole British radio industry to draw upon, had been forced to develop new equipment for the island services led us to the conclusion that we could hardly do better than adopt the British Post Office designed system. Installation of the new equipment was completed in May, 1955. An important advance in this new equipment was that it would enable telephone calls to be made at all times between the islands and the mainland and, moreover, such calls would not be restricted as formerly to one point on the mainland. 5.—In the development of the new radio equipment it was necessary to adopt certain techniques which complicated the design of the equipment. The British Post Office initiated special instruction courses on the maintenance of the new equipment and two of our engineers attended one of these courses. 6.—As could be expected with newly developed equipment of this type, there were “teething” troubles following installation resulting in numerous breakdowns. These gave rise to a number of complaints but once these initial difficulties were overcome the systems themselves have been functioning fairly satisfactorily though the service has not been as satisfactory as the Department would wish due primarily to difficulty in getting to the islands (which will be referred to again later). It can be definitely stated that the service given by the new equipment is much superior to that given by the former installations. As regards Sherkin Island, to which particular reference was made, the incidence of faults has not been abnormal and no complaints have reached the Department. The island radio links compare very favourably in respect of fault incidence with equipment employing radio techniques used by the Department on mainland routes but the great difference is that, whereas a fault on a mainland route is usually cleared within a short time, an interruption on a radio link caused by a fault on the island end may be of several days’ duration because of delay in getting a skilled maintenance man to the island, particularly in bad weather. This is the kernel of the difficulty with these island services and it is not at present easy to see a feasible solution. The possibility of training somebody on each island in the maintenance of the radio equipment has been considered but it has had to be ruled out—the equipment is too complicated. The alternatives are:— (1) the stationing of a skilled maintenance man with adequate spare equipment on each of the islands or (2) the laying of submarine cables. The cost of either of these courses is regarded as prohibitive; the services already operate at heavy loss. Moreover, even the laying of cable would not be a satisfactory solution in some cases (e.g., Tory Island) because of the nature of the sea bed and the existence of strong currents. (Sinithe) L. Ó BROIN, Rúnaí, Roinn Poist agus Telegrafa. 31 Eanáir, 1956. |
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