Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-27

Although Radio Central, near Port
Jefferson, X. l.. is the most powerful
wireless station in the world, River
head. L. l.. is the most versatile and
also the busiest.
Radio Central can talk to Wales,
France, Germany or Norway with ease,
but Riverhead can listen to Wales,
France, Germany, Norway or any
other powerful stations that may be
established simultaneously. And at
the same time it can close it's ears to
the powerful impulses sent out only a
few miles away by the giant Radio
Central, New Brunswick, Marion and
|Tuckerton stations and to 90 per cent
of the atmospheric disturbances COM
ing from every point of the compass.
1t is more dramatic, more Impress
i've, to hurl radio messages across
three or four thousand miles of land
or water than to pick them up at the
other end. That is why almost every
person interested in radio knows a good
deal about Radio Central and its 200
Kiowatt Alexanderson ~alternators and
very little about Riverhead, which picks
up and ~revives once powerful cleo
tromagnetic waves after their long leap
across the Atlantic.
From an engineering standpoint.
however, what has been accomplished
at Riverhead in. the receiving line Is
ut least as remarkable as what mas
been done at Radio Central. River
head, however. does its work quietly
and without ostentation; Radio Cen
trails tall towers and terrific currents
advertise it to the world.
Why Riverhead Is Versatile
A few years G in this country. and
at the present time in all other coun-
tries every sending station had its
complement in a receiving station. To-
Gated about 80 miles from II, and con-
nected with it by telegraph lines. The
one station talked; the other listened.
Now Radio Central, New Brunswick.
Marion and Tuckerton all talk; and
Riverhead competently handles incom-
ing traffic of all the European centers
with which they are connected. The
explanation of Riverhead's efficiency
is the wave a%ntenna.
The station is not a network of an
Itenna such as the mind would picture.
1t has simply one antenna consisting
of two copper wires nine miles long.
strung on ordinary telegraph poles
One station building contains the re-
~ceiving apparatus which separates the
condemnation of signals received from
Norway. England. France and Ger
many. and transfers them directly and
automatically over trunk line wires
into the Broadstreet traffic office IN
New York City, where all incoming and
outgoing messages are handled. Inc
system of concentration, achieved
after much experimentation, makes 1T
POSSIBLE to add new receiving circuits
for communication with any new sta
ton in Europe at a negligible cost
simply by installing a new set OF ap.
paratus on one of the shelves provided
for that purpose at the station.
Expert Tells About Station
A description of certain phases of
the Riverhead station. especially with
regard to the in which 1t clint
mates static, and of what may develop
in the future, has been given by Ernst
+. W. Alexanderson, chief engineer OF
the Radio Corporation of America ano
consulting engineer of the General
Electric company. He said:
THE antenna is of a new type which
gives uni-directional reception so orr
ented as to receive signals from the
oyer-Ocean transmitter and annual sig
nails from all other directions, lnclud-
ing the powerful home transmItter
nearby.
"The antenna consists of two copper
wires strung IN ordinary poles, Ike q
telephone line, and extending over a
distance of nine miles. From this an
tenna a number of separate receiving
circuits of different wav lengths are
fed without the slightest mutual inter
ference or weakening of the signals.
Important as it is, from the point
of view of Capitalization, to be able
to receive an indefinite number of sig
mas from the same antenna. the great
festF temperatures in The use or this sffew
receiving system is its remarkable