The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-31
| dDIO EXPEDITION
 WEARS NORTH POLE IN ARCTIC QUEST
Never Before Has A Wireless Message Been Picked Up
 From So Far North

Copyright. 1923, United States and Great Britain, by North American Newspaper Alliance, for The Age Herald. All rights reserved)
 NEW YORK, August 30.-"Lati- tudeS1, longitude 30."
 This brief fragment of a message caught by the amateur radio sta tions in Massachusetts, has ended anxiety over the condition of the Arctic expedition of pr. Donald E. McMIan, radio correspondent of this paper. And it has established Ia new worlds recoDd, never before has a radio message been picked up from so far north, 5000 miles air line from Boston, never before has asuch a me asage been sent from the polar regions, where through months of end the Aurora Borealis hangs like a curtain.
 Thirty-two days has elapsed since the last message was caught from the Bowdern, the little schooner from which Donald Mix, radio opera tor, has been trying to reach his fel- low members of the American Ra- dio Relay league and the only radio amateurs of North America.
 The ships position given in the fragment that was caught shows that the BoNv6ern has reached Etah, within 8 few hundred miles of the pole Etah was a base in the Peary voyage participated in by Dr. Me Milan. which led to the discovery of the North Pphe in 1909. Etah is on tthe northwest coast of Greennland, on Smith sound near Kane basin. Pick Up Part 0f .Message.
 The message from the Bowden, though too weak to be picked mp in full, was caught definitely as to the ships position by two New England amateurs, James A. Traynors, of 5o Bloomfield street, Dorchester, Mass, and R. B. Boune, whose station, ANA. at Cheatham, AIass.,~ picked up the Bowden on the last previous oe- casion.
 the explorers by this time of year is taken to indicate that the conditions for the success of the voyage, from other aspects than that of radio, are favorable.
 destination is not great distance above Etah and it is probable that the Bowdern will reach it and pre- pare to freeze in for the winter at the scheduled time, ori even earSier.
 At Hartford Conn.,, the headquar- ters of the American Radio league, through which the arrangements for the radio experiments in the far north were made, new equipment has iust been installed to further sue
 
 been set up at the home of Hiram A. Percy Maxim, the inventor who is president of the league.
 Difficulties Great.
 The use of this strong equipment was decided on when messages from the Bowdern ceased while the snip was sailing north along Greenland. rife last previous message came
 Tba difffcf lties encountered on the voyage. from the point of view of the radio experts are declared to ne great, but not insurmountable' Tn statement issued at Hartford, atter inc receipt of the message giving the Etah position.
 The Bowdern left Monhegan Is- land off Maine June 26 with a crew of six men including pr. McMlllan' bound for scientific research and eX- ploration. The schooner has a small but powerful radio receiving ana transmitting apparatus ana mes sagcs were exchanged at her polhts of call along the coast or Lapra9oI' I2Io Cane Breton Island, Battle HarboI' Labrador; Turnavik Island and Gou- thaab, Greenland.
 was leaving the following night, after a day of scientific work in ter restriaI magnetism, and would make +he 90-tniIe run to Sukkertoppen, a fishing hamlet half way between Godthaab and Godhaven.
 After that, repeated calls were sent out by the most powerful radio stations in the country, but caught
 lee conditions had been reported extremely bad, and to this danger was added those of storm and cold
 K, B, Warner of Hartford, secre- tary of the American Radio Relay lcague, says: T regard the intet- r,ption of communication as due simply to prevailing summer atmoa- pheric conditions.
 A widc-Awnke sun.
 "A month ago Mix, the Bowdern operator, was complaining of the short time he had chance for keep inc in touch with the country. Only during darkness could he hear our stations, and his power in darkness was decreasing al night, and at that time il was night for but two hours out of the twenty-four. The sun didn't set until near midnight, and it was up again at o'clock,
 'I know, of course, that the Bow dern progressed into country "Ieae l'sl,s the sun didn't set at all, for she was sainng into the long Arctic summer of but single day many months long. We had hoped that her radio equipment would permit reception here of some sort of signals even 6rrine their continuous daylight.
 "The Arctic summer is approaching all end Each day now the sun cir cles closer to the horizon. Wlthln a few weeks it will pass below the bCrizon for few months, and day light at this period will lengthen. When it gets to be as much as an hour day the Bowdern will surely ne able to maintain communlcatlon Wllii us. AS time goes on the sun Will get sc far below the rim that IL Will nol sEcw at any time in the day ana then the half-year long Arctic nights will he on. Then the radio opera +or will be in radio heaven, for sig nals will reach him from untold dis tSnces at all hours. Whenever it is dav in our country he will be able to talk with us, and when 1t IS lght here he will be in touch with Eu- ropean stations.
 Sunlight flinders Radio.
 "T+ may be wondered why so sim ple a thing as sunlight can De held responsible for the interruption or communication. All radio ehlhusi, asts know that their working range ie much greater after nighttali. Ihe reason is that the suns rays ionlZe the earths atmospheric making "l such nature that il absorbs m con sfderab ble portion of all radio poWer. Xyithin a short time after sundoWh' however. the ionized condition dls- anpears because the stimulating el- feet of the suns rays IS no longer felt and then radio waves traNel strength The Bowdern's daylight ranpe is but a few hundred miles rorditions are much worse now than if the Bowdern's transmitter were lh darkness and it were light here.
 "The small available space on ho.rd inc Bowdern precluded the in- stallation of any more powerlu ul sending set. Radio operation all