OVER 100,000 MILES.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10730, 30 October 1928, Page 3

OVER 100,000 MILES.

WIRELESS TELEPHONE DEVELOPMENT.

AMERICA TALKS TO AUSTRALIA

MONTREAL, Oct. 26. A Schenectady message says that for over half an hour this morning Schenectady talked with Sydney.' and the conversation was re-broadcast here. Efforts to make it a threeway conversation with Java were not so successful, although the General Electric Co.’s radio engineers have been talking with Java frequently during recent weeks.

Once the laymen who had been invited to take part in the demonstration got over the eerie feeling of carrying on a perfectly normal conversation across io,€oo miles of .space they began by exchanging pleasantries with the Sydney engineer, Mr. McDonald. It was 6.34 o’clock this morning when it was 9.31 p.m. in Sydney, and a cold, clear . autumn morning *in Schenectady and a mild spring evening m Australia. Mr. McDonald said u “ l hope next week to have the American ConsulGeneral in Sydney at the microphone here to join in a demonstration like this.” TESTS HEARD IN GISBORNE. HUMOROUS INCIDENT OVER THE AIR,

These tests in wireless duplex telephony are being carried un at intervals, between The General Electric Co. Station W2XAF of Schenectady New York, and The Amalgamated Wireless station 2ME of Sydney. The tests have been followed by a local enthusiast and on Wednesday evening last October 24th. a similar test was conducted with excellent results. A striking demonstration of the speed at which wireless waves travel was given when the Sydnev station relayed back to America the voice of the operator at New York and vice versa. The voice covering the distance of 20,000 miles in _a fraction of a second. A humorous incident was the attempt by the Sydney operator to make the American operator understand the ‘meaning of broadcasting the Melbourne Cup. As a final resourse an effort was made to whistle the message in morse code. This failed however, and a vocal imitation of morse signalling as generally heard proved more successful. The test scheduled for Friday last was not successful in the opening stages owing to strong atmospheric _ condition preventing good reception in Sydney. While awaiting better conditions the American station •'sent out a gramophone record recital the Sydney operator trying to maintain contact by reading extracts lrom the newspaper. Conditions improved later in the evening and an excellent exchange took place. Prior to the last test the American station was clearly heard broadcasting an (excellent programme from The Niagara Falls Hotel by The Carborundum Co. Band this being followed by the relay of a concert from the Metropolitan Theatre 1 at Albany, New York. The reception of these Tests. m Gisbonie was upon a simple one valve short wave outfit without difficulty, excepting where changing from one wavelength to the other was necessary the Sydney station operation on 28.5 metres higher. A further test is scheduled for Wednesday evening next.