Evening star., 1923-11-13
bARNSLEY IS HERO
Of RADIO AMATEURS
Hartford Youth Has Made
Fame by Constant Touch
With Polar Party.
Special Dispa tch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
HARTFORD. Conn.,, November 13.--
Jack Barnsley. radio hero of the hour!
Jack Barnsley, amateur operator.
has solved mysteries OF Arctic air
communication and has established
virtually permanent communication.
despite adverse conditions. with the
schooner -Bowdoin, frozen in eleven
degrees from the north pole. Jack
Barnsley. more than any other radio
amateur in America. has helped to
prove the success of the experiment
undertaken by DR.. Donald b. MacMil-
Ian, radio correspondent of The Star
and other papers. and for the first
time the news of the world has
broken an explorers tedium of
months-long night. reaching him al
most as swiftly as 1t is carried by
newspapers to the men snug in home
or office.
From the Bowdoin, where hand
full of men huddle around the stove in
q cramped galley. messages Of cheer
have come to members of their fami-
lies and have been relayed by Barns
ley to points across the continent
from his station.
TIE work of Barnsley in talking
with Donald Mix, operator of WNP-
wireless north pole, the Bowdoin-
has brought JOY to officials of the
American Radio Relay League, whose
headquarters,are in Hartford. These
officials worked out the details of the
plan for the Arctic experiment.
Work Hns Big Meaning.
What Barnsleys work means to
Macmillan and his party is shown by
n
which lies in Refuge Harbor. Green
land. latitude 1880 north. longitude
1880 west:
Accept sincerest thanks from my
our expedition and for your very
valuable help in transmitting mes
sages. Your loyalty Will not be for
gotten upon our return from the
Arctic"
1t Is largely due to Barnsley that
millions in America and elsewhere.
closely watching the Arctic radio ex-
pertinent have been satisfied as to
the safety of Macmillan and his men.
Although other amateurs have sue
ceeded in picking up partial mes
sages from wireless north pole.
Barnsley's station has been for many
weeks the only satisfactory commu-
nicating medium.
His Station Well Placed.
His station is peculiarly well
placed for north pole reception. being
situated at the western terminus OF
miles north of Vancouver and 100
miles south of Ketchikan. Alaska
1t may be considered strange that
more northernly amateurs in Alaska
Barnsley. but the explanation prob
ably lies in the fact that the latter 8
radio equipment is of the finest and
equally as good in its construction
N
amateur stations in the United States.
When Barnsley became student
OF the radio game in 1910 there were
very few amateurs and text books
on the subject were as scarce as GER
tain varieties Of vacuum tubes were
q year ago. In those days one could
not install a radio station by the
simple method of calling on the near
fome-instead, the amateur. after
reading up on the subject, used any
stray parts at hand.
First Set Unique.
Barnsley's first radio apparatus
was q queerly constructed homemade
affair that would be the laughing.
stock Of the most uninitiated Of
present-day radio fans. He was high
" delighted over the good fortune
that brought him a Bell telephone
receiver. a dry battery. a couple Of
5s careons oan and hssId mhatpin', and no one one
when the set showed a capacity for
reception. He made his coil from
some stray wire, headphones from
the single receiver a detector from
the carbons, and the steel needle
sharpened to a fine point for the
movable part.
A few years later and Barnsley was
working for the Marconi Company as
a wireless operator on coastwise
steamers and finally on the liner EN-
press Of Russia. running to Japan
China and Manila. A recruiting sfgn
for the royal air force attracted his
attention in 1917 and there followed
q hitch" as instructor in the army.
Since he recently re-established
communication with the Macmillan
Arctic vessel he has received scores
of messages from members of Mac