VAF Photos

	Original land survey of the property. Shows the tramway cut down to the beach.
	October 1912 newspaper clipping of Alert Bay's first antenna mast. In the early days it was usual to use a nearby tree to support the antennas. Victoria Daily Colonist Newspaper
	Victoria Daily Colonist 1919 photo of the operator's dwelling. Victoria Daily Colonist Newspaper
	Poor photo of the station in 1919. Buildings are the winch shed, operator's shed and the operations building. Victoria Daily Colonist Newspaper
	087 Supplies for the Alert Bay stationwould be pulled up this 900 foot tramway after being dropped off by the supply vessel. Aitkins Collection
	088 Tommy's residence at Alert Baywireless station around 1929. Aitkins Collection
	06 Anything in italics denotes legend written on photo or in album. The station and premises, taken from the top of the northern mast. It shows the double house for staff residence, the station proper, and the engine/hoist house with rail tracks down to the water front dock. The water shown is part of Johnstone Straits, with Vancouver Island in the background. Thomas Collection
	Panel view of the Continuous Wave transmitter at VAF. Set uses 2 MT6 tubes as oscillators, and 2 MR6 tubes as rectifiers. In 1928 had tuning for waves of 600, 680, 1920and 2975 meters. Separate oscillating circuits are provided for each group of waves (long andshort), and ICW or TT is accomplished by cutting out a part of the filter condenser, letting 480 cycle pulsations onto the oscillators. ICW note one of the prettiest on the coast. Thomas Collection
	11 A rather cock-eye conception of the interior of the office at the radio station. The odd viewpoint was necessary to get in the maximum amount of stuff. The Universal receiver, "Type 707 Serial No. 2" is shown,the typewriter, radiophone receiver "Type R4 Serial No. 68" is shown, and also the Northern Electric 50-watt radiophone transmitter used to work to the tugboats on voice. Thomas Collection
	17 View of the spark transmitters at VAF. The one to the left is of 7KW rating, while the other, to the right, is of 4 KW rating. Both are Marconi apparatus. The synchronous rotary spark gaps may be seen on the ends of the shafts of the 240 cycle alternators. The large meter between the sets is the radiation ammeter, registering 21 and 18 amps respectively on the sets. The 7 KW machine was running when the photo was taken. (Long wire antennas have a radiation resistance of only a few ohms (10 ohms not unusual) so the currents and powers mentioned are in the ball park.) Thomas Collection
	1926 image looking up the tram way to the station from the beach. All supplies for the station were delivered from the beach via this method. Prince Rupert, Point Grey and Triangle Island were similarity fitted. (Clarence Carver collection)
	19 The 3 gasoline engines at VAF. The 2 in the foreground are 8 HP horizontal Fairbanks-Morse, converted from "hit and miss" to throttle governing. Each is belted to a 240 cycle alternator and a 110 volt DC generator. The engine in the background is a 2 1/2 HP Fairbanks-Morse "Z"engine, belted to a 32 volt DC generator, for charging the radiophone storage battery source of power. Thomas Collection
	20 Switchboard and CW transmitter at VAF. This switchboard controls the AC and DC supplies from the alternators, and transfers the set from one machine to another, as well as transferring from CW to spark with either alternator. Below is seen in the charging panel, and the electric heater is used to boost the charging rate by 6 amps. Kitchin took all three pictures. There is a bank of light bulbs glowing above and to the left of the space heater. I think the bulbs were the charging resistors for the battery bank, and to increase the charge rate, the operator would use the space heater as an additional resistor to allow more current to flow. Thomas Collection
	22 The VAF radiophone installation. To the left is the Northern Electric Super-heterodyne receiver, fully shielded and with 6 peanut tubes in it. In the foreground is the microphone and headset, and to the right is the 50 watt Northern Electric radiophone transmitter. A wave of 198.6 meters (1510 kHz) is used for this work. The transmitter is also tuned to 600 meters (500 kHz) for short range ship work. This 600 meter wave was later done with. Thomas Collection
	24 Taken May 12, 1929. Shows newarrangement of equipment, desks, and the plate glass window between the transmitter room and the operating room at VAF. Thomas Collection
	25 Taken June 1929. Shows the new Matthews Power Plant, as installed by Bruce Restall and Tommy Thomas. Behind it is the switchboard. Thomas Collection
	28 Wireless station premises, dwellings not shown. Part of the counter-poise and the newest mast can be seen. Picture by Robson. [A counter-poise is a wire mesh usually suspended a foot or so off the ground under the antennas. The counter-poise is used in areas where the soil doesn't provide the conductivity necessary for a decent electrical ground (such as all rock) or is variable like a water table). Thomas Collection
	29 Summer view of the residence and headquarters of "Tommy" Thomas. Thomas Collection
	30 Winter view of official residence and headquarters of "Tommy" Thomas during his sojourn on staff of radio VAF. J.E.Kitchin and Thomas occupied the shack jointly the winter of 1927-28. From the look of the house it must have been well insulated, or else pretty cold inside. Thomas Collection
	April 1932 photo of the new diesel generator plant installation. Photo taken by John Mennie, one of the operators on the station at the time and a bit of a photographer. Just who BAB, the installer, was remains a mystery. Hammerer Collection
	I'm guessing at the date, but it looks like the 1930 decade. The two station masts are centered in the distance. Image MSC130-1372 courtesy of the British Columbia Postcards Collection, a digital initiative ofSimon Fraser University Library.
	37 Residence of J.E. Kitchin at Alert Bay with him seated on the doorstep. Thomas Collection
	View of the operating position, c 1950. HRO receiver and four fix tuned receivers. Small box with the dial is the Makay 500kHz transmitter remote control. Hammerer Collection
	View of the operating position, c 1950. Hammerer Collection
	I've got no photos covering the intervening 20 yrs. New operator's dwellings were built and the tramway to the water was removed during that time.
	General view of the 1976 station. Meteorological enclosure in the foreground. Most stations did weather observations: wind speed and direction,temperature and dew point, precipitation, cloud types/amount, altitude and barometric pressure. The observations were done hourly and put on the weather teletype circuit. Statham Collection
	1975 image of the Alert Bay Station. Still using the original building. Feed through insulators for the old antenna systems still mounted under the eaves. Engines on the left, operations on the right. Statham Collection
	1975 aerial view of the Alert Bay Station. Operations building is the furthest partially obscured by a tree. Closest is the 'modern' transmitter building. It looks like the old tramway cut to the beach is now a road. Statham Collection
	1987 photo of Alert Bay's operations room. Within ahalf dozen years the station's operation would be remoted south to the Comox/Cape Lazostation as part of the consolidation plan. Statham Collection
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These photos are in chronological order (as near as I can tell) and show the changes to the stationas as time went by.

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