The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-01-26
WIRELESS TALKS
To FRISCO
LOCAL STATION GETTING BET
TER ALL THE TIME-CON.
VERSE WITH SAN FRANCISCO
CHRONICLE.

Inc wireless service at the local
station is getting better all the time
as the operators become more famil-
lar with the varying conditions and
get tuned in with each other.
Operator Selman, of the Wenat-
chez station, was seen today ty a
World reporter and he stated that
he was talking for some time last
night with the operator. on top of
the San Francisco Chronicle building.
This is the greatest distance that he
has so far succeeded in reaching
although he has heard messages from
still greater distances, but the trans
hitting is much harder. He thinks
that the success of last night was
due to good supply of current as
well as to especially favorable at
mospheric conditions. Even wnen
conditions are unfavorable conimuni-
cations can always be established by
the relay system the same as is done
in the regular wire lines.
Heard Ships at Sea-.
Last night was stormy one on
the Pacific coast and Selman Could
hear ships all along the coast keep
ing in constant touch with each other.
The barometer was falling rapidly
early in the night and the command
ers on all the ships We're sending
constant reports to their companies,
giving exact locations of the ships
and all the changing conditions of
the weather.
Many Messages to Ships.
One phase of the wireless business
is the sending of messages to persons
on board ships at sea by friends who
simply want to send word through
the air. A great many of such mes
sages are going through all the time.
Always Some ''Cussing."
There are few, if any, lady oper-
ators in the wireless service on this
side of the continent and the oper-
ators feel perfectly free to express
themselves fully. According to OPP
orator Selman the air is full of swear
ing all the time. He can hear oper-
ators cussing each other from San
Diego to Alaska, although, Of course,
he does nothing of the sort himself.
Especially in the small hours of the
morning the operators on the ships
turn loose and things get so pro-
fame that a respectable message can
hardly be sent.
Many Mysteries.
The mysteries of the wireless tele-
graph are many and the experts are
at as much of loss to explain them
as are the laymen. Selman has heard
voices from the air and thinks that
they were picked up from some tele-
phone wire near the aerial" All
wireless messages are received in
telephone receivers much like those
used by the "hello" girls in the tele-
phone centrals. The sounds, o.
course, are dots and dashes but some
times stray voices are very clear.
They are always of very brief dura-
ton, and must be classed in the
freak service of the wireless, as
there is no way that they can be
heard at will. One OF the most un-
usual instances Of the sort in Sell
mans experience was when he was
stationed in the Isle of Pines, near
Cuba. A brother operator heard
brass band on some ship at sea. SO
much incredulity was expressed about
that at the time that a thorough in
vestigation was made and the fact
completely corroborated. But Sell
man himself heard voices last night,
although he states that such an event
does not happen as often as.once a
year.
Tried to Work the Bank.
Yesterday afternoon, just before