In our Ancient DX Report for the year 1902, we report the comment of a radio historian who stated that the Navy in each major country of the world was now involved in studying and experimenting with wireless. We might also add that wireless was on the air experimentally in many different countries throughout the world during the year 1902: in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia & the South Pacific.
During
this particular year under review, the Japanese Navy established two experimental
wireless stations, one in Tokyo and the other in Yokasuka, as the first
wireless stations in Asia. The Marconi
company established two wireless stations in Africa, one in the Congo and
another in Angola, and these were the first wireless stations in that
continent.
Marconi
himself was involved with further experimental transmissions from ships; on the
“Philadelphia” in the Atlantic at a distance of 2099 miles from the Poldhu
station, and on the “Koh-i-Noor” (KOH-ee-noor) for the benefit of the assembled
governors from the various colonies in the British Empire. The tests from Poldhu to the “Philadelphia”
were radiated on 820 kHz mediumwave.
Marconi
was also involved with tests transmissions on board the Italian Navy vessel
“Carlo Alberto” and these experiments took place in the Mediterranean, off the
coast of European Russia, and in the Atlantic.
In fact at one stage, Marconi was granted the exclusive usage of the
“Carlo Alberto” almost as though it was his own mobile experimental wireless
station.
Both
France and Spain established land based wireless stations on an experimental
basis during the year 1902. The French
stations were established on Ushant Island, just off the western edge of
France, and the mainland station was at Brest, 50 miles distant. The Spanish stations were located at Cabo de
la Nao and Cabo Pelado, both on the Mediterranean coastline.
Over
in the United States, the Marconi company rebuilt the antenna system at their
Wellfleet station, CC, that had been destroyed in a windstorm at the end of
November in the previous year, 1901. In
August, the Marconi company also took out a lease on the Jacob’s property at
Fire Island, just off the coast of Long island, for the purpose of establishing
what became known as the Babylon Wireless Station.
Also
during the year 1902, Lee de Forest constructed a wireless station on the roof
of the Cheese Borough Building in New York City, and a companion station on the
Hotel Castleton on nearby Staten Island.
This Staten Island station is recognized as the word’s first
wireless/radio station ever built on the premises of a hotel. De Forest also obtained land near the Montauk
Lighthouse, right at the Atlantic end of Long Island, for the installation of a
wireless station.
In
the meantime, the Canadian born Reginald Fessenden was also busy on the
experimental wireless scene in the United States. On April 19, he gave a public demonstration
of his wireless equipment to several government officials, including army &
navy personnel, on Roanoke Island, North Carolina. Soon afterwards, he transferred the equipment
to another location, this time to Old Point Comfort in Virginia. Right at the end of the year, Fessenden was
awarded a patent for the transmission of voice messages by wireless.
During
the summer, Archie Collins conducted voice transmissions between ship and
shore. The two small ships involved in
this experimentation were the “John G. McCullough” and the “Ridgewood”, both
owned by the extensive Erie Railroad System.
Interestingly,
there was also a series of voice transmissions over on the west coast of the
United States. Young Francis McCarty
successfully transmitted experimental voice messages in the famous Golden Gate
Park to his brother Ignatius on the other side of Stow Lake.
During
this same era, three young men in New Zealand conducted their own successful
wireless experiments. James Logan sent
Morse Code signals across Wellington Harbour, at the bottom of the North
Island; a Mr. W. P. Huggins sent Morse Code signals across a short distance at
Timaru, in the middle of the eastern coast of the South Island; and Joe
Passmore, at the age of 17, sent Morse wireless messages in Dunedin, at the
bottom of the South Island.
It
was during the year 1902 that extensive building work was accomplished for a
huge new Marconi station near Sydney in Nova Scotia, Canada. This grand new station, located near the
coast at Table Head, Glace Bay, was made up with several buildings, including
the main transmitter building which was four times larger than the earlier
sister station at Poldhu in England.
The
four wooden aerial towers, made of pine wood, 210 feet high, stood at the corners
of a square 200 feet on each side. The
transmission cables at the top of these towers were 3 inches thick, and they
whipped around angrily when the power from the 75 kW alternator was
applied. The first day of
transmission tests from this new station at Glace Bay in Canada was November
19, 1902.
Around
this era the king of Germany, His Imperial Majesty Kaiser Wilhelm 2, became
very interested in the development of wireless, particularly for its usefulness
to the German navy.
It
is stated that a contingent of personnel from a German navy ship at berth in
Sydney Harbor, Nova Scotia in Canada, made their way to the new Marconi
wireless station at Table Head, Glace Bay.
It would appear that this event took place quite early in the year 1902.
This
group of 30 naval officers, under the leadership of the navy commander and
accompanied by the German wireless inventor, Professor Adolf Slaby, were intent
upon viewing the latest wireless developments as installed at this massive new
wireless station. The station manager,
Richard Vyvyan VIV-ee-an), opposed their entry, and stated that they would be
welcome, if they showed a letter of authority from Marconi or his company. The group demanding entrance to inspect the
station stated that His Imperial Majesty in Berlin would be much annoyed if his
men were not permitted to view the station.
Next
day, a company of 150 sailors showed up, in a much larger attempt to over run
the property. In a intuitive bid to
deter this “invasion”, as the radio historians call it, Vyvyan organized a
defensive force of local laborers who successfully opposed the attempt.
Next
month? Ancient DX Report for the year
1903.
(AWR Wavescan/NWS 199/A Peterson)photo/Italian Navy vessel, Carlo Alberto/
http://www.gwpda.org/naval/