WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1358, 8 February 1912, Page 4

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.

MATERIAL FOR MASTS, Apart from first cost and the relative merits of steel aud wood for the construction of wireless masts, tho choice of material will always be governed by par' tioular conditions. For the wireless mast* to be erected in the Commonwealth the I'odcral Government's advbers hare recommended wood. Uniformity is an ■important consideration. Tho tncklo for erecting a steel mast would not bo suitable for a wooden ono. Many of the masts will have to bo erected in rathor remote localities, and in the ciTcumstaiicoa wood presents advantages over steel The average cost of erecting a wooden mast m Australia will work out, according to the "Argus/' at from 325. to 35s per foot erected. This does not include the cost of tackle, which may be put down at JC2SO. But as one lot of tackle can be used to erect twenty masts Hi* item is not important. The Shaw mast at Kaiidwick, which i« ISott. high, cost ,£llBO. Mr. Balsillie, the Government wireless expert, estimates the cost of the :190ft. tower at the Pennant Hills at JHOOO to J52500. The wooden mastN will be cheaper to maintain, Mr. Bnlsillie says, and ns each plank of Hie Oregon pine, of which they are built up, is "powellised" (a process by which the sap is replaced by saccharine matter) and then creosoted, "whilst the exterior is painted, he considers that they will have a very long life.