Bern radio
Bern Radio (last market presence Bernradio , callsign HEB) was the worldwide active coastal radio station in Switzerland . It was the only coastal radio station in the world operated by a landlocked country . Marine radio had been in use in Switzerland since 1941. Since January 1, 2009, Bernradio has been operated by Swisscom Broadcast AG on behalf of the Swiss Confederation . Operations ceased in March 2016.
history
The first official radio operation in Switzerland began in 1922 with a subsidiary of Marconi Radio Station AG . Initially, the system served as a news channel. It should guarantee independent communication with other radio stations for Switzerland. The marine radio in Switzerland began with the maritime inland during the Second World War . Switzerland was economically isolated and began to introduce the “Swiss flag at sea”. Ships were acquired and chartered and then sailed under the Swiss flag. During this time, the Federal Maritime and Shipping Registry Office was founded in Basel . During this time in particular, Switzerland's own radio station was of great importance. With it, the security of supply in the country was maintained, as it ensured independent communication with the ocean- going ships that sailed for the economic national supply .
On the basis of a contract with the Swiss Confederation in 1941, the private Radio Schweiz AG was entrusted with the implementation of the radio service for ocean-going vessels flying the Swiss flag. Most of the ships had Genoa as their home port . The radio traffic was initially carried out by the "Dübendorf radio station". The service was manned by radio operators from the air traffic control service, which was idle during the war.
During the Second World War, 5,700 telegrams to and from See were transmitted by Bern Radio in 1944. By 1970 the traffic had increased to 17,344 telegrams per year. Single sideband telephony (SSB) was introduced at Bern Radio on December 1, 1970, and Morse code telegraphy (CW) was discontinued in 1990 . At that time, Bern Radio's operations center was located in the Bollwerk post office building in downtown Bern . In the 1970s, the remote control of the transmitter system in Prangins and the receiver system in Riedern (City of Bern) was set up.
Since it was founded, the Bernradio coastal radio station has been operated by various companies. From the beginning of 2004 to 2009, Bernradio was operated by the state-owned RUAG Aerospace . On January 1, 2009, Swisscom took over operations.
In March 2016, Swisscom stopped operating the Bernradio coastal radio station after the Federal Office for National Economic Supply (BWL) terminated this service.
Task and work areas
Bernradio offered fee-based, global maritime communications for shipping companies , fishing and deep sea fleets and yacht owners to.
Bern Radio was responsible for the operational and technical safeguarding of the shortwave service under all conditions. Bern Radio was legally obliged to maintain shortwave connections with ships flying the Swiss flag and other participants in extraordinary situations (crises or wars that occur anywhere in the world). Data, voice and fax connections via shortwave also work when communication via mostly sovereign satellites is difficult or impossible.
Services
The operator of Bernradio ( Swisscom ) offered various services in the area of maritime communication. Through the cooperation with other coastal radio stations, automatic routing was offered, taking into account all communication systems on board. Regular e-mail accounts and databases could be accessed. In order to guarantee global RF coverage, Swisscom worked with independent coastal radio stations on six continents:
- Townsville Radio , Australia, Seabourne Electronics Pty Ltd
- Chinaham, China, Weihai Intercontinental Data Comm. LTD
- KKL Radio (KKL), Washington, USA, S. Malone, W. Kaelin
- Manila Radio, Philippines
- Saint Augustine Radio (WHL), Florida, USA
With CH01 , the Swisscom Maritime Communication billing center was its own official clearing center. Bernradio customers could use it to bill for their worldwide communication activities (communication via the HF coastal radio station network, satellite airtime and voice communication).
Technical specifications
Bern Radio had two locations in Switzerland because the transmitter and receiver systems were in different places: The transmitter system was in Prangins , near Lake Geneva . The reception system was in Riedern near Bern .
Bernradio recently operated ten maritime frequencies in the shortwave range between 4153 kHz and 17,206 kHz. Due to its inland location, Bernradio did not operate an FM service.
Bernradio operated a PACTOR ( packet teleprinting over radio ) service for data traffic on shortwave . The service worked with a data transfer rate of up to 5200 bit / s. In addition, Huffman compression was used on the text level in PACTOR III operation .
Web links
- HEB Bern Radio, Prangings - Riederen - Svizzera , photos of the transmitting and receiving stations of Bernradio (Italian)
- HEB Bernradio , photos of a former Radio Switzerland employee
Individual evidence
- ↑ seefunker.de
- ^ Bernradio Switzerland Location , archived website from 2012
Coordinates: 46 ° 24 '24 " N , 6 ° 15' 4" E ; CH1903: 508,685 / 140171