WIRELESS TO AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19608, 9 April 1927, Page 11

WIRELESS TO AUSTRALIA.

GREAT SUCCESS ACHIEVED. ! RAPID COMMUNICATIONS. PRESS GREETINGS EXCHANGED. SIGNALS CLEAR THROUGHOUT. By Telegraph—Press Association— I Copyright A. and N.Z. LONDON. April 7. (Received April 8. 5.5 p.m.) No fault could bo found with this ~afternoon's first press trial of the Post Office beam wireless system. It worked splendidly within the safe limit of 100 words a minute. It was uncanny to watch the Wheatstone automatic transmitter. On one side the opertaor was using up yards of lacelike Morse tape, while simultaneously on his left hand the tape printer reeled off dots and dashes which came from Ballan, 50 miles from Melbourne. One amazed onlooker was the Secretary of State for the Dominions, Mr. L. S. Amery, who sent the first mesasge to the Govern<jr-General of Australia, Lord Stonehaven, and to the Prime Minister, Mr. S. M. Bruce. Then Lord Burnham conversed with Sir James Fairfax, the Australian chairman, on behalf of the Empire Press Union. The Australian High Commissioner,, Sir Joseph Cook, congratulated Sir G. M. Allard, chairman of the Amalgamated Wireless Company, Limited, and Mr. E. T. Fisk, and the acknowledgments were ticked out with bewildering rapidity. Mrs. L. S. Amery's Message. Mrs. L. S. Amery showed a thrill of interest when Mrs. S. M. Bruce asked Mrs. Amery if she realised- that they were the first women to greet each other on the world's longest wireless link. Mr. Amery, who said that anything which accelerated Empire communications was all for good, was given as a souvenir the perforated tape with which the waves had wirelessly performed for the Dominions Office its social amenities. The press greeting to the pressmen in Australia was used as a test for speed and the time from England to Australia and back was 45 seconds. The journalists' greetings then occupied more than an hour, in which only once or twice was there any suggestion of fading, but it was never enough to make the incoming tape unreadable. In fact, the signals the whole time were adjudged sufficiently strong to work the Creed automatic printer for the direct delivery of the addresses. The technical heads of the Post Office afterwards said there was nothing to prevent the wireless circuit from accurately transmitting at the rate of 1000 words a minute. The only limit to its speed was the mechanical capacity of the instruments and of the landlines. Value to Business Men. Even if there were any fading, there were sure to bo 13 hours of standard transmission daily. London's business day did not overlap Australia's, and even with fading it was fairly certain that a Londoner's message would be waiting for a man in Melbourne or Sydney at his office desk well before his arrival.

During the transmission, Australia seemed uncannily near in the vast Central London telegraph office to day, when one's ears had became attuned to the metallic click. Melbourne's strong " Ok" could easily be heard almost simultaneously with the conclusion of the transmission. One incident demonstrated the almost personal touch of the system. It was midnight at Melbourne and Sydney, so it was hardly to be expected that Lord Stonehaven would bo available to receive and to reply to Mr. Amery's greetings. The Morse'signalling went steadily on until the official who was listening wrote " Lord Stonehaven is now here and :s waiting." Thereupon Mr. Amery sent his message and in an incredibly short space the reply came back. Messages Sent in 1918. Sir Joseph Cook said, " This dtiy is one of the greatest importance in the history of Australia's progress, since it opens the doors to the opportunity to provide increased facilities for the interchange of knowledge and information. It will be of vital Imperial importance." " The wireless system has taken years to mature, but it is here at last.' Sir . Joseph recalled that wireless mesages from Mr. W. M. Hughes, then Prime Minister of Australia, to himself as Minister of the Navy were despatched from Signor Marconi's station at Carnarvon on September 22, 1918, and were received instantaneously by Mr. E. T. Fisk at Wahroonga, Sydney. It was right and just to remember Mr. Hughes' great pioneer work in the early stages of this wonderful discoveiy. It is understood that the engineers of the Post Office do not intend to explore with Australia till the shorter Canadian beam system has been satisfactorily employed for that use. Considerable progress in the direction has already been made, and tests of the African and Indian beam station will shortly be begun. An ingenious plan has been devised to assist the mutual turning and adjustment at both ends of the Australian beam system when fading or any other difficulty arises. The English operator inserts in the transmitter set the agreed signals on Morse tape, gummed to form a circle. This is continuously fed through the instrument, which keeps sending out the same calls till Melbourne answers that it is getting them clearly, when the circuit is workable. SYDNEY OFFICE OPENED. GOOD USE BY THE PUBLIC. (Received April 8- 10.15 p.m.) A. and N.Z. SIDNEY, x\pu< c The beam wireless offices were opened to-day for .public business, and were well patronised.