New-York tribune., 1922-04-09
Talking From
a Speedin ng
Railroad Train
irst Test With Radiophone
10 and From Lackawanna
Student Special Proves
Completely Successful
Students Conduct Test
Will Soon Be Possible to
Communicate From Trains
Throughout U. S. by Phone

The lass stage Of business and socia
ISOLATION in life is now being rapid,
removed by the remarkable strides that
are being made daily in the develop
ment Of radio telephony. The latest
successful step is its application to 8
moving train. 1t has already been ap
piled to ships at sea and TO ships in the
air. and will soon be inauguratcd be.
tween continents across vast ocear
spaces,
Last week the Lackawarns Railroad
conducted series of tests of great
Importance, which eliminated in the
trials on board the Cornell special
carrying students from Ithaca to New
York City on their spring recess. The
apparatus on these trains was operated
by two young eXperimcnters from
Princeton University, Messrs David w
Richardson and G. Donald Murray
The outstanding fact gained from
the tests is that with specially de-
veloped transmitting equipment. on 6
train it will be cutie possible to COM
munlcate from any part OF the United
States with the train while it is in
motion ono matter whas its speed), by
means of combination OF radio and
ordinary telephone systems.
The specific lessons taught by the
experiments are: First, that tunnels
and cuts will not affect this communi-
cation so seriously as was at first
thought; second, lakes and other large
bodies of water near the railroad
tracks have the peculiar property of
increasing the signal strength: third.
mountains rising directly above the
railroad tracks completely wipe out
the signals when the mountain stands
between the fixed radio station and the
train.
The tests in other directions con-
firm many theories, particularly that of
the drectional effect of the fiat top aer-
laL This was very pronounced when
the train was rounding a curve. SIS ex-
pressed in the words OF Mr. Richard
son; The posltion OF the antenNa in
regard to the station. from which we
were receiving was another important
factor, for often going around a curve,
on a'perfectly level plain, would make
one set of stations completely fade
out. and bring i'll another
The aerial on the train consisted OF
three cages, each composed of sly
wires threaded through four ard half
inch diameter wooden circles One OF
the cage aerlals ran along the center
OF the car, and the other Two were
erected one on either side of the car
This was connected up so that it be-
came a threewire inverted 81" fat-top
aerial.
One Of the remarkable results OF
the experiments is the fact that even
with this low aerial, signals were re-
ceived from practically all parts Of the
United States. This was particularly
true with regard to the low-p powered
amateur transmitting stations.
An amusing incident occurred while
the train was running between Noun
tain View, n. j., and Hoboken. AT
the time the two young experimenters
were entertaining the passengers
aboard the train with the musical en-
tertanment from WIZ, the broadcast
station at Newark, n. j., which was
being reproduced upon loud speaker
clear above the noise and rattle of the
train.
One of the listeners was a radio
fan of Lyndhurst, N. j., who quickly
appraised the possibilities of the sit
uation.
"say, can you talk from here?" he
inquired somewhat excitedly. When he
had been answered in the affirmative
he, continued:
swell, I've got a set home and
know my wife is listening in right now
I'd like to talk to her."
The obliging experimenters turned
their transmitting apparatus to $50
meters, and as soon as the WIZ pro-
gram was completed permitted the
passenger to send words Of greeting
to his wife from the train. This was
also done in case of the students who
had sets in their home, only in their
case the conversation was prem editated
and pre-arranged.
Regarding reception on the train,
while it was at rest in a station and
while it was in motion, Mr. Richardson
N in his log recorded the following:
"Underneath the iron superstructure
: Of the terminal a Few local amateurs
were picked up, and one or two radio
phone transmitting stations, readable
on the loud speaker. After leaving the
terminal there was great increase in
: signals, and as the Bergen tunnel in
Jersey City was approached many local
amateurs were picked up. Inside the
Bergen tunnel. which is 1888 feet long
and 80 feet underground, one or two
continuous wave stations and several
ships were heard distinctly. Upon
emerging from the tunnel signal
strength increased with bang
Zone or two long telegraph calls on
by voice transmissons. When about
ten miles from Scranton, following one
Of these long calls with the voice.
S-ARI on 1917 meters was clearly heard
calling by voice. Hello. DL, Hello, DL;
Hello. Lackawanna Limited. | am re-
ceiving your voice very clear Please
. come in and give your location
"The Lackawanna Limited was then
coming down the mountains at about
sixty-fve miles an hour. through
ravines and cuts and through tunnels.
There were hills on all sides, and one
would suppose it to be most in
auspicious radio location.
s"Communication was then estab-
lished with S-ARi end conversation
was kept up until the Limited had
arrived in Scranton. The signal
strength of 8-ARI in Scranton was such
that many people who gathered in the
special car could hear everything said.