Collins Microwave Ad Commemorating PEI Ice Storm

[DavePEI]

Hi Folks:

One of the biggest events on PEI regarding the phone system was the 1956 Ice Storm which wiped out 60% of the overhead infrastructure in a few hours. Only the area east of Tea Hill was spared by the storm.

Communications to the Western part of the province was devastated, and links to the mainland were pretty well gone.

Only Amateur Radio HF Communications, and our Tea Hill Microwave link remained operational.. This had been installed in 1959 between Tea Hill (just east of Charlottetown) and Fraser's Mountain in N.S. and was touted to be the first continuous commercial use of microwave.

A second microwave link between Egmont Bay and Lutx Mountain in N.B. failed, not due to a failure at the site, but because all the feeder lines were downed.

Last week, a Collins Radio Ad came up on eBay commemorating the storm, and I purchased it for the museum. Here is the photo.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/231281686624?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649


More History on: http://www.islandregister.com/phones/phones.html

and: http://www.islandregister.com/phones/icestorm.html

Dave