Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-23
BY A. G. WEST.

ALREADY advancing on OiQ IOlnt COm-
fort. The tide has turned at sunset
and an hour later Thimhle Shoals
ouivered with the force of the gale
that struck furiously across the Ches-
epeake.
Sleet glanced against the red and
yellow roof of the Wolf Trap as the
wind whistled angrily around Wind
mill Point, poking with icy fingers on
the frosted window panes and clutch
ing at the radio antennae as the
storm hustled up the Potomac in
very fury of conquest. Hours passed
and, since one good gale deserves an
other, wandering blizzard from the
north joined forces with the maraud-
ing winds from the south, to sweep
VIGOROUSLY on past sleepy Brandy
wine and up to Washington at So
miles an hour.
A telephone whirred insistently to-
ward dawn in the home of the officer
in charge of the maintenance of the
Navy's FIVE radio stations on the Po-
tomac and Severn Rivers. Any mes
sage after in the morning may be
said to bode but little good to tn:
peaceful repose of the members OF
the radio test shop, and this call
proved no exception to the rule, as
the Arlington station reported to
Lieut.. William Klaus that their main
= antennae were down. as well as the
two &c" and ''Y'' wires, one of which
had TALENT across a transmission line
and been burned up.
Within half an hour the staff had
raced from various points at Claren'
don. Va. and Baltimore. Md. and in
termediate stations, and was hard at
work. The seet had frozen to the
wire. which had increased enormously
in size and instead of having the d.
ameter of an ordinary lead pencil.
more nearly presented the appearance
Of a. base ball bat, difficult to handle
and trying to work with.
But, while it makes very little diff
ference to the amateur whether he is
able to obtain constant communica-
ton, Government radio service must
main 24-hour schedules that are as
reliable as land wire. OF course. from
a military standpoint this is urgent.
and so a large department of the
United States Navy is known as
naval radio" and has become an
increasingly important part of the
Government.
Through an arrangement formulated
by the Joint Army and Navy board
and approved by the President, the
Navy handles all ship-to-ship, trans
ocean and long distance radio com
munication. The Army handles all
point to- point radio messages within
the United States, and this friendly
cooperation between the two military
services has not only the great ad-
vantage of lessening trouble from that
ogre of radio, interference, but II re-
suits in a tremendous annual saving
of appropriation from Congress in the
matter of equipment and mainte-
nance.
Under this plan, if the Secretary of
the Navy initiates a radiogram to the
recruiting officer of the Marine Corps
stationed al Denver Col, the message
is shot over to the Munitions Building
to the War Department message
center in pneumatic tube. and at
once goes out on the War Department
radio net across the continent.
Similarly If the Secretary of War
desires a radiogram sent to the Conn.,
manding General of the Philippines,
it is transferred to Naval eommunica-
tons for delivery, as il comes under
the transocean as well as under the
long distance, pact.
0THER branches of the Federal
~ Government are also coming to
appreciate the importance and ad-
vantage of radio in point of speed and
cheapness, and sent out over 5,000.0OO
words on the Navy wireless in the
fiscal. year, at a saving to the Govern
ment of over 1857 900. Incidentally,
it is interesting to learn that radio is
helping to pay its own way, since the
handsome sum of $4,000 has been
deposited in the United States
Treasury under Miscellaneous Re-
cefpts'' from payment for private com
Ynercial messages sent out by the
Navy in places where other traffic was
either unobtainable or inadequate, as
in Samoa, parts of Alaska, etc.
The State Department reports that
during the customs conference at
Picking China, last year, full accounts
came over the Navy wireless through
q period of several months. without
charge Needless to add. the cable
tolls on such service would have been
almost prohibitive.
The Department of Justice states
that II uses radio consta ntly. to good
effect. The messages are delivered by
telephone from naval communica-
tions, and then a confirma ton is
mailed separately or delivered by mes
senger.
Naval communications" is there
fore a phrase to conjure with. as it
covers wide range of activities
which have Washington, D. c., as
their natural center, since 1t is the
Nations Capital and the seat Of Gov
eminent. But back of the actual
sending out of a radio message, and
back of the receipt of a radio message
stands the tremendous job of main
tanning a huge plant; of keeping 1t
fir on the limited appropriations for
this urgent work; or repairing the
thousand and one radio outfits on
shore and sea: of keeping abreast with
the newest inventions and perhaps
inst p little ahead of them, and of
making up apparatus so designed, in
order that it may later be manufac-
tured in quantity lots by commercial
companies, IL so required.
MANY. il not all of these activities
sre accomplished in an inconspicuous
little spot in the Washington Navy
Ward known as the radio test shop.
There is no sign of Welcome" on the
doornat, and visitors are invariably
urged to look over the Presidents
yacht. the Mayf1ower, or to enthuse
about the fiotilla of wicked-looking
submarines tied up at the dock.
Rut this same little building is just
about as effective as INT though
IFS staff numbers only 10 picked in
nnectors and few assistants. under
the direction of Lieut.. Klaus, and
from II issues first aid 10 the radio
stations of the Washington Navy
Yard. Annapolis, Dahlgren, Quantico,
Anarostia and Radio Central at the
NAVY Building in Washington, d. G.
In addition, il co-operates with va
EIoi,s noted scientists al the naval re-
search labratory at Bellevue and with
the Bureau of Engineering, and, as its
name implies. is responsible for the
testing of large quantities Of new MAJ
terials 10 be used at radio stations as
IL