The New York herald., 1920-12-05
By RUSSELL B. MOON, U. S. N.

~ the evening of October Mr.. George
w. G. Benze sat at his amateur
radiophone in his home at Peter
cutter. Aberdeenshire, Scotland. tuning his
apparatus to the various messages which
were being transmitted through the air.
when suddenly he caught faint tone. evil
IDENTIFY coming from far away. Gradually
the tone became clearer and Harry LADDERS
song "Roamin' in the Gloamin'" came to
his ears When the record was finished Mr.
Benzie picked up the conversation, which
told him that he had been listening to a
record on a phonograph in Keyport, N. j..
and that the sending station was 2QR.
Frantically he picked up his transnitter and
called "2QR-2QR!" But his power was not
strong enough to penetrate the three thou
sand miles of space which lay between him
and the sender.
Amateur radio men are always on the
lookout for the phenomenal and six days
later Mr.. Benzie, having heard nothing fur
ther from 2QR, decided to write and tell
them that he had picked up their message
of October s. Looking in the Wireless Age,
he found that 2QR was conducted by Mr..
Hugh Robinson of 13 Walnut street. Key
port. N. j. Several days later Mr. Robin
son received the following letter:
Letter From Scotland Comes
To Tell of the Success of aQR
DENMILL COTTAGE, PErERcuLTER, ABER-
pEENsHIRE. Scotland, Oct. 12 1890
DEAR Mr. ROBINSON: l write to say that
my friend and received your transmission
on October 6, to your friend Mr. Wilson l
could not be sure of this gentleman.s name,
but heard the record "Roamin In the
Gloamin'." by Harry Lauder and the other
tune very clearly. also that your power at
the time 400 watts / write you this
no doubt you will be interested to learn
that you can be heard here with so
small power. / was using three values
/ would be greatly obliged IL you could
transmit again (radio phone). say three
weeks after you mail your letter to me, as
the letters take some time to reach here
AS regards time, two hours after the trans
mission referred to above would suit
Hoping you will manage to cooperate in
our tests. am yours faithfully.
GEO. w. G. BENzIE
Mr. Robinson complied with the above re-
quest and wrote to Scotland for a verifica-
tion which was received few days ago.
The set used by Mr.. Robinson and heard in
sits upon desk in his laboratory. He re-
ceives his power by plugging into an ordi
nary lamp socket the lighting circuit,
which usually carries about 110 volts. This
he steps up by the use of transformers to
about 500 volts. While Mr.. Robinson uses
standard set he says that 1t contains many
, little improvements added by himself which
he does not care to divulge at present
The sending distance of the ordinary anna
teur radiophone sets is placed at sixty miles.
heard much further. Mr.. Robinson has
talked with Nsponce. Ontario Ashland.
Ohio; Mokane. Mo-, and many other points.
the distance depending upon the atmos-
pheric conditions and he lays the success
of his transmission to Scotland TO ideal con-
ditions existing at that time But the fact
that a radophone of so small a power has
throttled three thousand miles of space. de-
liverng message clearly and distinctly.
veals the great possibilities and future of
vocal transmission.
In Simple Room This
Amateur Outfit Performs Wonders
Mr. Robnson's laboratory occupies a little
room about FIVE by eight feet in size. A
desk located in one end OF this laboratory
contains all the equipment used for the
transmission of these messages. including
photograph with a special reproducer hav
ing a microphone attachment. II Is dis
tlnctly an amateur outfit and shows in
many ways the handiwork Of the operator
Mr. Robinson. who born in Neosho,
Mo-, in the year 1881. is a student of
electricity. He early became an electrical