Across 10,000 Miles of Space

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 496, 27 October 1928, Page 9

Across 10,000 Miles of Space

SCHENECTADY TALKS TO SYDNEY Laymen Experience Eerie Feeling (United P.A. —By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 9.5 a.m. NEW YORK. Friday. FOR over half an hour this morning Schenectady (station W2XAF) talked to Sydney, and the conversation was rebroadcast at Schenectady.

The efforts to make it a three-way conversation with Java were not so successful, although the General Electric Radio engineers have been talking with Java frequently during recent weeks. Once laymen, who had been invited to take part in the demonstration, got over the eerie feeling of carrying on a perfectly normal conversation across 10,000 miles of space, they began exchanging pleasantries with the Sydney engineer, McDonald. It was 6.34 a.m. when a clear connection was established, which is 9.34 p.m. in Sydney; a cold, clear autumn morning in Schenectady, and a mild spring evening in Australia.

Mr. McDonald said: “I hope next week to have the American ConsulGeneral in Sydney at the microphone here, to join in a demonstration like this.” A conversation between America and Australia was heard very clearly by Auckland listeners, and full details of it appeared in The Sun on Thursday. It is not surprising to learn that success did not meet the efforts to carry on three-way communications with Java, as 2ME, the Sydney station, reported that, it could not pick up Java clearly. W2XAF, better known to most listeners as 2XAF, is the new call-sign of the station, which is operated by the General Electric Company, and 2ME, Sydney, the Australian station conducting the test, is owned by the Amalgamated Wireless Company. The tests have been carried out during the past week, and last night the two stations were again conversing, but conditions were not so favourable for reception as they were on Wednesday night, static interfering considerably.