2. Radio was first installed on ships around the turn of the 20 th century. In those early days, radio (or "wireless", as it was known) was used primarily for transmission and reception of passenger telegrams. Radio watchkeeping hours were not standardized, and there was no regulatory requirement for carriage of radio by ships. Indeed, there was a general lack of any sort of regulation of the radio spectrum. Amateur/experimental stations often interfered with commercial stations and vice-versa. All that changed one clear and cold April night in 1912.....

3. The most modern passenger liner of the time, the RMS Titanic, sank on her maiden voyage after a collision with an iceberg. Some 1500 people were killed in the disaster. Fortunately, 700 odd people were saved, thanks mainly to the efforts of the Titanic's two Radio Officers, who managed to summon help from nearby vessels. However, the vessel closest to the disaster (the Leyland liner Californian) could not be summoned, as her Radio Officer had just gone off watch after 12 hours on duty. The Californian managed to establish communications with other searching vessels after the Titanic had sunk. But by then, it was too late - one thousand five hundred people, including the cream of American and European society, had frozen to death in the icy North Atlantic.

4. The Titanic disaster brought about a number of fundamental changes to Marine Radio: # carriage requirements and radio watchkeeping hours were standardized; # message priorities were standardized - ie: distress and safety traffic always has priority over commercial traffic; distress frequencies were standardized; and #radio silence periods were introduced. The Titanic disaster also served as the catalyst for the introduction of the International Convention for the Safety of Life At Sea (the SOLAS Convention). The introduction of the first SOLAS Convention was delayed by WW1 - it came into force in the 1920's.

5. The Titanic's "wireless" equipment was the most powerful in use at the time. The main transmitter was a rotary spark design, powered by a 5 kW motor alternator, fed from the ship's lighting circuit. The equipment operated into a 4 wire antenna suspended between the ship's 2 masts, some 250 feet above the sea. There was also a battery powered emergency transmitter. The main transmitter was housed in a special room, known as the "Silent Room". This room was located next door to the operating room, and specially insulated to reduce interference to the main receiver. The equipment's guaranteed working range was 250 miles, but communications could be maintained for up to 400 miles during daylight and up to 2000 miles at night.

6. Titanic carried 2 Radio Officers (or, as they were known in those days, Marconi wireless operators or telegraphists). In charge was 25 year old John (Jack) G. Phillips (left), with 21 year old Harold Bride (right) as the deputy or second R/O.

7. The Marconi equipment was delivered to the vessel in time for sea trials on April 2. Phillips and Bride spent the day completing the installation and adjusting the equipment. They exchanged test calls with coast stations at Malin Head (Nth coast of Ireland), callsign MH and Liverpool (actually known as "Seaforth"), callsign LV. By April 3, the equipment was adjusted and working correctly - Phillips and Bride exchanged messages with coast stations at Teneriffe (2000 miles away) and even Port Said (more than 3000 miles distant). Both Radio Officers left the ship at Southampton for a short period. Phillips signed back on articles on April 6 when he returned briefly to check the spare parts. Bride returned on board at 2330H on April 9.

8. Both men were up early on sailing day, April 10, conducting final testing of the equipment. They arranged watches by personal agreement: Phillips, the chief, took the 2000H – 0200H watch, whilst Bride was on duty between 0200H – 0800H. There were no fixed watch hours during the day: the men relieved each other to suit mutual convenience, however a continuous watch was maintained.

9. The "Marconi room" was situated on the boat deck (ie: the same deck as the bridge), at the after end of the superstructure containing the bridge and officer's accommodation - it was about 40 feet aft from the bridge, connected via the corridor which ran down the port side of the officer's quarters. The operating room was in the centre of the accommodation - it did not have an outside facing porthole. Natural light was provided via a skylight in the deckhead (ceiling).

10. The R/O's sleeping accommodation was in a separate room to starboard of the operating room - connected to the operating room by an interconnecting door. The R/O's shared the officer's toilet/washroom facilities across the corridor. The Silent Room, containing the main transmitter, was immediately to port of the operating room. The operating room was connected to the ship's 50 line telephone exchange. However, it appears that there was no direct telephone connection to the bridge. This problem was rectified on Titanic's sister ships Olympic and Britanic after the disaster - a speaking tube was installed which connected the operating room to the bridge..

11. As the liner's departure preparations were completed, both R/O's prepared for the daily onslaught of passenger communications directed to and from "ADVISELUM", the wireless code word assigned to Titanic for passenger's personal traffic. In the 36 hours between leaving Southampton and the collision, the Titanic's R/O's received and sent 250 passenger telegrams.

12. SOS TITANIC audio

13. Re-enactment in the Titanic Radio Room