Evening star., 1920-02-01
.DR. ROGERS TO TRY
TO PICK UP" MARS
Will Time Coils at HyattsviIIe
to Receive Longer
Wave Lengths.

DR.. J. Harris Rogers, inventor Of
the underground and underseas wire
less. announced at his laboratory at
Hyattsville today that he would at
tune his receiving apparatus on the
wireless plant to take messages OF
wave lengths UP to 10000 meters in
effort to listen in" on the 50
called signals from Mars or Venus.
DR.. Rogers declared that he would
begin imm mediately TO set the coils in
sages of that wave length. which
would be $4,000 meters greater than
Marconi's. which was the receiver of
sounds leading scientists to the be
lief that some planet of the universe
was signaling the earth.
The establishment of the origin OF
the messages or even of the knowl
edge of intelligence behind the orr
gin might take place in two months,
DIR. Rogers said, but it will probably
be many years before the earth is
able to establish intelligent commu-
nication with another planet.
Marconi is credited with saying
that the supposed signals from Mars
were received on instruments tuned to
approximately 1000 meters, whereas
the longest waves used on earth are
scarcely one-fifth that volume. DR.
Rogers declared.
Garry No Intelligence.
noises DR.. Rogers said today. They
are virtually the same as those heard
over telephone carrying heavy traf-
fic or what a defective receiver on
during a storm. To me -hey have
conveyed no idea of intelligence.
There seems to be no system, as far
as / have been able to discover.
But Mr.. Marconi claimed that he
received three dots. If these were
continually repeated they would be
virtual assurance of intelligence be
hind the sending force But to as
repeated distinctly a sufficient number
of times.
Mr.. Marconi received his sounds on
instruments attuned to a l00.000-meter
wave length. 1 am preparing to in
stall a receiver which will be capable
meter wave length. When this is
accomplished there will be basic
ground on which to work.
I'VE must remember, however, that
the noises such as L have heard. al
though they indicate origin at a greai
distance, are such as are always prev
alent. Electrical currents and con-
facts in the air and outside of it, pos
sibly, could be counted as the case.
work Would Take Years.
TT may be any time within the next
month or two that the messages are
identified as originating from some
planet Then the serious work, which
should take years. will begin. We may
first secure sufficient power to return
the signal A dot, or three dots, or
some such signal could be sent sue
cessively for a year. Then IL We
have received a reply, or repetition
of the message, we could start with
something else. In this manner we
might lead up to our numeral code,
thence to the alphabet, and to ulti-
mate communication.
1T can readily be seen. therefore.
that the work of deciphering our code
might take years On the other hand.
if we receive definite messages. we
could repeat them back, and await
another repetition. This would be but
the first step, but it would be the most
important one.
Powerful sending apparatus. sucf
as the Arlington plant, would be need
ed for transmission from the earth.
DR.. Rogers stated that his plant was
not sufficiently equipped for the
sending of such messages.