Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-07
SHIP TELEPHONE
TOBE GIVEN TEST
American Delegates to Con-
ference to Try Out Use of
Talking to Shore From Sea.
BY MARTIN CODEL.

American delegates now en- route to
the International Technical Radio Con-
ference to be held at The Hague next
Monday will participate next week in
tests of the steamship Leviathan's ship
to-shore telephone. Through a radio
hook-up with the land telephone sys-
tenn they will be able to speak from
ordinary telephones installed on the
ship with their families and friends
anywhere in the United States.
The reservation of wave lengths for
ship-to-shore telephony, experiments
with which were begun only recently
by the Bell laboratories, is one Of the
problems that may come before The
Hague conference. The tests on the
Leviathan are pioneering this phase of
communication, and applications have
already been made to the Federal au-
thorities for sufficient number of fire.
quencies to provide for the future OF
this service.
Problem Before Hague.
Practically all maritime communica-
tlon is now done by code wireless. The
adaptation of radio-telephony to ship
uses is regarded as wholly practicable,
but each telephone conversation requires
at least 10 times the number of radio
channels that the code occupies. The
problem The Hague delegates may be
called upon to solve is whether this
service warrants setting aside for it an
appreciable proportion Of the part of
the radi spectrum known as the mobile
band.
Three military men are leading the
group of governmental and commercial
radio experts, who sailed on the Levia-
L. ,aoid ion
of what is. formally known as the In
ternational Technical Consulting Com
mittee on Radio Communications. Pres
ident Hoover appointed Maj. Gen.
Charles NICK. Saltzman, retired chief
CT the Army Signal Corps and now a
member of the Federal Radio Commits
sion, as chairman of the delegation.
Two other official delegates and five
technical assistants were appointed by
the President The official delegates are
Mai. Gen. George S. Gibbs, chief of the
Army Signal Corps, and Capt. S. G.
Hooper, director of naval communica-
tons The technicians are DR.. j. H.
Dellinger radio chief. Bureau Of Stand
ards; DR.. j. C. Jolliffe. radio engineer,
Bureau of Standards; Lieut.. Comdr. T.
A. M. Craven, naval expert; Gerald G.
Gross, radio engineer of the Federal
Radio Commission, and K. B. Warner,
secretary of the American Radio Relay
League.
Ten Others Named.
In addition, about 10 representatives
Of the leading American communica-
tions companies have been named by
their companies to participate in the
parley. Under the rules private inter-
ests may also be represented.
The most important problem coming
Lofora the copfnrcnpe will ho tho nf1ac.
ton of frequency tolerances, or the
width of radio channels. Advances in
the radio art have made it possible to
narrow channels of communication to
considerably less width than they for
merly occupied, thus making more
channels available. Standard practices
must be determined, and the use of the
most modern equipment must be adopt
ed among the nations OF the world to
make practicable this economy of wave
lengths.
Another problem coming before the
Conference-and one that led to the
appointment of Mr.. Warner as the rep
resentative of the amateurs-is the
status of world amateurs. The Dutch
government. host to the delegates, has
proposed that uniform technical and
operating conditions be imposed on
amateur radio operators throughout the
world and that the same kind of license
be issued in each country. The Ameri-
ran Government, which has always been
liberal toward its amateurs. will oppose
such Standardization and urge that each
country handle its amateurs in its own
way.
The conference will also consider
problems of power. the ultra-short
waves interference ard other such tech
meal matters. Essentially it is intended
for an exchange of views on technical
subjects. and no power to take final
action rests in any of the delegations.
Current practices may be recommended
end agreed upon, but final authority to
make them law must await the next
treaty-making conference on radio The
last was held in Washington in 1927,
end Madrid will be the scene of another
in 1882.
One Of the American technical ex-
rerts. Gerald G. Gross. has been directed
b. the Federal Radio Commission to
visit Templehof Field in Berlin. LIE
Bourget in Paris and Croydon in Lon
don after The Hague conference to
make an engineering study of current
European aviation radio practices. He
will fly over a large portion of the
European airways. observing the actual
use Of radio in flying.
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