‰  NOW 13 WPM  ‰  TEXT IS FROM AUGUST 2012 QST PAGE 68  ‰

ARRIVED IN NEW YORK CITY, WILLIAM ALDEN SMITH, A REPUBLICAN SENATOR FROM
MICHIGAN, CONVENED THE US HEARINGS.  SENATORS AND SPECTATORS HEARD DRAMATIC
TESTIMONY FROM THE SURVIVING PASSENGERS AND CREW.  ON MAY 28, SMITHS
SUBCOMMITTEE ISSUED A REPORT THAT LED TO THE RADIO ACT OF 1912.  LESS THAN
EIGHT MONTHS AFTER THE HEARINGS, PRESIDENT TAFT SIGNED THE ACT INTO LAW.
THE BERLIN CONVENTION OF 1906 SET INTO PLACE INTERNATIONAL RADIO
REGULATIONS, INCLUDING THE USE OF SOS AS AN INTERNATIONAL DISTRESS CALL,
ƒ  QST DE W1AW  ‰
AND REQUIRED ALL LAND AND SHIP RADIO STATIONS TO BE STAFFED 24 HOURS A DAY,
SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.  IRONICALLY, IT WASNT UNTIL APRIL 3, 1912 THAT THE US
RATIFIED THESE REGULATIONS JUST BEFORE THE TITANIC DISASTER AND JUST IN
TIME TO INCORPORATE THEM INTO WHAT WOULD BECOME THE RADIO ACT OF 1912.  BUT
THE US VERSION HAD ONE MAJOR DIFFERENCE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL VERSION
REGULATION 15, WHICH SPECIFIED THAT PRIVATE AMATEUR STATIONS COULD NOT USE
‰  END OF 13 WPM TEXT  ‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ