International Radiotelegraph Convention (1912)

Although scheduled prior to the Titanic disaster, the Convention met shortly after the sinking, and was an important factor in the deliberations. Thirty-seven delegations attended. Unlike the previous Convention, there were no objections to the idea of compulsory intercommunication, and the Marconi Company announced that it had ended its policy of, outside of emergencies, only permitting its stations to communicate with other Marconi stations.

Significant additional new regulations were added to the international standards adopted at the 1906 Convention, including:

• Maintaining a continuous radio watch by certain ships.
• Specification of compulsory "listening-in" periods by ships not required to maintain constant watch.
• A requirement that vessels to be fitted with auxiliary apparatus capable of working six hours, independent of the ship's boiler supply.
• A requirement to cease transmissions during regular "listening-in" periods.
• A requirement that operators and apparatus be directly under the authority of the captain
• A requirement that all radio transmissions in the vicinity of a ship in distress be under the control of that ship.
• Assigned a priority to the transmission of weather and time signals to ships upon request, with area ships required to refrain from transmitting during these transmissions.

In addition, the delegates unanimously adopted a resolution that: "The International Radio-Telegraphic Conference having examined the measures to be taken with the view of preventing disasters at sea and of rendering assistance in such cases, expresses the opinion that, in the general interests of navigation, there should be imposed on certain classes of ships the obligation to carry a radio-telegraphic installation. As the Conference has no power to impose this obligation, it expresses the wish that the measures necessary to this end should be instituted by the Governments. The Conference finds it important, moreover, to ensure, as far as possible, uniformity in the arrangements to be adopted in the various countries to impose this obligation, and suggests to the Governments the desirability of an agreement between themselves with a view to the adoption of a uniform base for legislation."[2]

The Service Regulations of the 1906 Convention had specified that stations should be assigned call letters that "shall be distinguishable from one another and each must be formed of a group of three letters",[3] however no provisions were made for allocating call letter blocks among the various nations. Starting with the 1912 Convention, initial letters were allotted to the various signatories, including "A", "D" and "KAA-KCZ" to Germany and protectorates, "B", "G" and "M" to Great Britain plus "VAA-VWZ" to its associated jurisdictions, "F" and "UAA to UMZ" to France and its colonies, and "KDA-KZZ", "N" and "W" to the United States.[4]

A third International Radiotelegraph Convention, initially proposed to take place in 1917 but subsequently delayed until 1927, was held in Washington, D.C., which adopted regulations which became effective on January 1, 1929.[5] The following countries were parties to the 1912 and 1927 conventions:

• "Complete List of Radio Conferences " (ITU.int)
• "London International Radiotelegraphic Convention" (1912)
• "The International Radio Conference of London" by D. W. Todd, Lieutenant Commander, U. S. Navy, Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, December 1912, pages 1328–1352.