In the second topic in this mini-series here in Wavescan, we return to the early radio scene in the Canadian Province of Manitoba. It was in the year 1910, that Dr. Lee de Forest of the United Wireless Telegraph Co., made his first official visit to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
United Wireless rented an imposing suite of offices in the recently constructed Union Bank Building on Main Street in Winnipeg for the purpose of establishing the company's international public headquarters for a growing wireless enterprise. The six-year-old 10-story high Union Bank Building, with its steel framework and ornamental stone facing, was described as the first skyscraper building in Canada.
Dr. Lee de Forest arrived in Winnipeg on Wednesday, April 13 (1910), whereupon he was interviewed by news reporters from three different newspapers. As he explained, United Wireless planned to establish a wireless laboratory and factory in Winnipeg, and they had already leased space for this purpose in the Enderton Building at the corner of Portage Avenue and Hargrave Street.
They also intended to erect a long-distance wireless station in the Winnipeg area for Morse Code and voice communication via a chain of relay stations between their Chicago master station and the American Pacific coast. The implementation of voice transmissions was planned with the use of their newly developed Aerophone wireless equipment.
On a Thursday evening (April 14, 1910), de Forest presented the first of three lectures on recent wireless developments to an overflow crowd in the Science Building at the University of Manitoba. On a Tuesday morning, (April 19, 1910) de Forest presented a practical demonstration of his Aerophone wireless equipment (both transmitter and receiver) on the roof of the Royal Alexandra Hotel and on the roof of Eaton's Department Store.
The portable transmitter was housed in a polished mahogany wooden cabinet, and the receiver in a separate though similar cabinet. The transmitter in the second pair of similar wireless units was damaged in transit, so only one transmitter was in use for the public demonstration, though with two receivers.
The public demonstration of wireless transmission took place at two major locations in Winnipeg. The 500-watt portable transmitter was installed on the rooftop of the Royal Alexandra Hotel on Higgins Avenue, and the portable receiver was installed on the rooftop of Eaton's Departmental Store on Portage Avenue, a distance of less than a mile.
Transmissions in Morse Code, speech, and music from a gramophone record, were transmitted and successfully received, and it was stated that the audio quality of the music reproduction was equivalent to the same sound as gramophone records of that era. The newspapers of the day were profuse with their high commendations for the magnificent success of the experimental radio transmissions.
So, what happened after all that in the extensive de Forest ambitions for radio developments in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Nothing, just absolutely nothing!
However in February of the following year 1911, the first wireless club in Canada was formed, the Canadian Central Wireless Club, with Alex Polson as the first president, and twelve young men as members. The annual fee for membership in this now historic wireless club was 50 cents, per year.
The club members built their own spark wireless equipment, usually based on a Ford Model T ignition coil. One of their favorite wireless games was Checkers (Draughts), using numbered squares. The wireless club members usually played against wireless students who were studying with the new Kelvin Technical College on Harrow Street in Winnipeg.
Then during the year 1913, two commercial wireless communication stations were installed in Manitoba in conjunction with the development of a new regional railway line, one at The Pass and the other at Fort Nelson. Both stations operated on longwave with 10 kW on 1800 m, 66 kHz, and the first operators were capable of receiving and sending in two different systems of Morse Code, American and Continental.
The first test signals were received at The Pass station VBM, on November 22, 1913; and early in the next year, on February 20 (1914), the Port Nelson station VBN was taken into full service. There was also another similar station at Port Arthur, which operated under the callsign VBA.
However with changing circumstances after the end of World War 1, the railway line was no longer needed, so the two wireless stations, VBN at Port Nelson and VBM at The Pass, were closed, permanently closed.
When we visit the radio scene in the Canadian province of Manitoba, we will look at the introduction of radio broadcasting, which began one hundred years ago, during the year 1922
(AWR-Wavescan/Adran Peterson)
(photo via wikiwand)
