Amateur radio

“ It is a matter of common knowledge that a large part of the important inventions in connection with wireless telegraphy have been the work of amateurs and private research and not the outcome of official brains or the handiwork of military or naval organisations. In fact we may say that wireless telegraphy itself in its inception was an amateur product. Numerous important inventions such as the crystal detector, the oscillating valve, the triode valve—have been due to private or amateur work. ”

“ To begin with, who made possible the wonderful advance of radio? Not the person who sits back and listens to some "opera star" or a "band", but the real radio amateur, who has experimented for years until he has perfected his apparatus. ”

“ It would be natural for the government, however, to give Mr. Hampton license to use a special wave length—such as 1,800 metres—for transoceanic radio experiments. Extension of the license to the New Mexico plant would follow.
THE AUTHOR.
DIRECTIONS FOR INSTALLING AN AMATEUR RADIO RECEIVING TELEPHONE
In order that the boy interested in radio telephony may construct his own receiving set, the Author herein will describe the construction of a small, cheap set which almost any lad handy at mechanics can build. ”

“ Meanwhile, the radio amateur to whom this book is addressed may have his share in the joys of wireless. To get all of these good things out of the ether one does not need a rod or a gun--only a copper wire made fast at either end and a receiving set of some kind. If you are a sheer beginner, then you must be very careful in buying your apparatus, for since the great wave of popularity has washed wireless into the hearts of the people, numerous companies have sprung up and some of these are selling the veriest kinds of junk. ”

“ CHAPTER THREE THE RADIO AMATEUR MOVEMENT From the turn of the century enthusiastic young men who built their own items of electrical and wireless apparatus were known as "Wireless Experimenters". Many of them were later granted licences for the use of "Wireless Telegraphy for experimental purposes" (in the United Kingdom) by the Postmaster General under the terms of the 1904 Wireless Telegraphy Act. ”

“ Electromechanical protection circuits ensure that a transmitter can only be connected to an antenna that is tuned to the same frequency. The change of antennas and transmitting frequencies is made during the ten-minute interval between programmes, which always begin on the hour, preceded by the now familiar signature tune of a shepherd playing his flute with the tinkling of sheep-bells in the background, recorded in 1936, followed by the Greek National Anthem. ”

“ With this spectacular demonstration he administered the deathblow to all plans for high power ultra-long-wavelength transmitters, and from then on the commercial companies concentrated their efforts on developing equipment for international communications on the short waves.
With present-day electronic news gathering and world-wide satellite links, the problems faced by broadcasting organisations fifty years ago when transmitting programmes which did not originate in a studio were thought to be very complex. ”

“ With a long wave autodyne, or self-heterodyne receptor, as this type is called, and a two-step audio-frequency amplifier you can clearly hear many of the cableless stations of Europe and others that send out long waves. For receiving long wave stations, however, you must have a long aerial--a single wire 200 or more feet in length will do--and the higher it is the louder will be the signals. Where it is not possible to put the aerial up a hundred feet or more above the ground, you can use a lower one and still get messages in International Morse fairly strong. ”

“ During 1919 many issues of WIRELESS WORLD considered "the amateur position", and a leading article in the March issue began with a quotation attributed to Marconi:
"I consider that the existence of a body of independent and often enthusiastic amateurs constitutes a valuable asset towards the further development of wireless telegraphy." ”

“ Work outside the studio is often the most difficult that the broadcast engineer can be asked to undertake; not so much from a technical as from a practical point of view. Very often he has to take his apparatus to some place he has never seen before, set up his amplifiers in most awkward positions, test his lines to the studio, decide on his microphone placings and run out the wiring in the space of an hour or so, with little previous experience to guide him. ”

“ When listening-in to distant stations the energy of the received wireless waves is often so very feeble that in order to hear distinctly an amplifier must be used. To amplify the incoming sounds a vacuum tube made like a detector is used and sometimes as many as half-a-dozen of these tubes are connected in the receiving circuit, or in cascade, as it is called, when the sounds are amplified, that is magnified, many hundreds of times.
The telephone receiver of a receiving set is equally as important as the detector. ”

“ In a book published in 1908 by R.P.Howgrave-Graham entitled "Wireless Telegraphy for Amateurs" the word amateur seems to have been used for the first time.
During the 1914-1918 war all wireless apparatus in the possession of licensed amateurs was closed down under the Defence of the Realm Act of 1914. Experimental transmission licences numbered 1,600. ”

“ The fact that some people who are now enjoying notoriety in radio engineering circles, have not yet realized the extreme detrimental effect on the art and development of radio science, of jealousy and opposition, seems to indicate that in spite of their superior technical ability, they have not yet acquired the common-sense philosophy of the ordinary amateur. ”

“ In a subsequent letter to the Editor Marconi wrote:
"In my opinion it would be a mistaken policy to introduce legislation to prevent amateurs experimenting with wireless telegraphy (which the authorities were contemplating) . Had it not been for amateurs, wireless telegraphy as a great world-fact might not have existed at all. A great deal of the development and progress of wireless telegraphy is due to the efforts of amateurs." ”

“ If full opportunities for such non-official research work are not restored, the progress of the art of radio telegraphy and radio telephony will be greatly hindered."
Professor W.H. Eccles wrote:
"Improvements and invention must be stimulated to the utmost. It is not impossible to devise laws to impose restrictions upon the emission of wireless waves as will preclude interference with the public radio service of the future (R.F.I. & T.V.I.?!!) and yet allow liberal opportunities for the experimental study of wireless telegraphy." ”

“ Looking ahead still further and assuming that the wireless will supplement the wire line link, there is no reason why a simultaneous broadcast of something of fundamental importance to the whole civilised world should not take place some time in the future. ”

“ A single receiver can be used but a pair of receivers connected with a head-band gives far better results. Then again the higher the resistance of the receivers the more sensitive they often are and those wound to as high a resistance as 3,200 ohms are made for use with the best sets. To make the incoming signals, conversation or music, audible to a room full of people instead of to just yourself you must use what is called a loud speaker. In its simplest form this consists of a metal cone like a megaphone to which is fitted a telephone receiver. ”

“ I made a crystal receiver and was able to hear the Greek Royal Navy station at Votanikos SXA and the old station at Thiseon in Athens itself, which was still a spark station. There just was nothing else to hear. I acquired a Philips 'E' type valve and built a grid-leak detector circuit, but all I got was silence. The four volt heater drew one amp and I had been trying to get it going with a small torch battery. As I became more experienced I began repairing simple broadcast receivers for my friends and putting up wire antennas for reception for people who had bought broadcast receivers. ”

“ Operators thus know when and where to expect degraded performance. Of course, strong solar activity can virtually make over-the-horizon HF radar unusable.
A Spectrum Analyser display shows all the frequencies between 5 and 28 MHz. In order to avoid possible interference to other services, those frequencies which are known to be permanently allocated to fixed broadcasting and telecommunication stations are locked out, as well as frequencies which happen to be used at any instant so that they can also be avoided by the OTHR transmitter. ”

“ Even with good microphones and amplifiers the engineer in the field may often experience difficulties with the lines connecting the outside point to the studio. The majority of such lines do not transmit the higher frequencies adequately, especially the longer ones. The problems become immense when European simultaneous broadcasts are attempted. Experiments on the continental wireless link have done no more than reveal its unreliability. ”

“ The range of intermediate wave receptors is such that they will receive amateur, broadcasting, ship and shore Navy, commercial, Arlington's time and all other stations using spark telegraph damped waves or arc or vacuum tube telephone continuous waves but not continuous wave telegraph signals, unless these have been broken up into groups at the transmitting station. ”

“ It behooves the amateur, therefore, to look to his station equipment these days, and if it will not stand inspection to fix it so it will. If there is any thing to come of offering the amateur service to the Government, it will come suddenly, and some day we will find a Radio Inspector at the front door announcing that he would like to look your station over. If it is in good order, you will stand among the good ones. ”

“ The amateurs of the country by this time are probably confident that the officers in charge of the American Radio Relay League are sincere in their efforts to make the transmitting of long distance amateur messages by relay a success, and that there is no money making scheme connected with the matter in any way. ”

“ The League needs more stations like this. Come Mr. Amateur, get your stations working efficiently. If one man can do this, why can’t the rest?
RADIO STATION OF STUARY W. PIERSON CARROLTON, ILL
Power 550 watts
Call letters 9PY This picture shows the neat, novel aerial pole erected by Mr. Pierson. We can all have a strong, well-made aerial support, if we copy this type of pole. 9PY said in one of his letters: “Have written to all amateurs having a fair sending range to join the League. All within 40 miles of here.” Copy his good example. ”

“ There always seems to be something new coming up that you have to work out.”
“If I keep on getting good pay from the broadcasting station, I’ll be able to buy a set, anyway,” said Larry. “What’s the use of working so hard over one, when you can buy them all made up? All you have to do is hook them up to a small antenna, and you get your music right off the bat.”
But the radio boys all scouted this idea.
“Of course you can buy one all made up,” said Bob. “But there’s not half the fun in operating that kind of set as there is in one that you’ve made yourself. ”

“ If you follow directions carefully. And with the new outfit a loop is just as effective an antenna as an outside aerial. They say, too, that to catch broadcasting for not more than twenty-five miles, not even a loop is needed, the circuits themselves acting as the absorbers of energy."
"I'm going to try it," declared Jessie, with more confidence. "But I feel that I understand so little about the various forms of radio, after all."
"You have nothing on me there," laughed the operator. "I am learning something new all the time. ”

“ You can see that very few telephone messages can be sent in the long-wave-length part of the radio range and many more, although not very many after all, in the short wave-length part of the radio range. You can also see why it is desirable to keep amateurs in the short wave-length part of the range where more of them can transmit simultaneously without interfering with each other or with commercial radio stations. ”

“ I told him about my visitor and the repair job. "What I did was add a modulator-oscillator-power amplifier, and a few feet of wire for an antenna, coiled around inside the case."
"So what does that make it?"
"Simple. It makes it a radio transmitter. Not only will he hear what the horses are saying, but anyone in town with a radio tuned to that frequency will, too."
"And where does that get you?" The sergeant was still puzzled but not bored now. ”

“ I sat down, seething, and mentally prepared some blistering hot coals to rake Grant over.
Having the radios installed turned out to be a pretty good idea, though. Our customers seemed to be pleased with the convenience of them, in spite of the fact that reception is poor in Banning because of the surrounding mountains.
The radios were attractive, with a walnut finish that blended with the maple furniture in the cabins. Each radio had a slot in the top where the noise-hungry customer could put his quarter for one hour of music, drama, comedy, quiz program, news or soap opera. ”

“ Just the same, only in radio telephony we are confronted by a problem not met with in wireless telegraphy. We have not only to transmit sound, such as isolated dots and dashes, but to send through the air every rise and fall and inflection of the human voice just as it is recorded in the minute lines of a phonographic record. ”