WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13947, 30 April 1909, Page 2

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.

FAST WORK

By Electric Telegfapli.— Copyright. BERLIN, April 29. The falser, who is at Corfu in the lonian Isles, had Wireless telegraphic communication with Berlin, via Metz, a fortified city in Lorraine. The message took four minutes eomparod with four houis in ordinary telegraphy

[Wireless telegraphy ha 9 been gradually conquering the difficulties incidental to distance. Since October 17, 1907, communication across the Atlantic has not been interrupted for more than a lew Lours between tho statior at Clifden, in Ireland, and Glace Bay, in Nova Scotia. These stations have been erected in order to embody improvements which could not well be introduced at l'oldhu, in Cornwall, nor at Cape Cod, nor at the old (Jlace Bay station. The now last-named station is> fitted with four towers, standing in the centre of an ontcr circle of sixteen masts. The vertical wires in the middle, each 200 ft. long, are continued in 200 horizontal radial wires, each 1000 ft. long, supported by these circles. This gives a wave-length of 12,000 ft. The difficulties which have been successively encountered and overcome cannot be stated except in highly technical terms. Many difficulties which had been anticipated have proved imaginary, while the real ones were often not foreseen. Apart from the troubles due to defects in machinery and mechanism, there are others of an atmospheric ( character. Clear sunlight and blue skies aie fai less favourable to transmission than dark nights. In the morning and evening, when daylight only extends icross a portion of the Atlantic,' signals become weak or are not received at all. Local storms are injurious, but those which involve the whole of the Atlantic are not. In spite of all difficulties the Atlantic has been at last commercially bridged by wireless telegraphy. Since 1904 daily newspapers have been printed on the great liners. In seven years the distance for messages has been increased from 200 to 2500 miles. Up to February, 1908, Marconi had transmitted 119,945 press words between England and America.]