The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-11

church steeples. nor by the srea. | amount of' metal in the shlps anu | their fittings at the navy yara:
 The message comes out ol the a'' l and finds its way to the instrument n | the little hut at the bottom or the mast. ss unarrinsly in a crowded navy yard at the head of harnor lull oi shippinp as on an open bluff or head land miles from any port
 A condition in wireless telegraphy that causes much trouble is the Inter ruptfon of one station by ahotne, through simultaneous sendlns' anu u Is this clashing which so Tar mas ii- | terfered with the development or the wireless system for commercial Pul poses and which from time 10 tune mas brought out q demand that the make t monopoly of the wireless neahs o' communication
 The instruments used in the govern ment service are of German invention At most of the stations the Slaby- Arco system is used. but at Newport the in- struments are those of the Telefunken system. The Navy Department con. trols the use of both systems for tnls country, and no instrument O! these makes are installed arywhere on the coast for commercial uses
 'The most southerly in New England tsf that at Newport. IL Is at the tor pedo station, and was es'aolsnen about three years ago. The mast IS ioo feet high. consisting like all the gov .ernment masts Of three parts. known as .owermast topmast and topgaiiant- mast; Ali the operators know the navy code. and The American ana con tinental Morse code.
 The operators on duty are divided 'n- to watches, SO that the wireless station is ready at any time of day CT night to receive and interpret any message rom another station or a passing snip.
 The Newport station Is in frequent touch with Montauk Point, thirty-five miles southwestward. The Montauk station can ''rick up" the station st Navesink Highlands and thus cnain of direct communication can be estab- lished that. by way of Nantucket and Cape Cod could be extended to Boston' Portsmouth or Cape Elizabeth.
 The station at Cape Cod is in some respects the most important In the service as it stands al the entrance. of Massachusetts Bay and is the outpost of the Boston naval base. a s well as on a dangerous strip of coast.
 The tip of the mast. on which Is the receiving cage, is 330 feet above the sea. the grassy bluff on which the sta tion stands being 40 feet above sea level and the mast l9o feet high.
 The mast is c6 inches in diameter at the base-as large as the lower mast of the biggest old-time clipper ships and is sunk thirteen feet in q concrete base. The lower mast Is 102 feet high and Is stayed with heavy wire guys leading to anchors thirty feet from the base. The topmast Is 5S feet in length and is similarly guyed, to separate anchors twenty feet farther out The topgallant mast Is 30 feet and Is guyed to the same anchors as the topmast rope ladder affords means of reaching to the top of the mast.
 For the purpose of grounding the current. in case of electrical disturb ances. the station. like all the others. is provided with heavy copper ground plate. This plate Is 1-4 inch thick. 15 feet by g, and is buried eight feet in the ground. Copper wires con- meet 1t with the instruments in the op- erating room.
 Tn actual trial the government svs- tenn has already justified its establish ment. The Newport station especially has afforded the Navy Department fre- quent evidences of its value. During the practice evolutions of the North Atlantic cquadron in 1903 the system wCThtu ptiItttly. "NS maintained with the warships. even though they were often forty miles at sea from Menemsha bight Martha's Vineyard, where they made their base, and the record at target practice witll big guns were sent ashore by wireless.
 By the use of the wireless the admi- ral was in constant touch with New port. and thence with Washington. without moments delay or a dollars expense for dispatch boats.
 When a lieutenant of the Texas fell into the hold. receiving serious injuries. the naval station at Newport was re- quested by wireless to have special aid reay to meet the ship
 The same system of getting the Atlantic coast "sparked" from one end to the other will be adopted soon on the Pacific and 1t may not he long before the most perfect wireless communica- tion may be had between San Francis co and our possessions in Alaska
 Some of the young men who are to- day studying wireless in the shadow of the big bridges across the East River may before long spark" message from the snows of Alaska to the or ange groves of Southern California.