Shooting Beam From U.S.

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 500, 1 November 1928, Page 9

Shooting Beam From U.S.

RADIO AMATEURS’ EXPERIMENT Test with Australia This Evening (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reccl. 9.5 a.m. HARTFORD (Connecticut). Wednesday. RADIO amateurs in Australia and the United States will sit in on an interesting'experience at two o’clock in the morning of November 1, Eastern Standard Time (six o'clock this evening New Zealand time), when tests,of transmission between the two continents will be made on a ten-metre wave-length.

The meetings which are sponsored by the American Radio Relay League will last one week. The principle difficulty on the 10-metre wave-length is in the- angle of the beam, and Mr. E. C. Crossett, of Chicago, has erected a new transmitter at his summer home at Wianno, Massachusetts, from where the tests will be made. Instead of the angle of the beam being varied horizontally the beam is variable on a vertical plane. Its direction is on a great circle to Australia, and it is fixed vertically so as to shoot the beam off on a long tangent practically parallel to the surface of the earth, or to any angle up to the vertical angle. The beam will be varied constantly in an attempt to find the angle at which communications may be established with Australia on a regular basis. It is doubtful if the tests will be of much interest to New Zealand as very few amateurs are able to operate on so low a wave-length as 10 metres. So far as Auckland is concertned, Mr. 11, B. Arthur, of Superadio, Ltd., is the only amateur who has yet been successful on 10 metres. SPEAKERS THRILLED SCHENECTADY REVIEWS CONVERSATIONS VALUE TO AUSTRALIA (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 9.5 a.m. SCHENECTADY, Wed. In view of the fact that station 2ME (Sydney) heard us excellently as, it seems, is confirmed by statements of Australian speakers, it may be interesting to point out some of the important aspects of these experimental conversations.

It is necessary that speakers should take up subjects that have immediate connotations to listeners. Australians in this respect were excellent. Their queries about the American Presidential elections received an immediate response here. Room echo in Sydney on the microphone made audition here difficult at times. It is further believed that improvements in the Sydney microphone will result in better reception here. For the purposes of a check-up, the following are the names of speakers here: Mr. Hitt, the wireless operator; Mr. Rowland, of the General Electric Company; Mr. Dow, of the Australian Office; Mr. South, of the Associated Press; Mr. Geber, of the United Press Association; Mr. Stokes, of the New York “Times”; Mr. Rochester, manager of the Vancouver “Star”; Mr. Keene, of the New Hampshire “Sentinel”; Mr. Hawkins, of the New York “Tribune”; and Mr. Rothman, of the Australian Press Association. “COOEE” FROM U.S.A. It was a frosty dawn, and most of the speakers had travelled hundreds of miles, leaving their duties in some instances, reluctantly, but when they started speaking they literally trembled with excitement, and in their

anxiety to be heard, they literally shouted into the microphone. They were thrilled beyond words, and at the breakfast table afterwards it was the sole subject. , The publicity value to Australia was great. Immediately afterward trunkline telephone calls came from American listeners in various parts of the country stating that they had heard the conversations, which were rebroadcast by station WGY, Schenectady. Mr. Dow inquires whether the “cooee” which he uttered was heard.

SYDNEY AND JAVA NEWS ITEMS EXCHANGED (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 11.45 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. Successful wireless telephony tests were carried out last night, Sydney

people conversing with Java and Schenectady. The reception was clear, and the speakers exchanged items of news almost as if they were talking from one New South Wales town to another.

MR. O’MEARA’S TESTS EXPERIMENTS WITH CALIFORNIA REGULAR TALKS TO ADELAIDE V c Press Association GISBORNE, To-day. The experimental radio telegraphy test on a 10-metre wave-length referred to in the cable this morning follows the experiments conducted successfully during the past fortnight by Mr. Ivan O'Meara. Hitherto this low wave has been regarded as of no commercial value, although communication has been established previously between France and America and across the American Continent. Dissatisfied with previous opinions, Mr. O’Meara embarked on further tests, with the result that at 7.20 a.m., New Zealand time, his 10metre signals sent in code were picked up and decoded by amateur station 6UR, California. A further step was reached on Tuesday when, between 1 and 1.30 p.m., both Mr. O’Meara and Mr. Robert Patty picked up signals from Station 6XV, of the Federal Telegraph Company, Paulo Alto, California, at good strengths Two-way communication on 10 metres has thus been established, although not simultaneously. Mr. O’Meara, however, has created a record for this quarter of the globe by maintaining regular two-way communication with an Adelaide amateur. Mr. O’Meara is continuing his experiments, directing his attention mainly to the different times, which, he believes, have a more important bearing on the question than the angle of the beam referred to in the cable. He is confident that it will be only a very short time before a regular 10-#netre communication, which will be an epoch in radio telegraphy, will be established.