The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-12-30
SHIPS MAKE GREAT
WIRELESS Tests
Vessels 1000 Miles Apart, on 5000
Mile Trip, Chat Daily With
Station on Land,

WASHINGTON. Dec. 2s.-Wireless
telegraphy as method OF trans
oceanic communication Is about TO
have a thorough tryout under the
auspices OF the United States navy's
experts in Autobiography, which Is
the scientific nickname that wireless
communication has received from the
highbrowS OF the great scientific
schools. Everybody knows what wire
less means. but autobiography is a
jaw breaker that stumps some OF the
best Therefore IL will be called
wireless" hereafter.
Just now the speedy scout cruisers
Birmingham and salem, equipped with
1000 mile transmission plants. are
somewhere of i'm the North Atlantic
ON their preliminary tests. They are
chatting each day with the wireless
station at Brant's Rock. Mass. The
conversation is not particularly enter
tanning as yet, because the Brant's
Rock people have not been acquainted
with the position OF their ocean CORE
spondents. They know that some
where at sea is a wireless operator
who from time TO time communicates
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the weather and similar exciting
topics. The operators on the Salem
and the Birmingham are not supposed
10 tell where they are.
Al Brant's Rock the receivers are
taking careful notes as 10 the mes
sages they are getting. and next week
when the scouts come back To port
they will furnish the navy department.
with the facts as TO the course they
took. with a view TO figuring out the
results OF this preliminary trial OF the
I high power wireless.
Throws Waves 5000 Miles.
There is every reason to believe that
the results obtained through the ex.
periments now under way will cause
/ the navy department To approve the
other plan or the bureau OF equipment.
which rs for the two scouts To make a
transatlantic test OF the apparatus.
The Brants Rock station Is equipped
with a wireless plant that can throw
its waves of radio-activity 10 a distance
OF more than 1000 miles across the
seas This great plant can also talk
across the land for more than 1000
miles. but the present test Is TO be d
sea test.
With the approval OF the Navy De-
parement, the Salem and Birming-
ham Will start for the Caribbean ear
~ I'm The year. The two ships will
keep distance of approximately 1000
miles apart, and at distances ranging
from 800 10 5000 miles from the
Brant's Rock station The cruise viii
begin at the western end of the West
Indian archipelago. The ships Will
steam thence eastward toward the
African coast. All the time they will
keep up a constant interchange OF
messages with the parent station at
Brants Rock The easterly course
will be maintained as long as com
munication with the parent station Is
possible for either OF the cruisers
When the time arrives at which
communication proves impossible I'M
der the most favorable conditions,
the course will be changed so as to-
bring the two scouts northward 10
ward the Azores and the coast of the
lberian peninsula. Throughout the
journey the two cruisers will be ex-
pected TO keep within talking dis
lance of each other When one or the
other drops out OF communication the
until the other has had an opportunity
to close up the gap.
The projected test by the navy men
Is the most exhaustive yet accorded
TO wireless telegraphy by naval pow
er. The station at Brant's Rock, which
was built by private enterprise, is
said to be the most powerful In the
world. The tower. which bears the
antennae is 400 feet in height and the
current the strongest yet used In radio
communication. The United States
government leased the plant from its
original builders.
Want Government Tower
The Navy department will use this
plant for the present series OF tests.
but it is the hope of the wireless
workers that. should success crown
their present efforts, congress Will
see fit 10 include in the forthcoming
naval appropriation bill the necessary
funds for the establishment near
Washington of the governments own
wireless tower A tentative site has
been selected near Soldiers Home In
the District OF Columbia. The depart
mcnt wants to make this its central
station. Here they wish 10 erect
tower more than coo feet high with n
plant sufficiently powerful TO insure
the certain transmission OF messages
AZ 1000 miles under proper atmos-
pheric conditions.
While the navy is experimenting
with high power wireless at long dis
tances the army is engaged in a series !
Of experiments with field wireless sets
for both telegraph and telephone. Tn |
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