Canadian Stations
I cannot remember hearing any Canadian
Great Lakes coastal stations so very little information on
them is known to the Archivist, but thanks to all who have
provided
Canadian
station info. we now have a good basic page. However, images
are sadly
lacking and much needed. Can you
provide any?
In 1998 the Canadian government published
a paper back that presents a history of the Canadian stations: "Come
Quick, Danger - A History of Marine Radio in Canada" by Stephan
Dubreuil - ISBN is 0-660-17490-1. This is a nice
book
which covers stations serving the high-seas, Arctic and Great
Lakes. There are many pictures of old radio CG installations
and
gear. However, with respect to the Great Lakes stations
several knowledgeable sources have informed me that this book is not a
reliable historical reference.
The following listing of stations (all in
Ontario) is based on information from the book, from a 1959 Marconi
publication, and from Robert, VA3ROM
who extracted much information about the
stations from the actual Wireless Handbooks of Ships and
Coastal Stations all the way back to 1910.
VBA Was established in 1910 in Port Arthur with the call MUG. Marconi
built and run until late 1913 when it becomes a government station with
its present day VBA callsign. The 'A' is to recognize it as the first
and oldest of the Canadian Great Lakes marine radio stations. While the
Department of Naval Service had overall jurisdiction of the
Canadian marine radio stations, the Marconi Telegraph &
Wireless Co. of Canada operated the Great Lakes stations
under contact. The RO's were all trained by and worked for the
Marconi Co. VBA was the only Canadian Great Lakes station that
started out as a Marconi station, all the others were
government stations with modern VB call series.
(Radio Telegraph Act of 1913). The cities of Port Arthur and
Fort William were combined in 1970 to form Thunder Bay. The
current Thunder Bay VBA Marine Communications and Traffic
Services (MCTS) Centre is active on VHF with 9 remote sites
covering upper Lake Superior and upper Lake Huron and Georgian
Bay.
VBB,
Sault Ste. Marie, was established in 1912 and operated until 1997 when
it was merged into VBA as a VHF remote site.
VBC was
established in 1912 at Wiarton, now Midland, on the Georgian Bay.
It operated until 1997 and then merged into VBA as a VHF
remote site.
VBD at
Tobermory serving Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay dates to 1912. It
later became a VHF remote site for VBC, and now for VBA.
VBE was
established in 1913 at Point Edward and operated there until 1954
when it was moved to Camlachie. It was based there until 1982
when it was moved to Sarnia, its present location. VBE is one
of the three MCTS Centres, and is active on VHF covering lower
Lake Huron and most of Lake Erie using 5 remote sites.
VBF at
Lake Erie's Port Burwell dates from 1914 was in operation to
at least 1969. Anyone
know the actual date it went SK?
VBG
serving Lake Ontario from Toronto was established in 1914 and operated
to the mid 1990's? Is this station the same as Trafalgar
(Oakville) a VHF remote for the Prescott MCTS?
VBH Kingston covering eastern Lake
Ontario and the lower St. Lawrence River was established in
1914. It is now a VHF remote site for the Prescott MCTS.
VDQ Cardinal, ON 0n the St. Lawrence
River is now a VHF remote site for the Prescott MCTS.
VFG2 Gore Bay (Manitoulin Island) (Lake Huron)
V?? Port Colborne (Lake Erie) (Inactive
by 1950)
V?? Port Stanley (Lake Erie) (Inactive by
1950)
Here's a 1912 Map of Great Lakes Canadian Radio-Telegraph Stations
In the mid 1990's Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) and Coast Guard Radio Stations (CGRS) were all amalgamated and became Marine Communications and Traffic Services (MCTS) and the stations became Centres (large complexes). Current MCTS Centre information is listed in Radio Aids to Marine Navigation.
Ian Marsh, G4EXD, has supplied the frequency information below for the Great lakes stations from the 'Admiralty List of Radio Signals', volume 1, for 1978. Read the details of his contribution here.
VBA VBA-VBB VBC-VBE VBE-VBF-VBG VDQ-VFN VFN-VCC US station links on this page
This 1914 postcard image was furnished by Mike Baker, Curator - Elgin
County Museum - St. Thomas, Ontario
Here's a 1950 Map
of the Canadian Great Lakes Stations, and here is a link to the
Canadian MCTS Maps
page which shows the current Great Lakes VHF coverage provided by
the Marine Communications and Traffic Services from
control points at Thunder Bay, Sarnia and
Prescott.
In the 1990s a MF (500KHz?) Morse code traffic service was established at VBB Soo and VBG Toronto. VBA Thunder Bay began providing a Morse code MF service for Churchill, Manitoba in 1986 when the former VAP station was shutdown, and that service was provided until end of 1998. It was not for the Great Lakes but for western Hudson Bay. These late-in-the-era CW service had short lives.
Bob Cooke, VE3BDB,
was a Canadian DOT (Department of Transport) RO from January
1967 to December 1969, for a total of three years.
He worked at VBF Port Burwell in
the building shown in the 1914 post card photo above
and at VBE Sarnia (Camlachie), with a brief relief posting at London
Aeradio. (He was trained for both marine and aeradio.) Bob has
provided a nice history of the Canadian stations in the form of some
brief text and 3 pages from his
1969 magazine article entitled "Short wave listening on ...
CANADA'S
GREAT LAKES MARINE RADIO SERVICES." The second
page of the article
consists of three tables of frequency information for the
Canadian
stations. Visit Bob's site.
Robert Mazur, VA3ROM,
has authored an on-line history of VBA Thunder Bay and subsequently
on some of the earlier Canadian marine radio stations that were
absorbed into VBA. Robert was a MCTSO (RO) at the VBA Thunder
Bay MCTS Centre (formerly a Coast Guard Radio Station). He worked
at VBA for about 1/3 of it's 100 year (1910 - 2010) history, so is an
excellent source of information about the station. You can follow his
work on his website . I have
also used information provided by him to help update this page,
correcting errors and adding content. Thanks Robert .
Recollections
of one ex-laker radio op:
The Canadian coast stations were Port Arthur, Sault St. Marie - VBB, Midland - VBC, Sarnia - VBE, Port Burwell, Toronto, Thunder Bay - VBA, Kingston, and Cornwall (St Lawrence River).
If you called some of the Canadians stations, you had to wait a couple of minutes before they would answer since they had to turn on their transmitter and let the tubes warm.
Recollections of another ex-laker radio op:
There was a station at Midland, Ontario, on Lake Huron, staffed by Marconi operators. They had a transmitter of about 500 watts on 500 KHz with a rotary "chopper" in the B+. Had a really rough sounding note. I only remember seeing one big tube in this transmitter, but it could have had another driver. I also think there was another Canadian station on Lake Superior that I used for calls to the states because the price was cheaper than U.S. However, it had to be a very good propagation day.
Around 1960? Collins provided us with a converted military SSB transceiver and told us to make all the SSB phone calls we wanted to test out the new "thing". It worked great, however I can't remember which shore stations they had given SSB equipment to to complete the circuit, somewhere on Lake Michigan I think. (Most Likely WAY or perhaps WAD)
Jack Painter of the USCG Remembers:
Looking at Sarnia (now an MCTS) and Port
Burwell Radio on the Lake Erie chart, I recall how powerful those
formerly independent stations were in the 1960's and 1970's.
There was never a time, no matter how awful the Lake Erie weather, that
the reassuring and powerful signal from Burwell or Sarnia on 2182 KHz
didn't cut through the slop. Their MF service will always be
missed by those who they helped on a regular basis for
decades.
Canadian Ship
Callsigns: 1992