The San Francisco call., 1908-03-29

Golden Gate avenue. every i=ss- ut
Is as neatly made as IL it had come
f-oIa a factory ana the entire outfit
ss compact and pretty as any installa-
tiOn that l have seen. Young Wiley ia
A capable operator as the result OF
home practice. enjoys the distinction
of often having his signals answered
By the ships and other stations and is
well spoken OF by both commercial
and government wireless operators for
his good sense and Judgment in never
breaking in" when the latter ars
r.,ss.
in Alameda Albert Wolr Jr.. q IS
year old scEoolboy. has an ex1sllent
wireless station at his home al 214S1s
cir ton avenue. and young Henry
.ieinl at f42s Park avenus. Both
equipments are examples or what the
perse eraDce. ingenuity and Inventive
genius OF the alert american boy can
accomplish. Young Wolff has been
.perime nting and woriSing on his out
* for two years and now has an in
s;s.lation that will transmit for a dis
ssnce OF 90 miles and pick up prac-
really everything within a radius Of
a00 miles For an aerial wire he has
wire clothes line suspended from a
so foot mast HIS apparatus is an
adaptation OF the "S'hoeniakev system
Young Helm has even a more pow
erful spark coil ana is capable Of COW
ering a greater distance in transmit
ting than Woir's station, whise its
receiving capacity Is about the same.
extending to Point Iona ON the south
and about the same distance north
These two boys were severely
scored in one OF the naval service pa
pers some time ago for picking up pvi-
vate and government messages ana
making them public, as based upon an
interview and publication in local
paper. Both boys, however. emphatic
eally deny that they ever made any
messages public and declare that the
alleged messages contained in the ar
tlcle were made up by the reporter
ana net S4vsa 10 him By thsm
Perhaps the most ambitious youth on
the other side OF the bag II Frank
Risber. bright young Berkeley high
school student with an exceptionally
nne location at . high elevation At his
homo ON Canyon road, In the hills. above
Berkeley, young Rieber has a 80 foot
aerial and an excellent apparatus made
by himself. on which he claims on one
occasion to have heard sitka. Alaska
His long distance receiving zone is per-
haps as good as that OF some Of the
commercial or government stations
around the bay. He claims that at night
his aerial and sensitive detectors pick
up the messages from the warships at
target practice at Magdalena bay and
among other stations hears Point Iona.
Point Arguello, Faraliones, Mare ISL
and, Table bluff, North head. Bremerton
navy yard and Victoria Not content
with the long distance receiving capa-
bilities OF his instruments. he has just
completed after several weeks work q
six kf1o watt home made transformer
for long distance transmission. When
Il Is remembered that some of the COM
nercial stations are equipped with but
I'VE kilo watt power and the majority
Of the warshfps and commercial steam
srs with only . three kilo watt install
lation IL viii be readily seen that this
Berkeley youth has . powerful station.
He estimates that his spark viii reach
all the stations within q zons OF 500
miles.
Besides those mentioned there are
and operated by boys. large and small.
on both sides OF the bay.
During the daytime when the dis
tance that can be covered by wireless
telegraphy 10 much less than at night.
much OF the long distance work Is sated
until night. From sundown until mid
night the ether is full OF iitting aero
grams Mare island navy yard, the cen-
tral and. most powerful station on the
coast. commences early in the evening
with Bremerton navy yard. Tatoosh ISL
and. North head, Table bluff and con-
tinues on down the coast. clearing each
station in turn until IL reaches Point
Iona, and under favorable atmospheric
conditions works direct with the ves-
sells at Magdalena bay. When working
with stations closer the Mare island
operator uses a smaller spark" and
decreases his power, so as not to inter-
fere with other stations working In his
zone.
1t il In the early hours OF the even
ing. usually from 8 to 10 o'clock. that
the boys around the bay are most busy
means Of their stations And II is dur
ing that time that the 'interferences'
complained OF usually occur
To the honor and credir OF the boys
it must be said I do not personally
know OF an instance where they made
public any messages that they may
have picked up. and some OF them are
them vigorously condemn the break
ing In" when the government or COM
mercial stations are busy and refuse
to answer with their spark at such
times. One OF them said to me. Some
Of the boys are queering the game for
US all, but the majority OF them are
sensible and stay out when the ships
and stations around the bay are work
ing"
II may be asked. "Whers do the
boys get their powerg That is quite
a simple matter. For receiving 1t only
a few dry batteries and for transmit
ting they connect their apparatus with
the electric light wires.
The boys around the bay who take q
keen interest in wireless telegraphy
not only know the calls" OF every sta
unf In tno ~ krr<
the power and strength OF their re-
spective sparks" and keep well
posted on the movements - the var