The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1915-04-21
Two Harvard Students Once Sent
US. Revenue Cutter Scurrying
to Rescue Of Supposed
Distressed Ship
SENDING STATIONS
ARE NOW LICENSED
Amateur Operators Lead in Number
Each Station Has Call Signal
Heavy Penalty for Law
Violation
BY BURTON x. sTANDIsH.
written for the United Press.)

N"iieeoH iOi tne united freSS.)
Washington, April 21.--"HeIp.
Help! We're sinkingl" On cold
blizzardly Christmas eve several win
ters ago, the U. S. revenue cutter
Gresham lying in Boston harbor pick.
ed up this wireless call of distress and
put to sea to find the storms victim.
A hard nights work failed to reveal
! trace of the ship that had sent the
call and the exhausted crew Of the
government vessel returned disheart-
ened to the harbor.
BY process of elimination then it
was learned that the cry for help
had been sent by two Harvard stu
dents operating an amateur wireless
station 1t was their idea of humor.
And that is more or less general
conception held by the public Of anna
teur wireless operators are doing or
are likely to do. However, the con-
ception does the amateur an injustice.
aside from the fact that government
I regulations now hedge amateurs about
SO well that they scarcely dare at
tempt foolish pranks with instruments
so fraught with possibility of dis
aster the mateurs themselves have
come have too high regard for
the wireless service to use it for such
silly entertainment. Government
agents-Radio Service, Bureau of Nav
igation-report that abuses of their
privilege on the part Of amateur oper-
ators now are exceedingly rare.
Which is interesting when you set
down the number of operators in the
United States 2796, by the last offic-
ial tabulation. That is more than
twice as many as there are of all other
operators, government, Marconi and
other commercial operators c0mbin-
ed. All told there are just 1884 sta
tions licensed under U. S. laws and
of these, the government has 1ts, land
and ship combined; commercial COM
panies have 73O, including those on
ships; and the amateurs have tho
other 2796, as told.
The district having its headquar-
ters in San Francisco leads the list in
numbers, with 562 amateur stations;
the Baltimore district is second, with
543; New York district third, sos;
Cleveland district fourth. 456; Boston
district fifth, 374; Chicago district
sixth, l72; Seattle district seventh.
ia; and Savannah and New Orleans
districts winding up the list with SO
each.
Stations so licensed, of course, are
sending stations. The number of re-
ceiving instruments is indefinite, since
the size that a receiving outfit may
be has constantly reduced until now
they are made small enough to carry
in ones pocket 1t is figured, of course,
that the damage one may do is in
sending, not in receiving, so that the
safeguards are thrown around the
sending stations. These. if they are
capable Of harm, are large enough to
be seen--or, rather too large to be
concealed--since the distance that the
radiogram may be sent depends on
the size of the sending outfit. An
amateur could make himself Il sender
QUE OF the two iron posts Of his bed,
but he would not send messages far
enough to be picked up by any regu-
lar station; the enormous plant at
Sayville, n y. sends its messages
clear across the Atlantic ocean
Each licensed station has its regis
tered call signal as for example. TIC
Is that of the Aercgram club Of New
port, R. l., the @1s representing the
number of the district, and TAB. shat
OF Alfred S. Anderson Of Astoria, Ore
The International Radio Tele-
/ graphic convention has distributed the
letters for use among the nations Of
! the world. the United States receiy-