DX RXThe Doctor of DX prescribes the |  |
DX RXThe Doctor of DX prescribes the | |
Most of us are already familiar with the landmark work of Guglielmo Marconi. In the early 1890’s he was taught by Professor Vincenzo Rosa at the University of Balogna, who was highly knowledgeable in the mathematics of Maxwell and the electromagnetic experiments of Heinrich Hertz and other contemporary scientists of the day. By 1895, young Marconi was putting this knowledge to practical use, and began improving upon the inventions of Faraday (induction coil), Hertz (wave emitter), Rhigi (spark gap), Branly (coherer) and Morse (telegraph key) to make a device with which he could communicate over a short distance without the use of wires. Eventually he relocated his equipment outdoors in order to work over greater distances. He soon learned that by connecting the output of his device to an "antenna" and that, by grounding both transmitter and receiver, he could dramatically increase the distance over which he communicated. By the close of 1895 he was communicating with his brother Alphonso over a distance greater than one mile. Practical wireless communications had been born. i
What may be less obvious is the fact that there was a major body of scientific work, dating back nearly 300 years, from which Marconi was able to extract his ideas. In 1600 William Gilbert suggested that there may be a link between the phenomena of static electricity and magnetism. In 1831 Michael Faraday first demonstrated the principle of electromagnetic induction; in 1942 Joseph Henry discovers and publishes papers on oscillatory discharges from a Leyden Jar condenser; Samuel Morse sends his now-famous “What hath God wrought!” message over the first long-distance land telegraph system in 1844; in 1864 James Clerk Maxwell formulates his “Maxwell’s Equations”, which account for actions of electromagnetic waves, and Mahlon Loomis makes a sketch of a keyed vertical capacitively-loaded aerial device and an inductor, all in series. He later applies for, and receives (1872), a patent for a form of wireless communications; in 1875 Werner Siemens shows that electricity travels along a wire at nearly the velocity of light; Heinrich Hertz, in 1887, proves Maxwell's theory that electricity can travel through space, and that these waves share the same physical properties as light; finally, in 1894, Marconi reads about Heinrich Hertz’s discovery of electromagnetic waves, and begins his own experiments. Which leads us up to where we left off.
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| Guglielmo Marconi |
Throughout the remainder of the 1890s, Marconi continued to improve upon his equipment, installed the first commercial wireless station on an island off the coast of Ireland, installed his equipment in British warships, and reported on the America’s Cup races using wireless to get information to shore. But being a realist, he knew that, in order to gain true acceptance, he would have to demonstrate the long-haul capability of wireless to the skeptical scientific community, who said that communications over anything greater than line-of-site was impossible, and to the military, who would have the greatest need.
In his now-famous experiments between Cornwall, England and Newfoundland, Marconi stunned the world on December 16, 1901, when he announced that he had succeeded in bridging the Atlantic with his radio signals.ii Given this incredible news, one would think that wireless would “take off” and be available everywhere. Sadly, such was not the case. Marconi’s company continued to languish in some obscurity and, by 1912, there were only about 400 commercial vessels utilizing wireless. However, both here in the United States and abroad in the UK, individual experimenters were starting to dabble in radio, and by 1909 the first radio clubs began forming.
Most radio historians place the beginnings of “amateur” radio at around 1908-1909. In that year a new magazine called “Modern Electrics” began publication and over the next two years its circulation increased from 2,000 to more than 30,000. It was also at this time that the first how-to book for “amateurs” appeared, “Wireless Telegraph Construction for Amateurs”.
In the first of a 30-part weekly series of articles on the history of amateur radio (appearing in “The Hudson Loop”, the weekly newsletter of the ARRL Hudson Division), Bill Continelli, W2XOY, states that “It is difficult to know exactly how many amateur stations were on the air in this completely unregulated, laissez-fair era, but reliable estimates put the number of ‘major’ stations (i.e. capable of communication over 10 miles) at 600, while ‘minor’ stations with a one or two mile range probably numbered 3000 or more. Thus, if a year had to be arbitrarily chosen as the start of amateur radio, it would probably be 1908.” Mr. Continelli goes on to assert “As for the ‘first’ amateur, that’s a harder one. Without licensing, regulations, or a written record, there will never be a definitive answer to this question. However, ‘The Wayback Machine’ has come up with the name W.E.D. Stokes, Jr. He was a founding member and the first President of the first amateur radio club—the Junior Wireless Club, Limited, of New York City. This organization was formed on January 2, 1909. The "Junior Wireless Club" was the precursor to the Radio Club of America. Other founding members who might lay claim to the title ‘first amateur’ were George Eltz, Frank King, and Fred Seymour.”iii Not everyone agrees with this particular series of assessments.
While researching various websites for historical reference material, I stumbled onto a fascinating, but rather lengthy, paper by Berj N. Ensanian, KI3U.iv The paper attempts to prove the assertion that a Mr. Leslie Miller, A.I.E.E., is perhaps the first true “radio amateur”, due primarily to the fact that in January, 1898 he published an article in the British hobby magazine “The Model Engineer and Amateur Electrician” titled “The New Wireless Telegraphy. Some Interesting Experiments for Amateurs.” Little, if anything, is known about this Mr. Miller, and his title of “A.I.E.E.” is assumed to mean “American Institute of Electrical Engineers”, the precursor to the IEEE Neither is it asserted or known if Mr. Miller was, indeed, an American, as his credentials might have us believe, or possibly British, in that the article appeared in the premier issue of subject magazine. In all likelihood, these and similar questions may remain unanswered. But does it really matter? It is rather like trying to prove who was the first stamp collector, or who was the first model airplane builder. The simple fact is that, as early as 1898, construction articles began appearing in various magazines, and during the period from near the turn of the century until about 1908 or 1909, more and more experimentally inclined individuals began to take an interest in wireless communications, either for scientific and profit-motive reasons, or for purely personal reasons.
It was also during the decade from 1901- 1910 that J.A. Fleming, who was incidentally working for Marconi at the time, invented the 2 element vacuum tube (the diode, 1904), and Dr. Lee De Forest developed the 3 element vacuum tube (the triode, 1906, patented 18 February, 1908 under U.S. Patent No. 879,532).
These two events, in and of themselves, were seminal in the development of modern radio, and would ultimately pave the way for its rapid growth. The diode “valve”, as vacuum tubes were then called (and are often still called by the British), provided the means of rectifying alternating current into pulsating direct current, which could then be filtered to provide a ready source of power. However, it was very inefficient in controlling current flow through the tube when a signal was applied to the cathode. By inserting a “control grid” between the valve’s cathode and anode, and by applying a proper value of “biasing” voltage, De Forest discovered that a small audio signal
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| First Audion Valve – circa 1907 |
By 1911 it has been estimated that there were as many as 10,000 amateurs in this country alone. Given that all radio transmitters were sparkgap and occupied virtually all of the radio spectrum, and that communications, be it commercial or amateur, was totally unregulated, it is easy to understand the horrible interference and confusion which was prevalent on the air. Cooperation between transmitting stations was required, yet sadly such cooperation did not occur and, indeed, oftentimes deliberate jamming was carried out, particularly
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| Dr. Lee De Forest - 1907 |
On the night of April 14, 1912 the HMS Titanic struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York. Documentation of that now famous incident would most likely fill a library. Condensed down, the historical importance of that terrible night for us present day amateur radio operators is that the first true SOS signals were sent, 713 lives were saved, and the world, for the first time in history, knew about a disaster far at sea long before the rescue ships reached port in New York a day later. Speculation abounds that more lives, perhaps nearly all, could have been saved, had it not been for the interference, the fake messages being sent by unknowns, and the total lack of radio discipline. But of this we are certain; the world had been given a wakeup call to the importance of radio, and to the urgent need for “on air” discipline and control of the spectrum. The impact of that solitary event was to profoundly change radio and its development, both for commercial and amateur interests, forever.
In Part II, we’ll take a look at the aftermath of the Titanic disaster and the resultant Radio Act of 1912, continuous wave (CW), the formation of the ARRL, and events leading up to World War I.
For now, best 73 es Good DX, de K7CTW
i "The Father of Radio" by M.G. Graham, K7CTW, NARC Bulletin for Sept., 1998. http://www.n1fd.org/bulls/1998/9809/dxrx.html
ii "The Father of DX" by M.G. Graham, K7CTW, NARC Bulletin for October, 1998. http://www.n1fd.org/bulls/1998/9810/dxrx.html
iii "The Wayback Machine – Part #1: A series on the origin and history of Amateur Radio" by Bill Continelli, W2XOY. http://hudson-loop.org/waybak1.html
iv "The Grandfather of Amateur Radio" by Berj N. Enssanian, KI3U. http://carcs3.wustl.edu/~gary/Ham/miller_article.html