International Radiotelegraph Convention (1912)

The second International Radiotelegraph Convention met in London, England in 1912. It adopted international maritime radio communication standards that updated the ones approved by the first International Radiotelegraph Convention held in Berlin in 1906. The new Convention was signed on July 5, 1912 and became effective on July 1, 1913.[1]

Convention actions

Marconi Company five kilowatt ocean liner wireless telegraph installation (1913). It appears to be RMS Olympic.

The convention was scheduled before the Titanic disaster but met shortly after, and the sinking was an important factor in the deliberations. Thirty-seven delegations attended. Unlike the previous Convention, there were no objections to the idea of compulsory intercommunication, and the Marconi Company announced that it had ended its policy of, outside of emergencies, only permitting its stations to communicate with other Marconi stations.

Significant additional new regulations were added to the international standards adopted at the 1906 Convention, including:

  • Maintaining a continuous radio watch by certain ships.[2]
  • Specification of compulsory "listening-in" periods for the first ten minutes of each hour, by ships not required to maintain constant watch.[2]
  • A requirement that a ship's radio be capable of working for at least six hours without the ship's generator supply. If the ship's main radio did not fulfil this requirement, an auxiliary radio that did so should be installed.[3]
  • A requirement that operators and apparatus be directly under the authority of the vessel's "commanding officer".[4]
  • A requirement that all radio transmissions in the vicinity of a ship in distress be under the control of that ship.[5]
  • Assigned a priority to the transmission of weather and time signals to ships upon request, with area ships required to refrain from transmitting during these transmissions.[6]

In addition, the delegates unanimously adopted a resolution that: "The International Radio-Telegraphic Conference having examined the measures to be taken with the view of preventing disasters at sea and of rendering assistance in such cases, expresses the opinion that, in the general interests of navigation, there should be imposed on certain classes of ships the obligation to carry a radio-telegraphic installation. As the Conference has no power to impose this obligation, it expresses the wish that the measures necessary to this end should be instituted by the Governments. The Conference finds it important, moreover, to ensure, as far as possible, uniformity in the arrangements to be adopted in the various countries to impose this obligation, and suggests to the Governments the desirability of an agreement between themselves with a view to the adoption of a uniform base for legislation."[7]

The Service Regulations of the 1906 Convention had specified that stations should be assigned call letters that "shall be distinguishable from one another and each must be formed of a group of three letters",[8] however no provisions were made for allocating call letter blocks among the various nations. Starting with the 1912 Convention, initial letters were allotted to the various signatories, including "A", "D" and "KAA–KCZ" to Germany and protectorates, "B", "G" and "M" to Great Britain plus "CAA–CMZ" to its associated jurisdictions, "F" and "UAA–UMZ" to France and its colonies, and "KDA–KZZ", "N" and "W" to the United States.[9]

A third International Radiotelegraph Convention, initially proposed to take place in 1917 but delayed until 1927, was held in Washington, DC, which adopted regulations which became effective on January 1, 1929.[10] The following countries were parties to the 1912 and 1927 conventions:

Signatory19121927
Argentine Republic
Austria
Belgian Congo
Belgium
Bolivia
Brazil
British India
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Chosen
Commonwealth of Australia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Curaçao
Cyrenaica
Czechoslovakia
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Dutch East Indies
Egypt
Erythrea
Estonia
Finland
France
French Equatorial Africa and other Colonies
French Indo-China
French West Africa
Germany
Great Britain
Greece
Guatemala
Hungary
Irish Free State
Italian Somaliland
Italy
Japan
Japanese Sakhalin
Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Madagascar
Mexico
Monaco
Morocco (with the exception of the Spanish Zone)
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Norway
Paraguay
Persia
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Portuguese East Africa
Portuguese Possessions in Asia
Portuguese West Africa
Republic of Colombia
Republic of El Salvador
Republic of Haiti
Republic of Honduras
Republic of Liberia
Republic of Panama
Republic of San Marino
Roumania
Russia
Siam
Spain
Spanish Colony of the Gulf of Guinea
Surinam
Sweden
Switzerland
Syro-Libanese Territories
Taiwan
Kwantung Leased Territory and South Sea Islands under Japanese Mandate
Netherlands
Tripolitania
Tunis
Turkey
Union of South Africa
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela

References

  1. "Radio Conferences". History of ITU Portal. International Telecommunication Union.
  2. "Service Regulations: Article XIII", London International Radiotelegraphic Convention (1912), page 14.
  3. "Service Regulations: Article XI", London International Radiotelegraphic Convention (1912), page 13.
  4. "Service Regulations: Article X", London International Radiotelegraphic Convention (1912), page 13.
  5. "Service Regulations: Article XXI", London International Radiotelegraphic Convention (1912), page 17.
  6. "Service Regulations: Article XLV", London International Radiotelegraphic Convention (1912), page 27.
  7. Howeth, Linwood S (1963). "The Third International Radio Telegraphic Conference". History of Communications-Electronics in the United States. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. pp. 164–165 via HathiTrust Digital Library.
  8. Article IV, "Service Regulations Annexed to the [Berlin, 1906] International Wireless Telegraph Convention".
  9. Radio Call Letters (PDF). Washington, DC: United States Department of Commerce. May 9, 1913 via Federal Communications Commission.
  10. International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington, 1927 (PDF). London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. November 25, 1927.
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