Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-19
NEW RADIO BEACON
STATION TURNED ON
viii Aid AirmaiI Pilots to.
Find Way Through Fog
and Storms.

The airmail pilots who have stumbled
through fog and storm at night search
ing for the National Capital today were
given the latest aid of science in aerial
navigation when q new Department of
Commerce radio beacon station at Alb
ingdon, the old Gusts estate on the
Virginia shore Of the Potomac River at
Hunters Point, below the railroad
bridge, was turned on in the presence
Of officials of the department.
This station will send out signals
which viii guide pilots with unfailing
accuracy through fog or storms which
shut out every trace of ground and
sky. An unusual feature OF the sta
ton is method of control by dial
telephone signals. BY dialing of various
numbers from q distant point the elec-
trtcal current generator may be started,
the signals switched on or Of, or the
station put out of operation.
Provides Beams for Three Points.
The new station will provide radio
directional beams for pilots flying the
Atlanta-New York and WashinRton-
Cleveland airways. It will lay down
courses to Philadelphia, Quantico, Wa
and Hagerstown, Md. Pilots fiyihe
these courses to those three points then
Will pick up radio beams from the next
stations on the line TO guide them alofiR
the next leg of the course.
The Inauguration of radio beacon
service today at Hunters Point marks
the completion Of radio beacon in
stallattons along the Atlantic Coast
from Boston as far south as Spartan
burg, 8. @. This service will be ex-
tended to Atlanta, Ca, as soon as A
station now under construction at that
city is placed in operation. Other sta
tons In the chain now are located At
Boston, Hadley Field, N. j.; Washing
ton, Richmond, Greensboro, N. c., and
Spartanburg.
The beacon at Hunters Point is the
twentieth aural-type radio beacon sta
ton to be established by the aeronaiItics
branch of the Department of Conn
merce under its program Of providing
radio aids to air navigation along the
Federal anyways.
Controlled by Dial Telephone.
The local station viii be remotelv
controlled by dial telephone from the
radio room at the airways division of
the aeronautics branch in the Hurley
Wright Building, Eighteenth street and
pennsylvania avenue, from where
weather broadcasts over the Depart
ment OF Commerce airway radio sta
ton near Silver Hill, Md, also are
made.
The radio beacon station. like the
Always station, will remain In contin-
uous service "a hours a day. The pilot
nytng the airways marked out by the
beacon ray" will receive the signals
through ear phones. When they are d.
rectly on the course they will receive
merely series of long dasKes in his ear
phones. II he goes to one side Of the
course he will hear the letter "a" IN
code signal; to the other side he win
hear the letter an" At regular inter-
vals the course signals will be broken
an instant for broadcasting of the let
yer IS, the identifying signal for the
local station.
Five Tan Masts Form Cross.
The plant at Hunters Point is COM
posed OF 0 one-room wooden building
housing the generating plant and
progressing equipment. The outside
equipment consists of five tall aerial
masts, grouped to form a cross. from
which the signals are broadcast.
The station Is located on a hill sew
eral hundred feet from the new Mount
vernon Memorial Boulevard, overlook
ing both the boulevard and the river
beyond. A. w. Armstrong, Junior radio
operator, 2418 Pennsylvania avenue, will
have charge.
The party which took part In the
formal opening of the station today
included Clarence NJ. Young, Assistant
secretary OF Commerce for Aeronautics;
Frederick r. Nicely, chief of the diyi.
sion OF airports and aerOnautic infor-
nation OF the aeronautics branch:
Frederick G. Hingsburg, chief of the air.
ways division, aeronautics branch, and
II. J. Walls, chief of the radio section
OF the Always division.