About twenty miles to the north of Warsaw --and slightly off the beaten path --is the Civil Aeronautics Airways weather station. Of the beaten path, I said, but that's for automobiles. It's very much on the path of airplanes.

For the men who man that weather sttation ofttimes carry many lives in the palm of their hands. They are alert men, well-educated and for the most part, very much interested in their work.

Sometime ago, I visited the station. I have talked to these fellows over the air from my airplane and back on many occasions. So when I landed at Goshen and walked into their radio shack, I felt that I knew them.

It was quite a surprise to find that I didn't know about them at all. The station was more complicated and there were many more men than I had imagined. There are ten full-time radio men and two maintenance men on duty there at all times.

 

You have no doubt observed a tiny pencil of powerful light sweeping across the sky in the vicinity of Goshen. That is the visible aid to aerial navigation. It's a strong beamed searchlight which pokes an inquisitive finger into the clouds as it revolves and it's a welcome sight to lonely airmen who are winging their way across northern Indiana. Every ten miles between Chicago-Detroit-Cleveland airmen see one of those revolving beacons A green light on the back side of the searchlight flashes a code letter which identifies the light.

But at only a few points can you talk to another human being. And Goshen is one of these points.

They maintain a constant signal beam, extending outward from Goshen in four directions and airplanes ride these beams at night and in bad weather.

They also call in to the Goshen weather station for all kinds of information. An airmen may call and ask for the weather at his destination. Or he may want to know about the winds aloft. Or worse yet, maybe he is in trouble and wants to land at the Goshen emergency field. These boys give him all the data he needs to come in safely.

I was surprised when I walked into the radio shack at the astounding amount of equipment they have. There are nine different radio receivers, talking gibberish all at once. They maintain a constant listening watch on 4495 kilocycles, which happens to be the army frequency; they eavesdrop on 3105 kilocycles for the benefit of any naval airmen who want to talk to them. Airlines have two frequencies they use. Therefore, Goshen radio listens 24 hours a day to 6210 kilocycles and 3117½ kilocycles.

For civilian pilots, like me, who wish to call Goshen, they listen to static free Very High Frequency, 116.1 megacycles and 122.1 megacycles. Then they have a receiver which listens all the time to the navigation beam they are putting out, just in case something goes wrong with it. They also have a couple of other monitoring receivers to maintain a watch on other radio facilities against error or failure.

Last Friday on my radio program I told you about the marvelous new Omni-range radio stations which will simplify flying for everyone. Goshen will control an Omni station, too, which is just being completed at Millersburg, Indiana, nearby.

Closely grouped about the operator at Goshen Radio are three teletype machines, just like we have here at The Times and Union and Radio Station WRSW.

Now, on these three teletypes they exchange weather information with other CAA stations all across the nation. They also file what is known as flight plans.

Before we get into some of the things these men do, and what they mean, I might mention some of the transmitting equipment which is in use at Goshen. They really use three different voice broadcast stations. One operates (for the benefit of ham operators) on a frequency of 111.1 megacycles, and yet another on 116.1 megacycles. Now these two are known as very high frequency. Although it is not high when you consider the newest piece of equipment, Omni-range, which operates at 1114.1 megacycles, thousands as against hundreds of megacycles. The next broadcast frequency used by Goshen is regular long wave or 320 kilocycles, which is even under the regular broadcast band on your home radio.

Now comes the interesting part. What do they use all these radio transmitters and receivers for? Well, for example, as their teletypes hammer out the latest weather information, 24 hours a day, the nation across, the men at Goshen Radio assemble a complete weather report each half hour. And it is their type of report I am going to tell you about--just to give you an idea. They don't predict--they just report exactly what lies out across the country and you can figure when it will get there.

On each quarter hour--15 minutes before the hour and 15 minutes after the hour, they give a weather report of actual conditions at cities and stations throughout the country. At Goshen, they use such reports as South Bend, Chicago, Moline, Kansas city, Des Moines, Louisville, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, and stations north in Michigan.

All pilots aloft who are listening to the Goshen beam automatically hear this weather report every thirty minutes. If it is not sufficient for their needs, all the pilot has to do is pick up his microphone and ask Goshen Radio for additional information

Suppose we are an airliner making the Chicago-Cleveland run; and we are in trouble in the vicinity of Goshen. We call in to Goshen Radio, tell them our troubles. They crack right back with the wind direction and velocity at Goshen. Perhaps they hear us directly overhead. They tell us so.

Then we get on the beam which crosses right over the Goshen runway and in we come, perhaps talking to Mr. Operator on the field all the while.

Now those are the technical uses of Goshen Radio. There are others. The boys won't thank me for telling you this, but folks call in by telephone who are going on picnics and want to know if the weather will be nice. Goshen tell them. And every Monday morning, if the skies are cloudy, they are besieged by housewives who want to know if it's safe to hang the washing out. Well, Goshen tells them!

Warsaw Times Union Tues. Dec. 7, 1948

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