Evening star., 1933-09-24
BYRD'S ANTARCTIC
: STATION FORESEEN
Broadcasts From Polar Re-
gion Forecast When Ex-
pI0rer Returned in 1880.
BY MARTIN CODEL.


first Antarctic expedition RETURN
ed from its long stay down
~ under" more than three years
ago, the writer ventured the pre-
diction that his next expedition would
see him establishing radio broadcaSting
cutposts from which he would render
first-hand verbal reports to the Amer
lean people while at the very scene OF
his explorations and adventures.
That is exactly what he intends to
do on his second expedition, now out
fitting for another long Sojourn on the
icy wastes of Antarctica. Accompany
him this time will be an engineer and
announcer of the Columbia Broadcast
ing System, which has made arrange
ments to carry a regular weekly series
of broadcaSts over its Nationwide net
work not only from his permanent base
but from his sub-base at the foot of
the polar barrier and possibly from his
plane as it again flies over the South
Pole.
Procedure Practicable.
The thing is wholly practicable.
thanks to the rapid strides the radio
science has made in the interim. In
deed. the time is now at hand when
hardly an expedition to any portion of
the globe. properly equipped, cannot
maintain vocal as we'll as telegraphic
communication with the outside world.
Unless some unexpected quirks de-
velop, such as equipment trouble or
now unknown vagaries of the short
waves, schedules from Antarctica ought
to be carried out with a fair degree
of precision. No less a person than
Malcolm P. Hanson. who was Byrd'S
chief radio man on the first expedition
and who is now doing radio research
work here for naval aeronautics, is
authority for this statement.
Unless communication conditions
have changed considerably since we
we're down there" Mr.. Hanson told
the writer, "the chances are good that
they will succeed. Our interest, when
we went down, was first and foremost
to maintain reliable communication,
and we found transmission and re-
ception conditions even better than We
expected. On the basis of our sue
cess with telegraphic communication
with what would now be classed as
obsolete Short-wave equipment. I
would say the plan is entirely feasible,
and. depending upon the amount Of
work they put in beforehand, they
ought to get through most of the
time.
Means Much Hard Work.
''It means lots of work. but with
halfway good luck they will be amply
repaid for all the agony they'll have
to go through. I expect to listen in
and get lots of pointers myself"
Mr.. Hanson is not going to Ant
arctica this time, much as he would
like to. He may act as consultant on
the radio plans, but Admiral Byd's
present radio counsellor is DR.. T. S.
McCaleb, of Harvard University. who
is now at work on the equipment i'll
Boston. DR.. McCaleb may go at least
part way to Antarctica and will be in
charge of the first broadcasts from
the S. S. Bear, the expeditions sup
ply ship, which is due to sail early in
October
The elaborate technical set-up in
cludes a 1,000-watt transmitter on
the supply ship, which will later be
established at the base with It's
antenna pointed toward Buenos Aires,
from which point the regular radio
telephone will relay the voices of Ad-
miral Byrd and his men to New York
and thence to the Columbia net
or more. A second 200-watt station
will be established at the subbase, and
a portable 100-watter will be carried
on the plane for voice broadcasts
while in flight All of the stations,
OF course, will work with dots and
dashes also, which will be employed
for routine communication and for
getting through when voice trans
mission fails.
Cooperating with DR.. McCaleb in
the radio arrangements are Edwin K.
Vohan, Columbia technical director;
A. Y. Tuel Of International Tele-
phone g. Telegraph Co., Harry Young
of Western Electric Co., William
Thompson Of American Telephone &
Telegraph Co. and S. H. Simpson of
Radio Corporation of America, all
outstanding radio engineering exec
utiVes