BRIDGING THE ATLANTIC

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 13, 30 January 1937, Page 11

BRIDGING THE ATLANTIC

Beam Wireless Anniversaw

Ten years ago last month the first Empire beam wireless servlce"was established between England and * Canada Even in that short time a world-wids systenx of beam wireless has grown, and promises still greater piiraeles in ne future. An official of Cable and Wireless, Ltd., who no.w. operate fhe beam service, spoke to a representative of "The Ubserver", (of the early days of one of the. most fascinating of modern inventions, and the experiments of the young Marconi, and of how, in 1901, the letter S was first flashed across the Atlantic, unmistakably distinct. Then in 1923 when long-wave wireless seemed to havo reached its limits because the ether was so crowded the Marchese Marcoui made his second" revolutionary discovery— the short-wave bean system. The Ganadian service of 1926 was soon followed by services between South Africa, Australia, and India. The control of Imperial overseas telegraphy was vested in , Cable aud Wireless Ltd., who have transmitted over 1$ million words jn a week on the beam circuits alone. The operatoy in London is in complete control of the transmitter and, as

an instanc© of speed, & message has been dispatched to New York, and tho reply xeeeived in Ijondon within twentyfour seconds.for the two* The official requirement of the Canadian stations was that they should be capable of coxnmunications at a speed of 500 let?* ters a minute each way during a daily average of eighteen hoursj actually, during tests, 1,250 letters a - minute were transmitted for hours on end, Looking ahead, the development 6f facsimile transmission has been so i-apid that it may not be long before telegrams will be projected through space and reproduced at the other end in the sender's own handwriting. Already, aparij from the many photographs of momentous events, fashion plates, cheques, and architects' plans are being wirelessed across thp world. In one case a chart, with essential information, was transmitted to a cableship in Melbonrne, which was tbus enabled to proceed to the repair of a damaged cable in South Africa. For apart from the beam service, the "company operates more than half of existing submarine pables, which, as with. wireless, made a beginning across the Atlantic.