EXPLORERS AND RADIO

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 238, 28 December 1927, Page 14

EXPLORERS AND RADIO

ESSENTIAL APPARATUS TROPICS AND ARCTIC WASTE Radio equipment has become essential to the modern geographical expedition. Exploration to-day demands radio communication with the outside world. Not only must the explorer himself receive time signals, weather reports, news and amusement from the air, but a world public must be kept in daily touch with the party’s every movement. The annals of the National Geographic Society reveal a graphic account of this development of radio. When Peary discovered the North Pole it was five months before the news penetrated to the civilised world, yet this was no longer ago than 1909. In contrast, every schoolboy remembers the eager interest with which the world followed the polar flight of Commander Byrd by means of the radio. BYRD FULLY EQUIPPED Radio equipment was installed on the ship which carried Byrd into the Arctic for his successful dash to the Pole. On his transatlantic flight Byrd was equipped both to send and receive wireless messages. Radio as a factor in Arctic exploration was emphasised by the MacMillan expedition in 1925. The deadly monotony of life in the frozen North was accounted a greater hardship than snow and ice. To alleviate this condition as well as to send out news, MacMillan gave valuable space to radio apparatus, both sending and receiving. A unique feature of this expedition was the assistance of amateur code stations in all parts of the country. Through them messages of news were relayed to the American Press. Messages sent out by the MacMillan expedition were received as far away as New Zealand. RADIO IN THE JUNGLE In contrast to the frozen Arctic wastes are the tropical jungles of Brazil. Members of the HamiltonRice expedition attest the value of radio. Regular communication,, was maintained with New York concerning the expedition’s work in the field and messages were exchanged with San Francisco, London, Chicago and New Zealand. Amazon Valley Indians, a primitive people, were impressed with jazz a la Pittsburg when invited to “listen in” while on a visit to the expedition’s camp.