BRIDGING THE ATLANTIC

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 28, 3 February 1937, Page 16 (Supplement)

BRIDGING THE ATLANTIC

Ten years ago last month the first Empire beam wireless service was established between England and Canada Even in that short time a world-wide system of beam wireless has grown, and promises still greater miracles in the future. An official of Cable and Wireless, Ltd., who now operate the beam service, spoke to a representative of "The Observer", of the early days of one oi 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 have reached its limits because the ether was so crowded the Marchese Marconi made iiis second revolutionary discovery—the short-wave bean system. The Canadian service of 1926 was soon followed by services between South Africa, Australia, and India. The control of Imperial overseas telegraphy was vested in Cable and Wireless Ltd., who have transmitted over 1J million words in a week on the beam circuits alone. The operator in Louden is in complete control of the transmitter and, us

Beam Wireless Anniversary

an instance of speed, a message ban been dispatched to New York, and the reply received in London within twenty- • our seconds for the two. The official requirement ot the Canadian stations was that they should be capable of communications at a speed of 560 letters a minute each way during a daily average of eighteen hours; actually, during tests, 1,250 letters a ininutfe were transmitted for hours on end. Looking ahead, the development of lacsimile transmission has been so rapid that it may not be long before telegrams will be projected through space * and reproduced at the other end in tee sender’s own handwriting. Already, apart from the many photographs of momentous events, fashion plates, cheques, and architects’ plans ure being wirelessed across the world. In one case a chart, with essential information, was transmitted to a eabieship iu Melbourne, which was thus enabled to proceed to the repair of a damaged cable in South Africa. For apart from tlio beam service, the company operates more than half of existing submarine cables, which, as with wireless, made a beginning across the Atlantic.