Best
viewed using MS IE-6/7 or Mozilla Firefox 2 at 1024 by 768 resolution
and Normal Text Size. Except as noted here
most of the site's
content is in the public domain.
Last
Updated
WMI - Lorain, OH
WMI, the flagship station of Lorain
Electronics Corp. (LEC) or its predecessors, served the Great Lakes
bulk-carriers and freighters from the southern shore of Lake
Erie. Information about Lorain Electronics and its marine
radio stations in the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes at Bowling Green State University
indicates that WMI or some earlier Lorain station was operating by the
mid 1930s. The 1935 FCC Annual Report mentions Lorain, OH as
the location of one of only six public coastal harbor station operating
at that time. Other information pinpoints WMI's debut as
1933. This was probably only in the 2 MHz band, as the 1937
FCC Annual Report contains these words: "The Lorain (Ohio) station
operated by the Lorain County Radio Corporation, offers radiotelephone
service with ships plying the Great Lakes. During the year,
high-frequency operation has been inaugurated at this station."
At
the left is the WMI operating room in Sept. of 1937. (Dated
from the calendar on the far wall.) Picture
is a link to a larger one. Relatives report
that the man on the left is Don Heisner.
Some of the further evolution of the WMI operating room can be seen in this series of pictures. The dates are my best guesses and subject to change.
1948 Small
1948 Large
1951 Small
1951 Large
1954 Small
1954 Large
1955 Small
1955 Large
1958 Small
1958 Large
Paul Romoser is at the right in the 1958 view.
In the
1939 LEC
was also licensed to operated stations WAD in Port Washington, WI and
WAS in Duluth, MN.
I remember first hearing WMI as a teenager with the operator saying, "This is Lorain." I though it was strange that she would give her name as an identifier. However, I soon picked up the WMI call letters and figured out the Ohio location. In reality, WMI was a spin-off of a telephone company and as such was a highly disciplined operation. The operators were not allowed to give out their names to either the ships or the shipping companies.
|
 |
Some Lorain Electronics/WMI history adapted from the Lorain Journal article noted above:
In the mid 1930s the idea to set up ship-to-shore communications with the lake freighters was born. Robert Fox was appointed chief engineer of the plant and the wireless radiotelephone idea was begun. For a few years no more than four lake ships had the radios as they covered only a short distance. (Medium frequency only) Once a ship was up in Lake Superior and the upper part of Lake Huron, the Lorain station could not be heard.
The book "Master of The Inland Seas" by
Alexander C. Meakin, 1988, Great Lakes Historical Society, Vermilion,
Ohio 44089 makes the statement that the William C. Atwater was the
first Great Lakes ship to be equipped with a radio-telephone in
1934. However, see the WLC page as that honor really belongs
to the Carl D. Bradley (1922). In 1924, WLC reverted to
exclusively CW operation until 1941.
Fox, Don
Heisner, Company President Herman E. Hageman, and a few other men
worked out an idea for setting up high-frequency sets which would cover
the complete lake area from the Lorain station. After some
trouble with the sets, the Federal Communications Commission, and
nature, the service was inaugurated. Other lake freighters
soon wanted the new radiotelephone service and the corporation was on
its way. This 1938
QSL card signed by D. Heisner was contributed by Mark Karney.
The book mentioned above also states that:
(1) the Wilson Transit Company was the first fleet of Great
Lakes bulk carriers to be completely equipped with radio-telephones,
and also the first to be fully outfitted with VHF FM radios, and (2) in
1956 radio telephones and FM radio sets were installed in the few
remaining vessels in the fleet that were not equipped.
Heisner
succeeded Fox as chief engineer in the late 1930's, just as the large
expansion that followed the new high frequency service was getting
under way. Under his leadership the corporation founded new
stations (WAD in Port Washington, WI and WAS in Duluth, MN) along the
upper lakes.
Heisner left the corporation in 1946
and Wesley Goodell, a long time operator at the station, took over as
chief engineer. However, by the late 1960s an article in the Lorain
Ohio Journal indicates that WMI was in financial trouble due to
declining use of the station. In the article Goodell is
quoted as saying that the main factor in the decline was the
corresponding decline in the number of ships on the lakes. "Right after
World II" Goodell said, "there were 400 vessels on the American side of
the lakes. That number has dwindled to about 200 now he says, "and
becomes fewer each year, as newer and larger ships replace older,
smaller ones." As the use of WMI's HF service declined
Goodell, LEC President Jack Cain (and
surely others also ??) conceived and implemented
the automated VHF-FM network that extended LEC's life by a number of
years. Details below and a more complete story here.
Some
of the more significant dates of the corporation's history include 1934
and 1940 when it played vital parts In Lake storms and disasters, and
1938 when an FCC examiner finally approved the plan for HF AM
Ship-to-Shore radiotelephone communication. In 1951 the
corporation started VHF-FM phone service on the lakes. (When did WMI start SSB operation?)
According to one correspondent: "The AM channels at WMI were 51 (2182 KHz), 57, 58 (2 MHz channels), 82 (4 MHz) and 96 (8 MHz)." These may have been at a later time than those noted in the paragraph below.
The operator on the left above submitted the following about WMI in the 1940s and 1950s: "WMI Lorain, Ohio, WAD Port Washington, WI, and WAS Duluth, MN, communicated with the vessels on AM Channels 10, 20, 30, 38, 39, 60 with Channel 51 being the Calling and Distress frequency. " Does anyone have a cross reference of AM/SSB Great Lakes Channel Numbers to actual frequencies? WMI also communicated with vessels on VHF-FM Channel 26 with Channel 16 being the Calling and Distress frequency. Ships called in their Position Reports to Station WMI, WAS, or WAD and these reports were Dispatched via telephone, teletype, or Western Union to the various Steamship Companies, Agents, or whomever the ship wanted to inform of their ships business. A few vessels were equipped to send Weather Reports - they would give the Station Radio-operator a series of 5 or 6 groups of numbers (5 numbers in a group) and WMI, WAD, or WAS would then forward this information to the Cleveland Weather Bureau. The numbers provided information for the LAWEB Weather Bulletins that were broadcast 4 times a day - 0230, 0630, l430, and 2030."
Can anyone contribute more information about this station? Particularly need pictures of the WMI and LEC buildings, and pictures of the operating positions after 1958.
 |  The WMI site in 1966 - Click on the image for 3 larger views & more info. - All site photos by Mark Karney |
The map shows WMI's location
from its
founding until almost the end of its life. Also shown is the
LEC Leavitt Rd. location. The
Meister Road facility was decommissioned late in 1978 or early in 1979,
and remotely-controlled CAI SSB equipment was installed at a location
in S. Amherst, Ohio (address??).
An operator position was installed at 2307 Leavitt Rd. The
VHF system (see below) was operated from there also. However,
MF/HF usage continued to decline and the SSB operation was discontinued
after a very short time and WMI's 47(?)
years of HF service to the lakers came to an end.
VHF-FM gained ground as the use of HF SSB declined, and Lorain Electronics remained in the forefront starting with the use of FM as early as 1952 (earlier?) utilizing General Electric manufactured gear. In May of 1955 General Electric and Lorain County Radio sponsored a Great Lakes cruise by the yacht, Cappy, to survey the coverage furnished by Lorain's , GE supplied, 250 Watt station, located at Lorain. The use of VHF-FM continued to expand culminating with a 14 station VHF network controlled from Lorain over leased lines. (When did this network go into service?) These stations provided excellent coverage of all the lakes except Ontario. Here's more detail on this system and a map showing the station locations, call letters, and channel number. The VHF system was operated until 1984 when it was sold to WJG Maritel. In 1985 the remaining contents of 2307 Leavitt Rd. were sold and Lorain Electronics closed it's doors. Maritel operated the VHF system until 1990 and then shut it down for lack of business. WLC picked up Several of the VHF stations & used them until it shut down in 1997.
LEC also operated a Radio Common Carrier (RCC) station serving businesses in the Lorain area with a mobile radio connection to the telephone network. Initially at least, this was a manual system with WMI operators connecting the calls. I believe that the leftmost console position in the 1951 and later WMI photos above was the control point for the RCC operation.
 |  |
The Hammarlund SP-10 receiver
pictured
above was used at WMI, probably from the late 1930s through WW2 and
perhaps later ??.
When taken out of service at WMI the receiver was purchased
by Carroll Peabody, W8ADK, (SK 2000) an operator at the
station. It has recently been purchased by Dave Aabye, W4QCU
who furnished the photographs. This Rx is probably the rear
one (of 3) in the 1937 op room photo. It's the only one in
any of the WMI op room photos that has an add-on connector in the upper
left corner of the front panel. Note that these photos are
links to larger versions.
Some of the WMI crew and their recollections.
