MICRO-RAY RADIO.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20223, 6 February 1934, Page 1

MICRO-RAY RADIO.

Pocket Torch Power for New Transmitters. LONDON, January 27. The Under-Secretary of State for Air (Sir Philip Sassoon) opened the microray wireless station at Lympne by carrying on a conversation with the Under-Secretary of the French Air Ministry, M. de Lasalle. The station, from which prolonged secret tests were made by the Air Ministry, transmits on a wave-length of 17i centimetres, and the aerials are only an inch long. In appearance the apparatus is so inadequate as to suggest magic, says the aeronautical correspondent of “ The Times.” The tiny aerial reflects into a 10-inch aluminium radiator, giving twoway communication, which cannot be tapped. It is managed by one station using a wave-length of 17 centimetres and the other using one of 171. The valves oscillate 1,700,000,000 times a second, and the power needed is about equal to that required for a pocket torch. While two-way speech was proceeding a teleprinter tapped out a telegraphic message on the same circuit. The service was introduced with a report on trans-Channel aeroplanes, this eliminating telephoning from Croyflon, whence the message was wirelessed to St Ingelvert aerodrome, in France. .It is believed that the system- can be adapted to aid lighthouses under conditions of bad visibility. It may also assist the development of television. Signals focused by a beam are received at the St Ingelvert aerodrome. The micro-waves behave like light, and the aerials are surrounded by reflectors. The receivers aje only two-valve sets, and the cost is very low. There is no interference, owing to the shortness of the wave-lengths, and this is one of the first practical applications following the investigation of the mysterious micro-wayes.