WIRELESS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 317, 2 October 1908, Page 7

WIRELESS.

IS CABLE TRAFFIC BEYOND ITS CAPACITY ? (on TELEanAra—PitKsa association - —corYßicnr i Melbourno, October 1. Giving evidence before tho Poetal Commission, Mr. Hcsketh, Chief Electrical Engineer, said he considered wireless telegraphy suitable, but not commercially justifiable, at present. There would not be any proper return for the outlay. Gable traffic was beyond tho capacity of wireless. " iTRANS-ATLANTIC WIRELESS. CABLE COMPETITION: i£R. MARCONI'S VIEWS.. . ; ; In an address before the; Royal Institution in March, Mr. Marconi told what he has done in tho way of a trans-Atlantic commercial wireless service, and touched on. the. question of competition with cables.,, He pointed out that, although the station's and-dupli-cation of running machinery were not complete, communication across the Atlantic had never been interrupted for: more than a few hours since tho service was begun in October, 1907, though there had been several serious interruptions at Clifden owing to the .untrustworthiuoss of the landlines connecting Clifden with the the ordinary Tost Office systom. During the first- few months..cnly a fraction of the transmitting j>owor was used, and in consequence transmission was slow and short interruptions rather frequert; but many •of tho difficulties had now been overcome, and in a few more mouths, when it , should be possible to utilise the full, power, much greater speed and efficiency wero likely to be attained.'. Messages could now be N transmitted by day as well as by night, but there were still certain periods, fortunately of short'duration, in which transmission was difficult and at' times ineffective unless on abnormally large amount of energy was employed Thus in ilie morning and evening, whan, owing to the difference of longitude, daylight or darkness extended only part of the way across; the Atlantic, the received signals, were weak and sometimes ceased altogether.. At ot\r times there were conditions that madtS tho signals unusually' strong. Mr.' Marconi added that long-distance stations were now being erected in many pprta of tho world, tho most powerful of all being that of the Halian Government at .Coltano, and he did not doub'- that wireless'telegraphy would- 6oon afford communication between distant countries at cheaper rates than could be obtained by either wires or cables. Whether tho new telegraphy would, or Mould not injure or displace the _ cables was still a matte!' of conjecture, but, 'in his opinion, it depended a good deal on what tho cables could do in the way of cheaper rates. He was very confident that it was only a question of time, and .that not a very long time, before wiieless telegraphy over great distances, poss'bly round the world, would become an. indispensable aid to commerce and civilisation.