LISTENING TO WORLD’S WIRELESS.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 1511, 10 March 1920, Page 5

LISTENING TO WORLD’S WIRELESS.

YOUNG SYDNEY MAN’S INSTALLATION. [Aust. and N. Z. Cable Association.] SYDNEY, February 15. Years ago, when Marconi first introduced wireless to an amazed world, -a young Sydney man, Mr J. V Pike, a Government servant, was fa- ■ atod by the discovery, and devoted 'elf to its study. He began to ex nent. He bought some apparatus am ade other parts, and he had great ' as in ** listening in.’’ His receivers e very effective. In 1910, he stai everybody by giving the text of m sages sent out by H.M.S. Powerfi. when at sea far out on the other side of New Zealand. Mr Pike 'was making progress as an amateur wireless man -when the war came, and Authority closed down on all amateur wireless operations. He kept in touch with wireless operation, and performed war service as a wireless operator. Later on, he was allowed to put receiving apparatus into operation, but he was not allowed to send. Amateurs all over the world have since had that restriction removed, but in Australia they are still forbidden to send. However, Mr Pike makes up for it. by doing some remarkably effective receiving. Out at his home in Epping suburb, he has a single wire Stretching from the top of a gumtree* to a flagpole in his garden. On this simple aerial ho receives the wireless messages of the ’whole world. Mr Pike and anoth pienthusiast have developed a marvellous system of amplifying, so that the tiny tremor registered on their aerial is so magnified in their receiver that they can read the messages. They are under a bond not to disclose what they hear, but visitors are allowed to listen to the varying sounds made by the different sending stations. Naucn, the great station near Berlin, is often heard. It generally starts up about 1.30 a.m., corresponding to afternoon in Germany. Another frequent talker is Cavite, in the Phil!*pines, which is generally working witn San Francisco about 9 p.m. The great station at Lyons, in France, is often heard sending to New Brunswick, in North America; while the busy operators at Funabashi, in Japan, may oc heard at almost any time talking to San Diego, in California, or to South Africa, or India. Mr Pike also hears all the shipping for hundreds of miles round, talking to Australian ana New Zealand stations.