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| Established | 1961 (1961) |
|---|---|
| Location | Hwy 2 at Craftsman Blvd,Kingston, Ontario |
| Coordinates | 44°14′32″N76°26′24″W / 44.2423°N 76.4399°W /44.2423; -76.4399 |
| Type | military museum |
| Collection size | 5000 items, 10000 square feet |
| Director | Karen Young |
| Curator | Annette Elizabeth Gillis VA3VAI |
| Owner | CFB Kingston |
| Public transit access | 12A, E12 |
| Nearest car park | on-site |
| Website | www |
TheMilitary Communications and Electronics Museum (Musée de l'électronique et des communications militaires) is a military signals museum onOntario Highway 2 atCFB Kingston inKingston, Ontario, Canada. A member organisation of theOrganization of Military Museums of Canada, the communications museum was established at the base in 1961 and moved to its current purpose-built building in 1996.[1]
Described byLonely Planet as "a comprehensive and well-designed museum offering chronological displays on communications technology and sundry military gadgets",[2] the museum traces the development of military communications from 1903 onward,[3] throughWorld War I andII, theKorean War and variousNATO andUnited Nations peacekeeping missions to the modern era ofcommunications satellites.[4]
Canadiansoldiers are represented bymannequins 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 theCommonwealth.[5] Exhibits are arranged chronologically from theWorld War I era to the recentInternational Security Assistance Force mission inAfghanistan.
Artefacts of theGreat War include a cable wagon restored by local signallers, aswitchboard from the first deployments oftelephone communications in directing artillery,Morse code equipment andgas masks which signallers would have had to keep at the ready in the event ofchemical attack.[6]
The use ofencryption,signals intelligence andcounterintelligence is also documented, particularly in theWorld War II era where a break in theEnigma machine cipher by Allied forces would prove to be of decisive strategic value.[7]
Two of the radar antennas fromCFS Ramore were donated to the Military Communications and Electronics Museum in Kingston upon Ramore’s closure.
The museum also displays a complete, workingradioamateur station as a gateway in theCanadian Forces Affiliate Radio System (CFARS);[8][9] the station'scallsigns 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
A war memorial "Canada mourning her fallen sons" is part of the museum and incorporates three plaster models created by sculptorWalter Allward during the design of theVimy Memorial inFrance.[10]
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.[11]
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