The New York herald., 1922-04-30
Big RADIO CENTRAL
ECLIPSES OTHERS
Station at Port Jefferson Is
Now Only One-sixth Of It's
Future Size.
GREAT POTENTIALITIES
Transatlantic Talk Is Easy
and Messages Go Right
From New York City.
EAT POTENTIALITIES

the most powerful station in the world,
it is dwarfed into insignificance by the
va stness of the size it will become as
the use Of radio telegraphy increases.
Radio Central, located few miles
east Of Port Jefferson, on the north shore
of Long Island, is at the present time,
for all it's greatness just one-sixth the
size of the station into which 1t is to
develop. 1t can now send message
flashing half around the globe, but when
II is completed the distance around the
world will be a small yard stick to
measure its power. Two of the twelve
units of which it is to be composed are
finished: when one more Is complete
radiotelephony between the United
States and Europe will be an accom-
plished every day fact.
II is because OF the potentialities of
Radio Central that it Is OF such interest
even to those who are not In the least
attracted by a lure of WIS music or
the perplexing problems of hooking to-
gether receiving set.
At the present time the big station
at Rocky Point consists of a line of
twelve antenna towers, broken in the
middle, connected with the Alexanderson
high frequency alternators of 200 kilo-
watts each. The towers stretch over a
distance Of three miles.
When Radio Central is finished it will
consist of twelve lines Of antenna tow
ers. each of six towers. In appearance
Radio Central will be like a wheel. the
hub containing the power houses and
other buildings of the station, and the
antenna lines twelve spokes. each a
mile and half long. The present line
of towers is simply a diameter across
the vast circle which is to come.
Each of the great towers is 410 feet
In beipbt with a 40 n
length supporting the wires OF the an.
tenna at the top. About $50 tons of
steel is used in each tower and 7S0
tons OF concrete in each foundation. The
towers support a multiple tuned antenna
Of sixteen wires, eight on each side of
the cross arm.
Battery Is Heart of station.
The heart Of the station is the battery
of two huge alternators. One of these
Is sufficient to send a message hurtling
over the ocean to Bordeaux or Berlin.
Working separately, they daily keep in
constant communication with any onel
/ of half a dozen stations in Europe.
Hooked together. they can send mes
sage crashing through bad atmospheric
disturbances which in other years would
have put a temporary end to transmits
sion.
The alternator takes the place OF the
vacuum tube, which in less powerful
stations plays the part of transmitter
The machine Is simply a radio fire.
quency dynamo. developing currents OF
tremendous frequencies. In it there is
only one big moving part. a wheel,
weighing several tons, which turns with
a peripheraI speed of several miles a
minute.
The big alternators are located in a
little brick power house. There a cur
rent of $4,000 volts coming from Port
Jefferson Is jumped to higher frequen-
cies. Each unit Is operated with zoo
kilowatts in the antenna, and the an
tenna current is 700 amperes. This
means a radiation OF $4,000 meter-am-
peres. The wave length generally useu
at Radio Central Is 16,500 meters.
THE powerful alternators and the
,irantic towers are the spectacular part
Of the radio station, but buried beneath
the sandy soil Is part equally neces-
sary to transmission. This Is the
ground" the other side OF the wave
distributing system. The Long lslana
soil consists of quartz sand OF extraor-
a;narilv high resistance. A counterpoise, |
49, svstom of wires stretched beneath
the antenna just above, but insulated
from. the earth, was considered, put re-
.orted because OF its troublesome up |
keep and expense.
wires Plowed Into Ground.
instead. by means of special piow
carrying coil or wire' ereae sys.e
ooo feet in length, were buried twenty
;nchos in the ground over space
tna,,sand feet on either side OF the CEN
a., line of the antenna. In erect ene
padio Central antenna STANDS on
late Of copper 1000 feet wide ana tnree
miles long. The ground wires coiiect q.
least ninety per cent. OF tne eiec,rio
lines OF force radiating from the an
tenna. :. p,aio
.,artraI The actual transmission OF
messages is automatic from the time tne
message is typed at 81 Broad street. |
New York. to the time Ii Is read by an
operator at the station In wales, Ger
many, France or one OF the other EURO |
mean stations. A sending speed OF lu"
words a minute is possible at present.
although normally a slower speed Is
used. A staff consisting Of an engineer
in charge and fifteen assistants look
after the big station.
Although Radio Central is the most
powerful station now, IL Is not the only
one which uses the big alternators which
made transatlantic radio communication
commercial possibility. Seventeen al
tcrn1tOrS nave peen DuliI dt CCHtHtc-
tady and four more are now being fin
shed Other stations having these high
frequency dynamos include the stations
M New Brunswick and Tuckerton, N. ].
Marion, Mass. Kahulku. Hawaii; Boil |
mas Cal. and Carnarvon, Wales. Two
alternators are to be installed in the
high power station being erected near
Warsaw. Poland. for the Polish Gov |
ernmcnt.
The alternator Is the invention OF Err |
nest r. w. Alexanderson. The first of
tho big machines was Installed In the !
New Brunswick station for the United
states Navy Department just before the |
wss ended. in October. 1918. The alter |
nator was sought by the Marconi inter- |
c~ss soon after II had been perfected. |
The General Electric Company. how |
v=., refused to relinquish the alternator |
10 foreign interests and set aside a !
SO 100000 order. The Radio Corpora
tlon OF America was then formed to use |
and control the alternator. and by means |
al IL already handles twenty per cent |
se-- kI.w a.. .fe..t