The Washington times., 1917-02-14
LARGEST WIRELESS
PLANT AT San DIEGO
New 100000 Station Now
Ready for Work After
Suitable Tests.
CARRIES FOR $4,000 MILES
Receives Messages From British
Warships Cruising in
North Sea.
CARRIES FOR $4,000 MILES

SAN DIEGO, Cal. Feb. 1.-THE
new $500 900 wireless telegraph sta
tion has just been completed and Of
ciaIly put In commission after suit
able tests on January &c. 1t is the
largest and most powerful radio sta
tien in the western hemisphere and is
Capable of carrying for 1900 miles.
Messages from the British fleet cruis-
ing in the North sea, from the high
powered German plant at Berlin and
from American ships and from Aus
tralia have been intercepted.
Three units in the globe-cncircling
radio service of the United States
navy are now completed. These ere
the stations at San Diego, Arlington,
and Darien panama Canal z2nel. A
fourth is under construction at Ma
niIla.
The three eOo-foot aerial towers
form a triangle. They contain 1,0O0,-
600 pounds Of fabricated steel and are
the largest radio towers in the world.
They are $50 feet in width at the base
q and eight feet at the apex They are
placed 1,100 feet apart. Huge por-
celain insulators embedded in con-
crete form the base of.each leg of the
towers.
SOundproof Rooms.
The receiving is absolutely sound
proof, the walls and floors being pad
ded with asbestos. There are four dis
tinct and complete controlling sets
Installed in the receiving room, en-
Rbling any one of the four operators
O.: all OF four simultaneously to send
ana receive messages.
The aerials, or antennae, weigh six
teen tons, and have a sag between
towers of 100 feet. They are twice as
large as those strung from the Eiffel
. Tower in Paris. The helix is fourteen
feet in diameter and eleven feet In
height, or nine feet higher than the
helix used in ordinary naval and com
r1ercial stations.
The generator weighs sixty tons
1nd the three 100-kilowatt transform
erS 800 pounds each. Twenty-Five
niles. of piping and copper cables
have been laid throughout the radio
reservation of seventy-two and one
half acres. A large part of this area
viii be kept wet at all times to in
sure a good ground" for the aerial.
Can Talk to Alaska.
Establishment OF a distant control
system will enable operators at any
naval radio station on the PGcific
coast from Point Iona to Alaska to
operate its sending instruments. This
i5 accomplished by a system OF land
telegraph lines. The radio apparatus
Is what is known as the Federal
POulsen arc transmitter.
The Poulsen arc employs a direct
current arc Of from 600 to LOCO volts,
burning in q closed chamber Of
hydrogen, the terminals being placed
at right angles in L powerful mag
netic field. Electric current for the
radio set Is furnished by a 2OO-kiIo-
watt 1,O0O-volt direct current gen
orator driven Sy a 30O-horsepower
2-200-volt 60cycle induction motor.
Six buildings, costing $39, $50, of
mission-style architecture, form the
of these is large, airy dormitory,
gymnasium, and well-furnished Ii
brary.
First Message Sent.
silver-plated key made by a local
company was presented to Commander
Hooper after he had dispatched the
first message. The following inscrip-
tion was on the key: "High- Power
Radio Service, First Message, Comdr.
s. c. Hooper; January. 1917; San
Diego"
At exactly 11:o2 a. m. on January
a6, 1917, Commander Hooper called the
station at Arlington and. sent this
message from the mayor of San
Diego to Secretary Daniels:
In behalf Of the citizens OF San
Diego. I have the honor OF ex-
tending to you the seasons greet
ings and their good wishes, and
congratulate you upon the COM
pletion at San Diego Of the
worlds most powerful radio sta
tion. Space has been completely
Annihilated and the Atlantic and
Pacific seaboards are one.
Arlington acknowledged the mes
sage at 11:o5 o'clock. 1t was i'm
mediately transmitted by telephone
TO Secretary Daniels.
DanIeIs' Reply.
At 11:1s o'clock the reply of Sec
retary Daniels was received 1t read
IS follows:
Your greetings and congratu-
lations much appreciated. The
Navy Department rejoices with
San Diego that the completion of
the new radio station at San
Diego places Washington in
closer touch with the Pacific
coast, and particularly with the
navy's larger development at San
Diego.
The radio plant is located in a sec