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                                             SIGNAL OFFICE STANDING ORDERS
CHIEF SIGNALMASTER

He is responsible, under the Station Commander, for seeing that the transmitting and receiving stations are operated efficiently. In particular, he will see that copies of the Operational List are prepared daily for use by:

Station Commander.
Signalmaster.
Superindendent
Control Clerk
Transmitter Hut
HQ Signal Office
Register Clerks

He will see that by 09.00 hours daily, the operations board is checked against the operations list.



SIGNALMASTER

Responsibility for the maintenance of discipline in the Signal Office rests with the Duty Signalmaster. He will. on assuming duty:

Make himself aware of the technical situation including the condition of equipment in use, or likely to be in use.

Read the signalmaster's order book, in order to see if any new instruction appears therein.

Inspect the operations board and acquaint himself with the state of operations generally.

"sign on" in the Signalmaster's Diary



The outgoing signalmaster will:

Draw attention of the incoming Signalmaster to any unusual occurrences or matter outstanding requiring action by
    the incoming Signalmaster.

Sign the Signalmaster's diary showing the time of handing over.



The Duty Signalmaster will ensure that messages are accurately and promptly registered and that all logbooks are
kept up to date. He will maintain a "Signalmaster's Diary" in which all incidents are recorded and a "Signalmaster's
Order Book" in which all orders are pasted for reference.

The Duty Signalmaster will see that the Superintendant originates every two hours a service message for
transmission to HQ Signal Office showing the state of the traffic and will see that the Control Clerk is kept fully
informed of any additional contacts. HQ, the registrar and the Superintendant must also be informed of this latter.

In the event of any failure of equipment during his tour of duty, the Signalmaster will report this to the T.M.O.
immediately. In Absence of the T.M.O. the report will be made to the duty I.M. who will at once proceed to carry
out the necessary repairs. Repairs will not be carried out on the spot by the Signal Office personnel.

The Duty Signalmaster will acquaint himself with the location of fire-fighting equipment in the station and will be
responsible for ensuring that his relief is conversant with the F.A.O. and Fire-Fighting Regulations.

He will check the Broadcasting Allocation in sufficient time before broadcasts are due to ensure that all broadcast
messages are correctly allocated.



TECHNICAL MAINTENANCE OFFICER (T.M.O.).

The Technical Maintenance Officer is responsible to the Station Commander for the maintenance of all technical and domestic equipment on the Station.


Signal Office
.

Maintenance of all receiving sets. Electrical recording apparatus, undulator and associated equipment, wide-band
amplifiers, keying and switching systems, maintenance and adjustment of Creed High Speed Heads, Wheatstone Slip
checking apparatus and electrical installation of the Signal Office buildings.

He will see that all faults reported by the Duty Signalmasters and Post Office equipment and major Typex faults
have been reported to the proper authorities. He will be responsible for all technical records and their upkeep, for
seeing that routine tests are carried out on the Inter-Station emergency cable systems and when faults occur,
that they are reported to the Post Office Engineering Department without delay. stating type of fault from the initial
test carried out. He is responsible also for the maintenance of the receiving Rhombic aerials and associated masts,
stays and feeder cables.


Transmitter Station.

He is responsible for the discipline (paras II & III) of all technical personnel, that an efficient relief service is
maintained to cover the 24 hour working period at the Transmitter Station, for the Maintenance of all transmitters,
masts, stays and aerial systems, that all feeding routes are kept in good working order and that routine tests are
carried out; also for the maintenance of emergency plants at both the Transmitter and Receiving sites.


Motor Transport Section.

He wil see that all vehicles are in good running order, that minor faults are cleared on the Station and that major
faults are dealt with as per S.T.S. routine instructions. he will supervise all Transport Petrol Returns, S.T.S. forms
appertaining to the Station and ensure that these are sent in to HQ on the correct dates.




SUPERINTENDENT

The Duty Superintendent is responsible to the Signalmaster for the efficient working of each schedule. To that
end he will, twenty minutes before the schedule, test or supervise the testing of, the appropriate transmitter and
remote control, and satisfy himself that all the equipment is ready to operate the schedule.

He will keep a Superintendent's Diary, in which he will enter all details of operations.

He will deputies for the Duty Signalmaster should the latter be called away from the office.

He will hand over to the relieving Superintendent the completed Superindentents's Diary up to the moment of
handling over, and he will enter in it time of such handing over. He will acquaint the relieving Superintendent of all
the details of schedules actually in progress at the time of taking over, and in particular, will point out to him any
additional schedules which may have been arranged during his tour of duty.

Where two shifts overlap in time, the Sergeant in charge of the first relief on duty will be the Duty Superintendent.

The incoming Superintendent will satisfy himself that all equipment for the operation of which he is responsible is in
correct working order. He will enter the time of taking over in the Superintendent's Diary and at once acquaint
himself with the state of operations.

The Duty Superintendent will indicate on the board provided for the purpose the names of the operators detailed
to work the schedules. he will collect the outstation's folder and any tapes for automatic transmission from the
registry and hand them in to the operator detailed for the schedule.

The Duty Superintendent will total at the bottom of each page of his diary the number of messages sent and
received during his period of duty and will carry the totals to the top of the next page. The Superintendent on
duty at the end of the day will rule off the page at 23.59 hours so that there is a clear dividing line between the
end of one day and the beginning of the next.

He will be responsible for entering the time and date of any QRX made with an outstation on the QRX board and in
the Signalmaster's QRX return.


He will be responsible for seeing that all personnel of his relief report for duty at the specified time.

He will submit to the Signalmaster every two hours a traffic return.




CONTROL CLERK

It is the duty of the Control Clerk to see that the Operations Board in the Signal Office is kept up to date.

The Control Clerk will prepare, under the instructions from the Chief Signalmaster, a daily Operational List, showing
all schedules for the following day. The Operational List will contain the time of all schedules, including QRX's and
Crack Signals and the Home Station's frequencies and the angle of shoot (
antenna direction) for each schedule.

The Control Clerk will be responsible for the safe custody and filing of all Signal Plans and will keep a Main List of
all plans, showing whether active, or non-active.

The Control Clerk will be responsible for the preparation of Plan Cards for all Signal Plans. Upon receipt of a
notification from HQ Signal Office that an outstation has become active, will:

Place the appropriate Plan card in the Outstation's folder in the Signal office.

Enter the Outstation's schedules upon the Operations Board in the Signal Office.

Notify the Chief Signalmaster that the Outstation has become active.

Enter the relevant particulars in the current Operational List.

Enter the relevant particulars of the Outstation concerned upon the outstation's Record Board in the Control Room.

Transfer the Outstation concerned from non-active to active in the Main List


Incidental alterations in the operational programme will be communicated to the Duty Signalmaster and to the
Transmitter Room of the station concerned in writing by the Control Clerk and a written acknowledgement of
receipt will be obtained. This receipt will be acknowledged to the Chief Signalmaster, who will thus have
continuous record in writing of the change of communication.

The operational programme will be scrutinised daily by the Control Clerk in conjunction with the plans and with
any operational or service messages which effect the arrangements. Telephonic alterations communicated by
HQ Signal Office will be accepted, but, at the time of receipt of such telephonic instructions, a request will be
made for their confirmation in writing within 36 hours of the recept of such instructions. Failure to receive such
confirmation in writing will be reported in writing to the Chief Signalmaster and, if necessary, to the Station
Commander.

The Control Clerk will enter upon the Plan Card of each concern Outstation, the remark in red capitals
"
SPECIAL PROCEDURE. SEE CALL SIGN CARD". A copy of the instructions as sent to each Outstation will be
pinned by the Control Clerk on the Signal Plan concerned and the plan will be marked with the letters "SC" in
prominent capitals.

The Control Clerk will be responsible for the storage of all crystals not in use at the transmitter hut. A record
of all crystals on charge to the station will be kept.




CIPHER SUPERVISOR.


The Cipher Supervisor is responsible to the Duty Signalmaster for the efficient running of the Cipher Department.

She will be responsible for seeing that messages are:

Correctly enciphered for despatch to an Outstation.

Correctly deciphered for despatch to HQ Signal Master


After a message has been enciphered it will be the responsibility of the Cipher Supervisor to see it bears:

The name of the Outstation.

The aerial number.

The WT number.

The required degree of priority (if any).


After a message has been deciphered, it will be the respnsibilty of the Cipher Supervisor to see that:

It bears the name of the Outstation.

The serial and WT numbers

Any degree of priority.

In deciphering messages, letters will not be altered. Where a mutilation occurs, the message will be sent from the Cipher Department as received, any suggested interpretation being sent as a separate service message.

Cipher workings will be filed for reference if necessary.

HQ Signal Office will be informed should any message prove to be indecipherable and the Cipher Supervisor will be
responsible for inserting in the log of the Outstation concerned a note asking the Outstation to check and repeat
the message. This will be signed and timed by the Signalmaster.

The Cipher Supervisor on duty from 22.00 hours to 23.59 hours daily will see that the callsign and operational list
to be teleprinted to HQ is submitted to the Duty Signalmaster by 23.59 hours.




REGISTER CLERKS
.

The Register Clerks on duty will be responsible for maintaining the station's register and outstations folders.

They will further be responsible for:

Allotting WT numbers to outgoing messages

Collecting messages from operators engaged in receiving traffic.


Issuing and recovering outstation folders and all tapes (
paper tape, ponsband) for automatic working.

Ensuring prompt circulation of incoming and outgoing messages.

Issuing and maintaining supplies of stationery within the Signal Office.

WT numbers on messages will be selected at random.

The Register Clerk will be responsible for passing out to the Performing Supervisor  all messages to be perforated and
for ensuring that they have been perforated and checked.

The Register Clerk on duty during the dat will be responsible with the Signalmaster, for making out the Broadcast
Allocation form and will ensure that it is checked by the Duty Signalmaster well before broadcast time.



OPERATORS WT.

The operator or operators to work a schedule will work each schedule to the best of their ability, and will strictly
observe procedure as laid down in the Procedure Manual.

A schedule will normally be worked by the operator i/c schedule, but where two or more operators are detailed to
listen on a schedule, the Superintendent may, at his discretion, detail one of the other operators to work the
schedule.

Accurate logs will be kept of all schedules.

An operator will, on assuming possession of a log book, enter the date, time and his or her signature at the
commencement of the schedule. At the conslusion of the schedule the operator will sign the log, giving the time
at which the schedule concluded. the operator may give any useful comments regarding the working of the skeds.
His frequency and call signs should also appear on his log.

The operator will be responsible for ensuring that messages sent blind are sent once only and that they are
endorsed on the front of the message form as having been sent blind.

The operator will draw the attention of the Superintendent to any irregularities observed during a schedule.



OPERATORS KEYBOARD.


Preparation of Broadcast Message Tapes.

The keyboard-perforator operator, upon receiving a message from the Register clerk, will perforate the message
in accordance with the Broadcast Procedure and will mark the tape at its commencement with the word "START"
followed by the outstation's name and the aerial number and WT number of the message. She will then mark the
enciphered message "Perforated by (signature, the time and date)" hand the tapes and the enciphered message to
the Checker, and will record in her register the time of delivery.



Preparation of Call sign Tapes.

The keyboard-perforator operator, on receiving an outstation's call sign card from the Cipher Supervisor will
prepare a tape bearing the outstation's call sign and will make the tape into a loop. The keyboard-perforator
will write on the call sign tape in red ink the name of the outstation, the call sign and date, and will hand the
tape and call sign card to the Checker.

Does this mean that tapes were used to call outstation for every sked, or were these tapes only used during the 'night' skeds?




CHECKERS.

Checking of message tapes.

On receipt of all call tapes the keyboard-perforator, the Checker will insert the tape in the machine and read the
tape against the call sign card. It will be the Checker's responsibility to see that the tape is correctly perforated
with the call sign for the day as shown on the card.

If the tape is incorrect, the Checker will hand the tape and the call sign card back to the keyboard-perforator
operator for re-perforating.

When the tape has been checked and found correct, the Checker will hand the call sign card and the tape to
the Register Clerk.




TELEPRINTERS.

Operational message will take precedence over all service messages on the teleprinters, other than those dealing
with additional contacts or Crack Signals. Service messages dealing with additional contacts or Crack Signals,
unless they are marked 'Confirmatory', will be sent immediately after any operational message in the course of
teleprinting has been completed.

Duplicate copies of all out messages and service messages will be placed in the Signalmaster's tray.

Operators will report immediately to the Signalmaster any failure of equipment, and any damage or defect,
however slight.

The teleprinter operator will be responsible for keeping her own register up to date.

'OUT' messages received on the teleprinter will be handed direct to the Register Clerk immediately, the carbon
copy being placed in the Signalmaster's tray.

All copies of 'IN' messages will be pinned together after transmission on the teleprinter, and placed in the
Signalmaster's tray.




                                                                        10-04-2022