BRIDGING THE ATLANTIC

Evening Star, Issue 22572, 13 February 1937, Page 14

BRIDGING THE ATLANTIC

BEAM WIRELESS ANNIVERSARY Ten years ago last month tho first Empire beam wireless service was established between England and Canada. Even in that short time a world-wide system of beam wireless has grown, and promises still greater miracles in the future. An official of Cable and Wireless Ltd., who now operates the beam service, spoke to a representative of the ‘ Observer ’ of the early days of one of the most fascinating of modern inventions, and tho experiments of tho young Marconi, and of how, in 1901, tho letter S was first flashed across the Atlantic, unmistakably distinct. Then in 1923, when long wave wireless seemed to have reached its limits because the ether was so crowded, the Marehesse Marconi made his second revolutionary discovery—the short wave beam system. The Canadian service of 1926 was soon followed by services between South Africa, Australia, and India. The control of Imperial overseas telegraphy was vested in Cable and Wireless Ltd., who have transmitted over 1J million words jn a week on the beam circuits alone. The operator in London is iu complete control of the transmitter, and, as an instance of speed, a message has been despatched to New York and tho reply received in London within 24 seconds for the two. The official requirement of the Canadian stations was that they should be capable of communications at a speed of 500 letters a minute each way during a daily average of 18 hours; actually, during tests, 1,250 letters a minute were transmitted for hours on end. Looking ahead, th© development of fac-simile transmission has been •so rapid that it may not be long before telegrams will be projected through space and reproduced at the other and in the sender’s own handwriting. Already, apart from the many photographs of momentous events, fashion plates, cheques, and architects’ plans are being wirelessed across the world. In one case a chart, with essential information, was transmitted to a cable ship in Melbourne, which was thus enabled .to proceed to tho repair of a damaged cable in South Africa. For, apart from the beam service, the company operates more than half of existing submarine cables, which, as with wireless, made a beginning across tho Atlantic.