MARCONI IN RETROSPECT

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 28, 24 January 1930, Unnumbered Page

MARCONI IN RETROSPECT

The Inventor of Wireless a8 We know

it, Reviews the Growth Since his First Trans-Atlantic

Transmis sion

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UGLIELMO "MARCONI, the in- l _ventor. of wireless, spoke before | a microphone in London recently _and all America was within sound of his-voice. His words crossed the Atlantic on short waves. to be picked

up -for rebroadcasting by a _ coast-to-coast network of: fifty-nine stations. Marconi came on ‘the air after a brief introduction by an ‘English announcer whose accent gave sufficient elue that America was in tune with London.

‘The broadcast marked the twenty-eighth anniversary of the first trans-Atlantic signal, the letter "‘S’" flashed across the sea from Poldhu, on the south-west tip of England, to Marconi and his assistants listening-in at the receiving station set up for the occasion in Newfoundland. ’ ."T -wonder," said a listener after he had heard Marconi talk, "sf twentv-nine vears avo Marconi dreamed that some : dav his

QUELANTHELUSREGUOEAEDATAGNGTUNUEE zy = — = = | = = = = = = = = = = = . = x 3 voice would cross the sea to be picked up by millions as clear as if he were present.in the | room with the loudspeaker." . Marconi assured his, listeners that he not . only dreamed that the human voice would span ‘long distances’ but that he is still dreaming of more triumphs for wireless, including the transmission of power through-the ether. He called radio to-day child’s play compared with ' wireless in 1901, when, with crude, cumbersome and insensitive instruments he picked up the first trans-oceanic wireless signal. intercepted by an antenna held aloft by a kite. He used: a coherer for a detector. The crystal © detector and valve were later achievements. . "FROM the time of my earliest experiments I © had always held the belief, almost amounting to an intuition, that radio signals would some day be regularly sent across the greatest distances on earth, and I felt convinced that trans-Atlantic radio telegraphy would be

feasible," said’Marconi. "Very naturally I realised that my first endeavour must be directed to prove that an electric wave could be sent right "across the Atlantic and detected at the other side. What was at that

. time a most powerful wireless station was bpullt" at Poldhu, in England, for this purpose and an antenna system was constructed, supported by a ring of twenty wooden masts, each about 200 feet high. In the design and. construction of this English station I was assisted by Sir Ambrose Flem-

ing, R. N. Vyvyan and W. S. Entwisle. "Another similar station was erected at Cape Cod in Mas--sachusetts. By the end of August, 1901, the erection of the masts was nearly completed when a terrific gale swept the English coasts, with the result that the masts were blown down and the whole construction wrecked. I was naturally extremely disappointed at this unforeseen accident and for some days had

visions of my test having to be postponed’ for ~ several months or longer, but eventually decided that it might be possible to make a preliminary trial with a simpler aerial attached to a stay stretched between two masts 170 feet high and consisting of sixty almost vertical wires. "By the time this aerial was erected another unfortunate accident, also caused by a gale, occurred in America, destroying the antenna system of the Cape Cod station. "T then decided, notwithstanding this further setback, to carry out experiments in New- . foundland with a seasoned aerial supported by a balloon or kite, as it was clearly -impossible at that time of’ the year, owing to the wintry conditions and to the shortness of the time at our disposal, to erect high masts to support the receiving aerial. On November 26, 1901, I sailed from Liverpool, accompanied by two technical assistants, G. S. Kemp and P. W. Paget. -Continued on page 2. HWE EE eo

Marconi in Retrosfct Ul mae nibenea from front page.) ° Experiments in Néwfoundland. BH Ignded at St. John’s, N. P, . ‘on Friday, December 6. On the morning of Thursday, December 12, the . critical moment for which I had been working So long at last arrived, and in spite of the raging gale we managed to fly a kite carrying an antenna wire some 400 feet. long. | "T was at last on the point’ of putting the..correctness of. my belief ‘to the test. .Up to then I had ‘nearly. always. used a receiving arrangement including .a. coherer, which jp nm @ automatieally signals throu relay and-.a.-Mérse instrumenM. #1 decided in this instance to use also a tele- . phone connected to a_ self-restoring coherer, the human ear being far more sensitive: than the recorder. "Suddénly, at about half. past twelve: a succession of three faint clicks on*the telephone, corresponding to the: three dots of the letter §, sounded: several" times in my .ear beyond the: possibility of-a doubt. "Tt asked my assistant, Mr. Kemp, for corroboration ‘if he had heard anything. He had, in fact, heard the same signals.: _. "I then knew that I had been justified in niy' anticipations and that the very enormous distance for radio of 1700 miles had been bridged. The electri¢ waves which were being sent out into’ space from Poldhu had_ _traversed the Atlantic unimpeded> v the curvature of the earth, which ‘so mary considered to be a fatal obstacle and they were now audible in my receiver in Newfoundland !" Repeats Famous Signal. as At this point "Mareoni touched a wireless key that repeated the three dots that. comprise the "S" so that listeners in HDurope and America could hear the. signal that he picked up twenty-nine years. ago. He said that the. Institute of BDlectrical Engineers was. the only technical and scientific body that "first believed in me and my, statement of having received signals across the Atlantic." "The spanning of great distances is now child’s play compared . with what it was then,’ said Marconi. "The 1-beam projector dnd other com--mercial radio. telegraph and telephone stations are, exchanging daily of thousands of words between d?iant parts of the earth.. Wireless telephony over world-svide. distances is a realtiy, together with transmission of pictures, and the day is perhaps approaching when television Will also be a com--monplace.... Ft may even be that the ‘transmission of power over moderate distances may be developed in the not far distant future. I must leave to your imagination the uses which can be made of these new powers. They will probably :be as wonderful as anything which we have experienced today. *° r™