Evening star., 1928-11-20
RADIO FOR PLANES
IS NOW PRACTICAL
Two New Broadcasting Sta
tions for Flyers Opened
Last Week.
BY MARTIN CODEL.

An era of all radio flying is argued by
developments coming out of the Gov
ernment laboratories devoting attention
to the perfection of radio aids to air
navigation. The results of their re-
searches and experiments are now being
applied practically in order to furnish
a real incentive for commercial air.
ways operators to install radio as stand
ard equipment aboard the planes fly
ing the routed airways.
Two new broadcasting stations for
radio-telephone conversations between
ground and planes started operating
at Cleveland and Bellefonte, Pa, last
week Added to the PIONEER Aviation
Radio Station at Hadley Field, N. j.,
they completed the first link in the
chain of the Department of Commerce
radio stations that will extend all along
the transcontinental airway and at
hourly intervals send out weather, land
ing and other reports to aircraft In
flight.
According to Frederick c. Hingsburg.
chief engineer of the Airways Division
of the Department Of Commerce. only
few more months will see the others in
operation at Bryan, Ohio; Chicago,
Omaha. North Platte, Nebr.; Cheyenne,
Wyo. Rock Springs Wyo.; Salt Lake
City, Elko and Reno New, and Oak
land, Calf. The first three stations are
connected by teletype system. radiat-
ing from the United States Weather
Bureau and various weather stations so
that their announcers can broadcast
identical messages almost simulta-
neously.
Flash Plane Signals.
The installation of these stations is
the work of the Airways Division under
Frederick c. Hingsburg, chief engineer.
The network of radio stations which
will flash signals to guide the direction
of planes along the airways will Short
ly be established as an adjunct. This
and the receiving apparatus are de-
velcpments largely of the Bureau Of
Standards under the direction of DR..
j. H. Dellinger, it's radio chief.
Mr.. Hingsburg and DR.. Dellinger
Joined today in predicting that all
commercial airplanes, particularly
those carrying passengers, will soon be
equipped with radio telephone appara-
tus. Code is commonly used, but they
both foresaw radio telephony almost
entirely replacing radio telegraphy ex-
cept on military aircraft This despite
aircraft uses of radio in Europe last
Summer, agreed to replace telephony
with code.
Although this country is several years
behind Europe in applying radio to
aerOnautics on an extensive scale, AM
erican flyers will enjoy the benefits of
better equipment Most of this equip
ment is the initial development of
Government laboratories like the Bu-
reau of Standards and the Army and
Navy research sections Some of it
has already gone into commercial pro-
duction.
Adopt Pole Antennae.
The annual report of the Bureau of
Standards just issued states results of
direction shifts studied In connection
with the radio beacon. This led to
the development of pole antennae ex-
tending vertically upward from the
airplane wing. The vertical pole
| ing antenna for receiving radio sig
nails.
The reed indicator to show a pilot
by mere glance at his instrument
board whether he is following a true
beacon course, was development con-
tinued from the preceding year. 1t
enables pilot to fly through fog. rain
or darkness by keeping on a course
\ needing no landmarks
SpeclaI receiving sets OF light weight
also have been developed. Several
manufacturers have begun to produce
them and number of the large COM
mercial operators have started INSTALL
ing them in their planes. .
Shielding to prevent interference
from spark plugs ignition on the wire
circuits and to shut out extraneous
noises is one of the most important
improvements to aircraft radio that
have come out of the Governments CO.
operating laboratories. DR.. Dellinger
believes that the lack of proper engine
shielding Is largely responsible for the
poor results attained with radio
telephony aboard European planes.
| tCopyrisht, 1928. by North American News.
paper Alliancc.D