The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-10-28
TESTING MARCONrS SYSTEM
SignaIing-Test So Far II Sue
cessfui. 800 Words Sent without
Error at Rate of IL Per Minute.

NEW YORK. Oct 2s.-The navy depart
neni on Thursday began series OF ex-
periments with. The Ma-coni system OF
wireless rslegraphy. with the object 81 de-
termining its prseticahili,y for general use
for naval purposes on sea ard land The
experiments viii extend over a period OF
several days, and the results In detail will
be set forth In report to be submitted
10 the bureau Of equipment by board Of
naval experts which has been appointed
specially for this work
The particular object OF the. tests was
to determine the prac.icahiity Of using
the system for short signaling while
squaorohs are al sea Marconis system.
II II does ali that IS claimed would be OF
immense advantage In this work The
afternoon experiments consisted Of six
tests
The hrst ties: was the sending Of the con-
tents OK newspaper article Of & bout SO
words. This was sent and received with
ous single error al the rate of eleven
words minute This Is a little over half
the average speed maintained on the ord-
nary instrument. Signor Marconi ex-
planned that this speed could be greatly
increased and in fact the instruments dur
ing the yacht races had transmitted SIX
teen words minute. The second test
was the sending OF a series of numbers
OF varying lengths. which were licked off
with little more rapidly than the pre-
vious message. Tes, No. 3 was the send
ing OF a series Of letters written drawn al
random The fourth test was the sending
81 series Of short messages The fifth
and sixth tests Were the transmitting Of
series OF code messages These were enough
to tax the skill and patience Of the opera
tor, the words having TO the uunitiated
absolutely no meaning There were one
or two errors discovered In these tests.
but sgnor Marconi explained that these.
as we'll as the speed were purely tests 81
the ability ~ me operator
The New York and Massachusetts, on
which the tests we're carried out, will leave
today Tor trip 10 sea 10 further test the
new system. A third vessel will be an
chored of Navesink Highlands and Signor
Marconi will have an instrument and as
sistant at Sandy Hook. 1t Will be deter
mined JUS how far the instruments will
carry between vessels ana the shore. The
inventor claims tha. his instruments as
now constructed VIII operate successfully
thirty miles apart. II ;his proves TO be
the case, their use In war times In einer-
gencies. for instance. like those existing
al Santiago Just before the capture by the
Americans. would be invaluable.
one feature Of the test Will be the firing
Of the guns OF the warships while the mes
sages are being sent TO determine the
gagement.
Rear Admiral FarQuhar will personally
watch the tests. and upon the success OK
the experiment. will depend the adoption
81 the system by the United States navy.
The navy department continues its test
OF the MarcOni system Of wireless tel e
raphy today. The demonstrations are being
made on the flagship New. York and the
ba tleship Massachusetts,. in the North
river off the foot of Thirty-f0urth sire
The ships lay AS yards apart and the dem
onstration was one u speed and accuracy
Code messages. using both the navy and
the international Morse codes. were sent
ard numbers and letters selected az ran
dom. The largest continuous message was
a newspaper article OF 30 words In ali
there were SIX demonstrations and the WORK
continued with intervals OF preparation for
about two hours. Sisnor Marconi said he
paid no attention 10 the speed attained. Us
the navy department was more particular
as TO the accuracy.
None of the members Of the naval board
would give An opinion OF the work done by
Slgnor Marconi
Admiral Farquhar watched the demon
strations for time and seemed greatly
interested.