ACROSS THE WORLD.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 26 September 1918, Page 6

ACROSS THE WORLD.

DIRECT' WIEELESS MESSAGES FROM ENGLAND. . .

Mr J. L. Mulhollanti, New Zealand superintendent of the Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) s Ltd., has received the following cable message from Mr E. T. FSek, managing director in Sydney,. report Wellington papers: — "Firet direct wireless messages from England to Australia received to-c\ay (Sunday) at Wahroonga, using 103 receiver. Aerials (at Wahroonga) 70 feefc high, 10 feet long. The messages were sent by Mr W. M. Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia, and Sir Joseph Cook, Federal Minister for the Navy, from the Marconi trans-Atlantic station at Carnarvon, Wales.'' To the general public the developments in the science, of wireless telegraphy have been practically a closed book for the last four years for obvious reasons, but probably at no other time has there been such "astonishing progress made in this branch of scientific endeavor. Mr Mulholland, when interviewed, said that the message re~ ferred to was no doubt the first direct one sent officially to Australia,, but that did not'mean that it was the first message sent from England which had been picked up in Australia. As a mat-te*:-of fact, the whole world was open to* .direct messages. That was to say, direct messages could be sent from one point and picked up at the farthest point possible on th c earth's surface, assuming that the stations were there. Formerly distances were limited owing to;the lack of sufficiently sensitive receivers to pick the long-distance messages up, but the receiver referred to as "103" in the cablegram quoted had successfully eliminated distance troubles. For some ■ time past direct English and American messages have been received at Wahroonga, where messages from the big station at Nauen in Germany ar c picked up also. Probably such messages have been picked up at the New/ Zealand stations too, so that the receipt of direct messages is not so much of a novelty to the initiated as one might' expect. The old crystal receiver or detector had been superseded pretty generally by the Marcoiii-Fleni-ing valve receiver, of whidh "103" was an advianced type. As an example of what work these receivers (now being manufactured in Sydney) can do, it is a simple matter for vessels fitted with them, when. off the Australian coast, to pick up messages sent f%m New .Zealand stations in the daytime, and over a distance of between 5000 and 6000 miles at night-tbne. Incidentally, Mr Mulholland remarked that the mes-

sage received direct in Sydney would have to flash through air-spaces of night aa well &a daytime. The action of wireless was instantaneous. Taking the speed of wireless at 186,000 miles pei- second, the message to Australia would,take about one-tenth of a.second. The realisation of direct wireless ■jx* and from almost any part; of the inhabit^ $10^ yn«ned out enormous posespecially" waeit $£© war-time $Svelopments \ver& "tet bu-B s- vf v ,the bag," so to speak. In the ease of New t Zealand such a method of communication would tiot be without its humorous asttect. New Zealand is 11-J Konire fiiheftd of Greenwich' in time, #nifth presents the prospect of a message being received in London at least 11 bxrars earlier-than it is sent. It also ppens the field for wireless telephony, a £ood deal about which was being said when war broke out.

> Mr Mulholland stated that by the ■use of the oontiiiuous wave and a special receiver, rt was now possible to speech direct by .wireless, so raiat the imagination is''rendered-dizzy by contemplating the possibilities of future Prime Ministers never being out of speech range with the electors, even though they are at the other side of .'the. world. Such a thought has its horrors as well. Concerts have already been given in New York and heard in Seattle.

- Mr MxQholland says tihat the new station at Rarotonga provided by the New Zealand Government is fitted with '. "103" receivers. Pai-enthetieally he stated that sending stations to cover ■■ vast distances have stall to be very - high-powered. The one air Carnarvon " was in the vicinity of 100. kilowatts. For th© sake of comparison our sta- , tionsat the Bluff and at Awanui are .30 kilowatt stations, and the Mount j Etako (Tinakori Hills station) 2i kilowatts. "