The Military Communications and Electronics Museum (Musée de l'électronique et des communications militaires) is a military signals museum on

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CFB Kingston Canadian Forces Base Kingston (also CFB Kingston) is a Canadian Forces Base operated by the Canadian Army located in Kingston, Ontario. History The Barriefield Military Camp, commonly called Camp Barriefield, was established as a military ba ...

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

, Canada. A member organisation of the

Organization of Military Museums of Canada The Organization of Military Museums of Canada is a national organization for the promotion of military museums in Canada. The OMMC was established in 1967 by a group of military museums, historians, and military history enthusiasts. It has over 40 ...

, the communications museum was established at the base in 1961 and moved to its current purpose-built building in 1996. Described by

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...

as "a comprehensive and well-designed museum offering chronological displays on communications technology and sundry military gadgets", the museum traces the development of military communications from 1903 onward, through

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and II, the

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and various

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

peacekeeping missions to the modern era of

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

Exhibits

Canadian

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s are represented by

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s in military uniform of the appropriate eras manning fixed communications posts, heavily sandbagged underground dugouts and military vehicles while operating military communications equipment. The history of Canadian electronic military signals dates from 1903, when the militia-based Canadian Signal Corps was established as the first of its kind in the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

. Exhibits are arranged chronologically from the

era to the recent

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mission in

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. Artefacts of the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

include a cable wagon restored by local signallers, a switchboard from the first deployments of

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

communications in directing artillery,

Morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

equipment and

gas mask A gas mask is a mask used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Most gas mask ...

s which signallers would have had to keep at the ready in the event of

chemical attack Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear warfare, biological warfare and radiological warfare, which together make up CBRN, the military acronym ...

. The use of

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signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...

and

counterintelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...

is also documented, particularly in the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

era where a break in the Enigma machine cipher by Allied forces would prove to be of decisive strategic value., see als
same title and author here
Two of the radar antennas from

CFS Ramore Canadian Forces Station Ramore (ADC ID: C-10) is a closed General Surveillance Radar station. It is located east of Ramore, Ontario. It was closed in 1974. It was operated as part of the Pinetree Line network controlled by NORAD. It has s ...

were donated to the Military Communications and Electronics Museum in Kingston upon Ramore’s closure.

Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio System

The museum also displays a complete, working radioamateur station as a gateway in the Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio System (CFARS); the station's

callsign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

s are CIW64 (CFARS), CIW964 (CFARS gateway) and VE3RCS (radioamateur service). The Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio System was established in 1978. The programme enlists amateur radio volunteer operators and equipment but uses neither standard radioamateur frequencies nor callsigns as CFARS is allocated its own specific official frequencies and identifiers

Canada mourning her fallen sons

A war memorial "Canada mourning her fallen sons" is part of the museum and incorporates three plaster models created by sculptor

Walter Allward Walter Seymour Allward, (18 November 1874 – 24 April 1955) was a Canadian monumental sculptor best known for the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. Featuring expressive classical figures within modern compositions, Allward's monuments evoke them ...

during the design of the

Vimy Memorial The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a war memorial site in France dedicated to the memory of Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War. It also serves as the place of commemoration for Canadian soldiers of the First ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Semaphore to Satellite

A book "Semaphore to Satellite" covering the history of the Canadian Forces Communications and Electronics Branch and its founding elements (Canadian Signalling Corps, Canada Naval Supplementary Radio System and Royal Canadian Air Force Telecommunication Branch) was published in 2013.

References

{{Authority control Military and war museums in Canada Museums in Kingston, Ontario Telecommunications museums

Exhibits

Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio System

Canada mourning her fallen sons

Semaphore to Satellite

See also

References