Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-24
COMPLETE MESSAGE
Progressin Experiments With
Wireless Telegraphy.
OVERN M EN- rs TEST
TELEGRAM TRANSMITTED FROM
ANNAPOLIS TO WASHINGTON.
Received This Morning at 9 O'Clock
and Answer Returned
System Explained.
"W-h-e-r-e is S-c-h-e-l-l-e-r-?"

"W-h-e-r-e is S-c-h-e-l-l-e-r?
"U-n-d- e-r-s-t -a-n-d."
This simple query and its Iaconic answer
are the seal of success placed this morning
on the experiments in wireless telegraphy
conducted by the Navy Department be-
tween Washington and Annapolis. They
indicate, further two notable achievements
first the successful transmission of wire
less messages thirty-six miles over land
and in spite of intervening land heights
which exceed the height of the transmit
ting masts; second, the successful use. over
that distance of a system which makes in
terruptions and interferences from other
wireless apparatus almost an impossibility.
The first message was received in the sta
ton of the Washington navy yard at about
8 O'Clock some time before the tests were
to be made. 1t asked merely after the
whereabouts Of the chief operator of the
local station. The answer was sent at once
that the operators at the Annapolis station
might know Immediately how clearly their
message had been transmitted and how
complete was the success of the expert
ment.
Very shortly afterward some special at
tention had to be given the mast at the
Annapolis station and the testing was dis-
continued. But the sending and receiving
of several single words yesterday, followed
by the interchange of complete sentences
today, encourage the authorities at the
navy yard to a fuller faith In overland Wire
less telegraphy than have any other ex-
periments in the history of electric science.
Single Words Only.
According to the officers of the American
Commercial Company who called yesterday
at the station of the Washington navy
yard, their operators have at various times
sent and received single words over dis
lance of forty miles. The details Of these
experiments are not given out for publica-
ton. Indeed they are so closely guarded,
and the element of interference from other
Instruments given so little attention in the
announcements by this company, that for
purposes of electrical investigation they
are pra ctically diSregarded. But taken at
their best they indicate only an occasional
success over land. Never before has an ell
tire sentence been sent and received In the
face of such obstacles as intervene between
Washington and Annapolis.
The chief of these obstacles Is a hill
about $40 feet high. The two masts in .use
at the experimenting stations are $50 feet
high each. The electric currents which
operated to transmit this mornings mes
sage are believed. therefore, to have sur
mounted this hill. clear rise of sixty feet,
without such loss of energy as removed
them from the sphere of the receiving in
strument.
This involves an important discovery.
Heretofore the experiments made over in
tervening rises of ground have consisted en-
tirely of tests by relays-from the top of
one hill to the top of another; or from the
bottom of a hill to it's summit. But this
message from Annapolis and the answer in
dictate that such relay stations are not nee
esSary. and with the further development
of the system now in in the Navy De-
partment can be entirely eliminated.
Second Feature Of Experiment.
The second feature of this experiment Is
that this message. sent overland for a dis