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42 Orders River Steamer and 34 Barges The Carnegie Steel Co., Pittsburgh, is adding another steamboat to its river fleet and is increasing its fleet of barges from 221 to 255, a contract for 34 hav- ing been awarded the American Bridge Co. The contract for constructing the machinery and boilers for the boat has been awarded the Federal Shipbuilding Co., Kearny, N. J., and the American Bridge Co., will construct the hull at its Ambridge, Pa. boat yard. After the hull is completed, it will be towed to the marine ways of the Carnegie company at Coal Valley, ‘Monongahela river, where the machinery and boilers will be installed and the general equipment add- ed. The new boat will run in the Pitts- burgh, Mingo Junction and Bellaire, O., towing trade. The dimensions of the boat are length on deck, 171 feet 10%4 inches; length overall, 200 feet 114 inches; molded width, 38 feet 10 inches; width overall, 39 feet 1134 inches; depth of hull, 6 feet 434 inches. The size of the wheel will be length, 26 feet 6 inches; diameter 24 feet, while there will be 16 buckets with a width of 38 inches. The engines of the twin tandem compound type will be 18 and 36-inch bore and 81!4-foot stroke. The boat ‘will be equipped with five boilers, each 40 inches in diameter, 28 feet Jong, while the diameter of the two flues will be 15 inches each. It: will have the latest known river steam- boat improvements on board. Shipping Board Fleet To Have Radio Compasses Following the thorough test of the Kolster type radio compass on board a few of its ships, the shipping board has issued orders to the Federal Tele- graph Co. for the installation of these compasses cn the entire fleet of 16 pas- senger ships on both the Atlantic and Pacifics oceans. The LeviATHAN having pioneered the way for the United States Lines, in the use of the radio compass in transatlantic service, the steamships PresipeENT Harp- ING, PresIDENT ROOSEVELT, GEORGE WASHINGTON and AMERICA are now to follow. These ships, plying between New York and Europe, will doubtlessly make great use of the radio compass in the New England fog banks during the coming winter. The Munson Line ships plying between New York and South America are the other Atlantic group to be fitted with the Kolster radio compass. This group includes the steamships PAN AMERICA, WESTERN Wortp, SouTHERN Cross and AMERICAN LEGION. On the Pacific, the Presipent JACKSON MARINE REVIEW of the Admiral Oriental Line is already equipped and the PresIDENT JEFFERSON, Presipent GRANT and PresipeNtT MAnI- son are ‘o be equipped as they arrive in port. These ships ply between Seattle and the Orient. The Preswwent CLEVELAND of the Pa- cific Mail ‘was the most recent liner to be equipped with this navigational aid. In conjunction with the radio compass installations on shipboard, 14 new radio Editor, Marine Review. With reference to your recent fre- quest for a communication to be pub- lished in Martine Review on the re- sults of the Third National Radio con- ference, I take- pleasure in forwarding you the following: The Third National Radio conference called by Herbert Hoover, secretary of commerce, convened in Washington recently. The purpose for which it was called and the deliberations of the con- ference are reported in a_ publication of the department of commerce en- titled “Recommendations for Regula- tion of Radio Adopted by the Third National Radio ‘'Conference”. The work of the conference was allocated to seven subcommittees, two of which dealt with matters of direct concern to marine interests. Subcom- mittee No. 1 dealt with the general allocation of frequency or wave length bands to the various radio services, and Subcommittee No. 4 dealt with the general problems of marine radio com- munication. I served on both of these committees. In Committee No. 1 it was decided to give the broadcasting service the complete range of wave lengths from 200 to 545 meters. This means the giving up on the part of the marine service of the 300 meter and 450 meter wave lengths in order to reduce interference with broadcasting. The 600 meter wave length which, in the past, has been practically the standard wave length for marine com- munication except for long distance Cw. equipment (Federal arc and tube), was reserved for calling and distress purposes. Three additional marine working wave lengths of 660 meters, 731 meters, and 875 meters were allo- cated for ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communication, with the provision that ships on 705 meters be transferred to the above wave length within a reasonable time. The wave lengths of 1052 meters to 1276 meters were allocated for marine radiotelephony. This alloca- From the Editor's Mail ‘tion was intended to promote the de- February, 1925 fog signaling stations, otherwise known as radio beacons, on shore and on light- houses are to be installed by the bu- reau of lighthouses as follows: Six on the Great Lakes, two more on the Atlantic in addition to eight al- ready in operation there, two on the gulf coast and four more on the Pa- cific coast in addition to the four now in operation. This progressive move should greatly aid in safeguarding shipping. velopment of this form of communica- tion, which is not in practical use at this time, and was tentative only. The wave lengths of 800 meters and 1000 meters were reserved, as at previous conferences, for radio compass and radio beacon operation, respective- ly. To prevent interference with these extremely important services, adequate guard bands were provided on each side of these two wave lengths. It was recommended that the wave lengths of 1620 meters be used for ice patrol broadcasting and for other navi- gational aid messages. In order to permit ships to enter the new field of extremely short wave lengths, a band from 109 to 120 meters was further reserved for marine and other mobile service. From the above, you will see that the net result of the conference, so far as marine interests are concerned, was the reduction of interference with the increasingly important broadcasting service, the allocation of additional wave lengths to reduce radio traffic con- gestion, particularly on the Atlantic coast, and the encouragement of the more recent radio inventions for ship use. Particularly gratifying to shipping men was the recognition of the grow- ing importance of the radio beacon or fog signal service of the Bureau of lighthouses. This, coupled with the recent announcement of the bureau to establish some fifteen additional fog signal stations on the Pacific coast, Great Lakes, Atlantic coast and Gulf, has resulted, we find, in increased in- terest in Kolster radio compass for ship use. The conference also sustained the: present practice of handling free radio position reports but recommended that the transmission of these reports be reduced to a minimum to avoid in- terference with broadcasting. E.itery W. Stone, President, Federal Telegraph Co., San Francisco