The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-26
RULED BY WIRELESS
GREAT STRIDES IN THE NEW FIELD
 ARE DESCRIBED.
Feat of Pfesiaeut's ship--Messages He&rd 1yo5e Miles DurinG Crnis
 CTS Voyage from the Guh of Mexico.
W. E. Curtis an The Chicago Record
 


 of Mexice.
 W. E. Curtis dn The Chicago Recoro-
 Herald.
 Doubtless everybody has read the re- markable stories that have been pup lished concerning the conversations that were kept up between the cruisers of Admiral Brownson's fleet and the wireless telegraph stations on shore during the Presidents trip from New Orleans to Washington. 1t was alto- gether the most successful and satls- factory test of this mysterious method of communication that has ever been made, and demonstratedsits its value to the naval service and to the merchant ma rine. Only few days after, when Ad- miral Evans was On his way to New York with the North Atlantic squadron, the officials at the Navy Department re- membered something they wanted to ask him. They called him up by the wireless apparatus at the Washington Navy Yard when he was 200 miles away and sailing northward off the coast of a conversation lasting more than huff an hour was carried on, In which every message was received and every word was understood on both sides.
 Nor was there any difficulty in fnd- ing him. The operator at the navy yard touched his key and called for the bat tleship Maine, just as one might shout from a window at crowd of men in the street, or a bird might cry to It's mate. | do not know how it was done; 1t is diff1cult for a layman to under stand the mysteries of electricity. The operator was in e coop at the navy yard Admiral Evans was on the high seas: but the operator on the deck heard the call the moment it was ut tered and sent down to the Admirafs cabin to tell Fighting Bob" that the Navy Department wanted to talk to him at the telephone. For 1t was mere- ly a telephonic message. carried by in- visible wings across the sand hills of Maryland, Chesapeake Bay. the eastern shore and sixty or seventy miles of salty ocean. If Calico had done that in the fifteenth century what might his fate have lbeeni
 But the tests during the Presidents voyage were even more remarkable. The wireless instrument on the flagship West Virginia was in continuous com munication with the other vessels of the fleet and with the shore stations all the way from New Orleans to Norfolk, and one night. with the flagship 225 miles west of Key West. the conversation be- tween its operator and the other ves- Sclb OI tne uGcL WH1 Te6u dI tuG navy yard in Washington just as plainly as If 1t were going on In the next room. There could be no mistake, for the mes sages have since been compared and verified. That conversation was heard at a distance of 1,050 statute miles, through the air, over land as well as sea, and 1t was only few seconds passing the Piedmont country and through all of the South Atlantic States. Tha YAFfs noU Uxs val Han0ht message and the DeForest station on Manhattan Beach caught another.
 These remarkable tests are all made at night. Wireless teiegraphy does not work as we'll in the day time as it does after dark. and ordinarily long. distance messages can be read at night only. Experience shows that the range at night Ia three times as long as that during the day. because of reasons not yet definitely determined. The expla- nation generally accepted is that the rays of the sun ionize the atmosphere. That is 0 new word-"ionize'--- and has been built to describe certain me- neurological conditions under which the atoms of atmosphere are more widely separated than usual. or are less in sympathy, which causes q species of induction--that is (to make it plainer). the atmosphere lis hot so good conductor Of electric currents while the sun Is shining through 1t as 1t Is after dark. It loses certain qualities required for long-range messages and absorbs the electric fluid. The experts admit that this Is a very unsatisfactory explanation, but it is the best one they have at present. However, facts are facts. and wireless telegraphy does not carry its messages so far or so dis tinctly during the day as it does at night.
 The longest distance over which a wireless message was ever heard by the operators of the Navy Department was on the night of October s1. when Manhattan Beach station on Long .ts- land heard the operator at San Juan, Porto Rico, 1.600 miles away. The op- orator at Colon, on the Isthmus of Pan- anna. a few days ago read messages passing between the operator at Key West and the steamer Conoho of the Mallory Line. running between Gall weston and New York. he was 1,z00 miles away. The Concho has only q small equipment, but 1t acts perfectly. The operator at Colon heard the oper- ator on the Concho trying to wake faint. and the Key West operator re-
 "Fix your spark, man; fix your spark"
 The concho was silent for a mos ment or two, after which the conver- sation resumed and Colon heard 1t distinctly.
 The operators at Newport and St. Augustine frequently talk at night, but have never been able to do so In the day time. Some nights are better than others. Cool, clear, calm weather Is the best for long-range messages, if not attended by local electrical dis turbanceS
 The Navy Department is carrying on every night a continuous test between New York, Washington, St. Augustine, Key West, Guantanamo. San Juan Porto Rico, Colon aHd other points; and operators along Fthe coast are lis- teninE attentively all the while to catch what they can.
 As soon as the government naval system Is complete there will be reg ,,1ar ntar-communication for expert- roentaI purposes from Panama to Port lend Me by way of Galveston and Nayr Orleans, and also by way of Guan- tsraoo and San Juan and Key West. There will be a chain of wireless sta- t,ons along both coasts and through aTt inc West Indies on the Atlantic l. sida. while on the Pacific side they will | stretch from San Diego to Belltngham l Tay and to Honolulu, Guam and Manila. Bower houses are now being erected at ali of the places named, and 1t IS honad that within a few months 1t s,IiI be possible for the President to ,aII< with the governor general Of the 1 pbiItppines by wireless telegraphy any
 night that he has anything to say. It