The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-11-02
RADIO GUIDES
Ships IN FOG
Finders Of Naval Stations On
Shore Give Angle, Mathe-
mates Does Rest.
WAR NECESSITY MOTHERED II
Navigator Who Wishes to Know His
Latitude and Longitude Sends Out
Wireless Message and Listen
ing Stations Give Bearings.

New York.--Fogs, clouds and storms I
are losing their terrors for naval men. (
In tie not very distant past a ship
that could navigate when the sun was
hidden became the subject Of wild sea-
faring tales, but the radio direction |
finder has eliminated many of the per- /
lis dne to the absence Of the sun. TO
day navigator who wishes TO know
his latitude and longitude has only to
send the following wireless message:
This Is The (ship's name). Where am
To- And the data supplied by the
various listening stations will give him
his bearings. The wireless direction
finder is not new deyce-fnders
were patented as long ago as 1907
but var Developments have empha-
sized the value of the instrument for
general navigation, says writer In
the New York Evening Post.
1t consists Of a loop Of wire at
tached to receiving machines. Wien
messages are being received the waves
set up a curren4 IN the two sides Of the
loop. If the waves strike both Sides
Of the coil equally there Is no differ
ence IN voltage. But when the waves
strike the coll In such manner That
there IS a difference in voltage be-
tween the two sides Of the coil the re-
celylng machines indicate the extent
OF this difference. BY making 9athe-
maucnl calculations based on this diff
ference 1t is possible to determine the
direction Of the ship which IS sending
IN relation 10 the port which is re-
ceiving.
In order to locate the ships posi-
ton exactly tile data from Mt least
two receiving stations must be com
pared and It is desirable that another
station send It's data to check the ac-
curacy OF the finding.
war Necessity MOthered II.
Especial attention was paid 10 tie
development Of The radio direction
Under during the war when many eight
" ships found that fog WAS almost
u par with submarines as a nayni
Menace. Experts therenpon expert
mented to discover a certain method
of giving a ship her reckoning when
the sun vas obscured. The radio di.
rection dhderin It's most modern form
was the result. 1t Is now proving its
great usefulness In time Of peace.
Merchantmen are constantly using
our stations 10 find out where they
are" said a naval officer. 81 should
say that for one warship that calls for
Its bearings there are ten privately
owned vessels Our radio direction
finding stations are really becoming
public service Institutions"
The navy has erected and Is operat-
Ing stations at the entrance Of almost
all Of the large commercial ports in
the country. There are several sta
lions near New York harbor. Including
Montauk Point, Fire Island, Sandy
Hook and Far Rockaway. On clear
days the men on duty at these posts
have more or less of "slnecures,' but
on foggy dny they are constantly at
work directing ships which have gone
aSlray. All the listening stations
transmit thelr information to head
quarters and headquarters tells the
skipper whore he is.
Some elderly naval men were skep-
teal about the radio direction finder
when the navy department first intro
duced the device but one experience
with the instrument usually sulices
TO convince them Of its worth. Re
Gently a new destroyer left Norfolk,
Va. bound for Newport, r. I--0rd-
narlly no great feat OF navigation.
However the compass was new ana
untried, and the captain and the nayi-
eating officer prayed for clear weathCs.
It Beats an Erratic Compass.
Despite their prayers they ran into
heavy fog, and from the time they
left Cape Henry until they sighted
The reef llghtship at the entrance to
Newport they could see nothing. Nev-
ertheless the run was made without
mishap, owing to the directions sent
out by the finding stations, and on
landing the officers, who had been
skeptlcal were converts. 1t was dis
covered later that the magnetic COM
pass, by which thoy would have steercd
under the old methods might have
brought them to grief, for 1t shCUcd
an error Of more than ten degrees.
1--WE are handicapped in extending
Ibis work." remarked the naval officer,
"by lack Of personnel. In fact, we've
been compelled to close up one or two
stations recently owing to shortage
Of men. But eventually we hope to
have station at practically every
moderately large portland that
think, will cause making port in fogs
to be considered very ordinary and
not at all dangerous achievement"