The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-03-23
HAY-WlRE RADIO
OUTFIT DEFEATS
ITS Big RIVALS
Fifteen Year-Old Lad Re.
ceives Message From
Macmillan Party

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Copyright. 1924. In u. s. and Great
Britain by North American Newspaper
alliance for The Age Herald. All rights
reserved.) -
PORT ANGELES. wash. March %.
The night of February 15 Everett
Sutton of Port Angeles, the 15-year-
old son of G. Sutton, who for
the last twenty-four years has been the
weather observer in that district,
picked up wireless message sent .Dut
from the Macmillan polar scientific ex-
ploring vessel Bowdoin, then frozen
In the ice at Refuge Harbor, the ex-
IRENE north of Greenland. 1t was the
first direct. communication from the
little exploring vessel or its crew re-
ceived since Christmas day of last year,
and its receipt at Port Angeles was as
novel as unexpected.
Donald B. Macmillan head of the
expedition. Is Arctic radio correspond
snt of the Age-Herald.
Adding to the interest of the event
In the fact that the radio equipment
OF young Sutton is described by the
youngster as "hay wire" outfit.
Passed Over Frigid Area
In reaching the homemade radio
equipment OF. Sutton the Bowdoin mes
sage Travelled thousands of miles
across the frozen. ATTITUDES of frigid
Greenland, district in which it has
been contended by many scientists that
wireless would be ineffective on ac-
count of the aurora, or northern lights,
constituting a barrier through which
radio would find 1t impossible to break.
The message passed over thousands
OF miles nof Bnexplored North America
and ignoring thouands of radio fans
whose highest hope was probably that
OF getting communication with the ex-
ploring vessel Bowdoin, fell into the
hands of a 15-year-old school boy who
happened to be tinkering with his
HAY wire" set at midnight.
Its a bum looking set all right"
Everett Sutton says. Just hay wire
outfit; it isn't worth looking at. First
] got "a crystal set, and then / sold
that and commenced getting this one.
bought the variable condenser vac
uum tube, rehostat, b battery, two
dials and the binding post, and made
the vario coupler myself then set
1t up and it does fairly well.n
His equipment is in a little room
on the second floor of the Sutton home
in Port Angeles and is probably very
much the same as that of thousands of
other youngsters in all parts of, the
country.
Associated With TeIegrapIy
while having been brought up in
direct. association with telIegraphy,
having lived at weather bureau stations
at Neah Bay, Port Crescent and Port
Angeles since his birth, Everett never
manifested any desire to learn the
least about this art until he became
interested in radio. Then things were
different. On account of so much
of radio being in the international code,
Everett 'sat up and took notice."
If he wanted to know what was going
on he would have to learn the Ian
guage. So one day he wenevto his
dad and asked him if he could have
a telegraph key. Mr.. Sutton at once
gave him one and the boy asked for
no further instructions. He went to
work by himself to learn the codes,
and with no instructions he soon be-
came expert with the Morse system,
and. the international code he learned
with a rapidity which astounded his
parents, @...=.=....- - -
Everett can today handle both codes