VAE Photos

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Estevan

This page is a photo sequence of Estevan Wireless Station with the earliest first. Clicking enlarges the photo.

Herb Scott, old time ship operator remembers Estevan's 1920-30's signal. (SOWP)

1910-11 Staff	Officer in Charge S. DeWinter 2nd Operator W. Tee 3rd Operator W. Tozer
	1909 photo of the Estevan station. Operator dwelling in the foreground and operations building is obscured by the light tower construction. One antenna mast visible. Lighthouse construction is well underway. Ken Gibson Collection "The angry coast, the rocky reefs, No more are feared by man, And those that sail will never fail To praise the Light of Estevan." Anon
	Operator Andy Gray at Estevan's operating position. Hammerer Collection
	Original station's operator's residence. A B.C. Mills prefabricated house. In other photos the two trees at the bottom of the stairs get larger. RBCM Collection
	Probably late 1910's. Operations building in the fore ground. Station in the foreground. RBCM Collection
	Probably in the late 1910's. RBCM Collection
	1913 Station building, probably taken when Jack was on the station. Shows the step mast construction. Bowerman Collection
	Group of Estevan operators. Tommy Raine and his daughter on the right. Probably Andy Gray in the middle. Photo most likely taken in 1913 when Bowerman was on station. Bowerman Collection
	Estevan Point operating position. The wall of switches and knobs control the power to the spark transmitters. The original Marconi station receiver is still in use, but some updating is apparent. For instance the transmit/receive change overswitch has been removed and obviously replaced with some thing, perhaps the box on the wall above the receiver. Bowerman Collection
	This photo is from the Public of Canada and is labeled VAE 1917. I'm pretty certain it isn't for a number of reasons. For example there is no station clock or calendar in a prominent location, an item no coast station would be without. Further more, the receiving apparatus and spark transmitter controls are missing. The window has an outside overhang, something none of our stations had. And what is with all those little bottles on the wall? I post this photo only to avoid confusion.
	Estevan power plant. Huge flywheels used in those days--engine would be started by manually spinning the flywheel. Single cylinder. The belt would be used to spin the electric generator. This particular diesel was installed in 1912 to power the new 2 kWt spark transmitters. Over the years the power plant at Estevan was upgraded to supply sufficient power as more powerful transmitters were installed, then to provide power for the tube type transmitters and station lighting. The flywheel must be 6 feet in diameter--how it was muscled ashore and brought to the station is nothing but a testament to those original radio men. Bowerman Collection
	Estevan diesel plant spun a station generator (out of view) via the belt. Similar installations were at other stations, but Estevan was the biggest due to the higher power transmitters. A second engine just out of view to the right spun another generator, perhaps to charge station batteries. Hammerer Collection
	The big Fairbanks-Morse engines were cooled by circulating water through the cylinder jacket. The heat was removed from the water by circulation through a radiator within this cooling tower. Bowerman Collection
	A view of the switch gear used to control two spark transmitters (25 kW and 5 kW). Probably early 1920's. Bowerman Collection
	Another image showing the stepped mast antenna support. Hammerer Collection
	The combined operations and power house building completed in the spring of 1922. New building was required to house the new spark transmitters and larger electric generator plant. Bowerman Collection
	Some heavy work taking place--block and tackle to move some stumps. Bowerman Collection
	Mrs. Redford, Bob Cole, E.T. Redford, Bruce Restall, and an unknown man. In 1942 Redford was the operator on duty when the station came under fire by a Japanese submarine. Bowerman Collection
	Late 1930's. The beach shed at Hesquiaht. This is where the station's supplies would have been lightered ashore, put onto the truck and driven over the plank road to Estevan. Note the 'modifications' to the truck--front fenders were removed so the driver could see where the wheels were on the planks, and the pushed over headlights gave better illumination on the planks. Native village of Hesquiaht in the distance. Bowerman Collection
	1936 photo of the old 1908 station building with the new operations building in the distant right. When the new operating building was commissioned, this building was modified to become the bachelor operator's accommodation. Public Archives of Canada
	The closest decent harbour was about 5 miles to the east at the village of Hesquiaht. Supplies would be brought ashore by the vessel's workboat to this shed area. From there they would be trucked to the Estevan station over a wooden plant road. Bowerman Collection
	Engine house, Phil with his planks and corduroy road up the hill. 1930's operations and power house. McConnell is sorting the pile of planks. Aitkens Collection
	1930s northerly view from the light tower. Large garden was required to supply fresh food. The house in the middle right is the original radio operator's dwelling. M.R. Collection
	Late 1930's photo of Chas Aikens grabbing few winks at the station. Aitkens Collection
	1930's Estevan operating position with Chas Aikens listening for a call. Transmitters in the background, and a Dominion type receiver on the desk. Aitkens Collection
	Close up of the operating position. Tube transmitters in the back ground with the big glowing finals evident. Receivers are of the vacuum tube variety. Aitkens Collection
	View of the station from the light tower. Operations and power house in the center right. Engine cooling tower in the center. Two dwellings along the back. Chas Aitkens and family occupied the one on the left. Aitkens Collection
	One of the two dwellings which sat on the ridge behind the station. This particular one was probably the Aitkens' home in the 1930's. Aitkens Collection
	A group of station women. There is a mattress in the back of the truck provides some comfort to the passengers being driven on the plank road between the station and the landing at Hesquiaht.1930's Aitkens Collection

	1930's station families. Operator Chas & Jean Aitkens kneeling on the right. Aitkens Collection
	December 1942 photo of the whole station. This photo taken about 6 months after the Japanese attack. Third dwelling added along the ridge. Aitkens Collection via the RCAF Archives
	1958 VAE operating position. AR88LF receiver on top. Woods collection
	Same as above but from the other side of the position. Woods collection
	1958 selection of VAE transmitters. MEL unit on the left was for 2 MHz ship shore and point to point. Each frequency had its own drawer. Woods collection
	Operator Burns at VAE in 1958. Station moved south to the Tofino Airport this year. Transmitter and receiver sites were the hills north (RX) and south (TX) of what is called Radar Hill. Transmitter site had the HF, MF and air/ground VHF. Woods collection.
	This was the station, located at the Tofino airport, when I first joined the outfit. Closest position is the marine position and the far is the aeradio position. Meteorological equipment out of view along the wall to the right. The station was located in the old WW2 airport operations building. Transmitter and receiver sites were located on top of local hills several kilometers to the north. Operator has the earphones on and is busy copying something on the mill. About 1969. The three teletype machines provided weather, notices to air men and public connections. Statham Collection
	The infamous Northern Electric 1 kW transmitters at VAE. There are two banks here, center control panel and individual channel bays on either side. The transmitter was capable of single sideband (SSB) or SSB with a pilot carrier. This transmitter was used across Canada and was dangerous to work on. Each cabinet could be rolled out for servicing and the high voltage capacitors could still give a heart stopping jolt if they were not discharged properly. Northern Electric's main customer was the telephone industry and it showed in the design of the control panel--all the control logic was via relays, row upon row of them. Photo taken in 1969. Statham Collection
	December 1986. The old station building was demolished by the light keeper. Lattice tower supports communications antennas for Tofino MTCS. For instance the microwave link between Tofino MTCS and Eliza Dome to the north repeats through Estevan. It may be confusing, but Tofino and Amphitrite MTCS station names are used interchangeably for the same station back then. Statham Collection
	Interior of the old building as viewed from the power house end. Floor shows the positions of the old walls and dividers. Statham Collection
	Tofino station moved down to Amphitrite Lightstation property in 1979. The end of Estevan Wireless is drawing near. From Tofino airport the station moved a few miles south to the Amphitrite Point lightstation grounds in 1979 and became a Marine Traffic Control Station. Finally in the spring of 2015 the station began the process of becoming unmanned, with April being the target date. Radio and radar data is now hauled back to the Prince Rupert MTCS station as part of a consolidation plan. Prince Rupert will thus monitor the "outside waters" and Victoria the "inside waters". The days of a manned coastal radio station on the west coast of Vancouver Island are no more. Only Victoria and Prince Rupert have operators keeping radio watch along the coast via network of mountain top peripheral marine VHF radio sites scattered along the navigable waters.
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