The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-10-20
WONDERS OF
THE WIRELESS

So much has been written about
wireless telegraphy in and about Ho.
nolulu and upon steamers that visit
here, that the average person who
doesn t know whether or not the wire
less waves can be seen entering the
top wire on "a wireless mast, will
be interested in an account of the
workings of wireless station.
A wireless telegraph operator is
rugged up like a telephone girl. He
wears a headpiece with two ear pads
and, as he sits there waiting for nes-
sages from the air, he has the PARKWAY,
drc; my look of seer who is receiving
occult communication from the spirit
ncrld. Everything is as silent and mys-
ter.ous as though it were scene in
the chamber of clairvoyant.
Outside is pole, or mast, from which
wires sometimes grouped in basket
Formation, and in some instances like
a wire screen, reach to near the ground
and thence 60 into the station. Upol
a table are telegraph key, an electro
current switch and considerable electri-
cal apparatus encased in polished Woo
: cases. 1t looks simple, but then is
: marvellous, too.
1t is interesting to watch the opera
tor sitting at his desk with faraway
, look in his eyes. Occasionally he picks
up a pencil and slowly writes word
r then another. He hands it over to you
: and tells you that somebody on a
7 steamer about 500 miles out, between
S Honolulu and San Francisco, has just
o sent back word that he cannot fnd
o his valise aboard. Then comes another
s message, fragment from a steame'
d which is away up in the Boring SCI
o among the icebergs. Hardly has on
n got his mind s eye adjusted to the grea
n icebergs and cold weather, than hi
II thoughts are switched to the Seut
n Seas reminding one of fans, sunny skie
and palms, and a warship dots an
S, dashes a message to the effect that sh
4. is on the way to Honolulu and will b
i, here on a certain day and dock at
4 certain wharf. Then, suddenly, wrinkle
5. of perplexity mount to the forehead c
the operator and make circle betwee
the two bumps there. "That must b
8. San Francisco" And SO it goes No
m it is from one part of the ocean an
20 now another. 4 Sometimes steamt
ot wireless and then land station.
man on a steamer some hours aftt
70 leaving port finds that he has faile
,d to bring along business memorandum
I've which he will need on arrival ;
Ia, San Francisco. He sends a wirele
in, back to Honolulu that he has forgott'
,+a it and will they please send it on Il
steamer leaving for San Francisco t
III. next day. That steamer is fast o
40 and the memo will be in San Francis
g when he lands from the slower boi
h. Just a marvel, that's all.
Then the man at the switch reach
ho out his hand, pulls down a lever al
,bn drops MS HHScr To tne KEY VIVA II
ar lows is simply startling, c-r-ra-a-as
I'D ing, rending, ripping, scratching som
ko accompanied by the most wonderf
ob pyrotechnical display, binding to t
no eyes. But soon one becomes fascinat
&c with the methodical spacing of dc
an and dashes as they are cracklingly Sc
IN. by the key along the wires to the t
Tho of the mast, where, like homiI
m. pigeon, they start straight and tr
on their mission across seas and la
80, to another mast.
he How the System Works.
-he Described in the simplest terms p
nor sible the wireless telegraph system
md as follows: 1t consists of two par
,or the transmitting mechanism and the