HISTORY #20: From "Modern Electrics and Mechanics" - April, 1914
We have a clipping that was found tucked in the pages of this issue - so it may have been from this time period. Other parts of this clipped page show meats, such as Australian mutton, with prices per pound ranging from 16 cents to 24 cents! Also, an ad that lists 2 six-octave pianos for sale, values to $150.00, and phonographs to $37.60 - I think this may be an ad from J.J.H. McLean & Co. Ltd. (Fine Pianos since 1881), who are still in business here in Winnipeg! Anyway, here is the news item of interest to Hams:-
LOCAL WIRELESS EXPERTS CONNECT WITH ST. LOUIS
Complete Equipment Installed by Amateurs Being Used Each Night
Though it is generally not known, Winnipeg has an aggregation of wireless telegraphy experts with a fully equipped outfit and experiments conducted this week have resulted in communication being established between St. Louis and Winnipeg and Grand Forks and this city.
The experiments have been conducted by the Canadian Central Wireless club, which elected Harold E. Mott, president, at the annual meeting last night, with Alex. Polson, vice-president, and E.A. Dunn as secretary-treasurer. At the meeting it was announced that the club has just completed the installation of a modern wireless equipment. An aerial, 125 feet high and 100 feet long has been erected on the Cockshutt building at the corner of Princess street and Alexander avenue.
Preliminary tests were held the other evening by Harold E. Mott and Ben Lazarus and they succeeded in communicating with St. Louis, Grand Forks and several other points. Special nights have been set aside for each member to use the aerial. So the outfit will be in use every night.
And now, from the 1914 issue of Modern Electrics and Mechanics:
In the Questions and Answers section, Question #54 (three parts) was sent in by Alex. Polson, Winnipeg, on the subject of the Wave-Length of Loose Coupler
Q. 1.— If the primary of a loose coupler is placed in series with the antenna it is possible to tune to a wave-length of 500 meters when the coil is used as a single slide tuner. IF the secondary is used in the same manner it is again possible to tune to 500 meters. What will be the wave-length to which it is possible to tune when the coils are used as a loose coupler?
A, 1.— It is not possible to give you the data asked for because you did not say anything about the size of the antenna. If used as a loose coupler on the same antenna you would be able to tune to about 500 meters more.
Q. 2.— If the natural wave-length of an antenna is 175 meters and I tune to an incoming wave by means of a wavemeter, do I get a reading of the true value of the received wave-length or do I get 175 meters additional?
A. 2.— Using your wavemeter as is ordinarily done you will get the true reading because you are tuning your wavemeter circuit to correspond to a secondary circuit which is in tune with the whole primary circuit of the receiver tuned to the incoming wave.
Q. 3.— If a wavemeter has a coil of inductance of 35 microhenries and then has this coil replaced by one of 52 microhenries, will the original maximum wave-length of 1500 meters be increased by the amount proportional to the square roots of the inductances?
A. 3.— Yes.
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And, in an ad for "Boys' Life", the official magazine of the Boy Scouts of America, a list of the eminent men in all walks of life who are contributors for 1914 are:
Hon. Woodrow Wilson, Col. Theodore Roosevelt, Hon. William Howard Taft, Judge Ben B. Lindsey, Dr. David Starr Jordan, Ernest Thompson Seton, Dan Beard, Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell, Admiral George Dewey, and Sir Robert S. S. Baden-Powell.
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And here is an item of specific interest to those living in Northern Ontario. Maybe a reader can pinpoint the exact location of the site of this wireless receiving station at Miller Lake.
Wireless in the North, by J. Walter F. Chipman
At the best, Northern Ontario is a desolate forest. Yet there are thousands of men depending upon its resources for their food and sustenance; chief of their labors being mining and, of course, lumbering. As, for the most part, these busy little hives of humanity are situated a good distance from the railway serving this part of the country, all news of the outside world is late in reaching them. As an instance, the Montreal and Toronto newspapers do not reach their destinations till sometimes four and even five days after date of publication.
Not the least of these centers is the Miller Lake Silver Mine, nearly thirty miles from the nearest station on the railway. Here the miners have to read their newspapers when they are two days old, and in case of heavy rainstorms, making travel slow, or the wind blowing scores of giant trees across the forest thoroughfares, thus necessitating the use of the stage-driver's axe, the mails are delayed another day.
But now the men are not so handicapped, as far as news is concerned, for there is installed on the property a complete wireless receiving set. As yet, owing to lack of sufficient electrical energy, there is no sending equipment, but it is planned to put in a 10 kw. set within the next three months, in order that business may be done with Toronto, the manager's headquarters.
The aerial of the station consists of three No. 12 aluminum wires; two being 250 feet long, spaced 6 feet apart, and the other is strung off at a 90 degree angle, 1,500 feet long. The pole is 90 feet high, and is on a hill that overlooks the surrounding forest. For the ground an iron pipe is used, imbedded in the bottom of a lake about 100 feet from the station. All the apparatus is set up in a corner of one of the numerous residences. It consists of a Navy type tuner, one sliding-plate and two rotary condensers, a fixed condenser, two sets of 2,000 ohm phones, a loading coil, buzzer and two detectors. As, by the long length of the aerial, it is almost impossible to tune in short wave stations, the sliding-plate condenser is put in the ground circuit to reduce the natural wave length.
With this outfit, all the world's important doings are received direct from New York through the Sayville station and the mine's clocks are checked by Washington. Early each morning the news, as received the previous evening, is typewritten on sheets and posted up on the bulletin boards and eagerly read by the couple of hundred men employed by the mine. After the press is through, a half hour or so is spent in picking up different stations. So far, no trouble has been experienced to get Pensacola, Key West, Guantanamo Bay and many coast stations.
As may be expected, the station has had not a few visits from interested as well as curious and even unbelieving callers from the different mines around. Recently a prominent member on the staff of a Cobalt paper took the time and trouble to come over the 150 odd miles to spend the evening listening to the dots and dashes.
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A notice of interest.
A score of amateur radio operators gathered together at the rooms of the Hartford Automobile Club and formed "The Radio Club of Hartford". One of the main objects of the organization is to improve interference conditions which are rather bad in this vicinity. Plans are now being made to aid its members in the radio science and a very interesting program is assured for the meetings which are to be held once a fortnight. Mr. David L. Moore was elected president of the club and Mr. Clarence D. Tuska was chosen secretary-treasurer. Any correspondence may be directed to the secretary in care of the Automobile Club of Hartford, Trumble street, Hartford.
If you have any comments about the above, or can elaborate on its contents, please e-mail
gilfred@pangea.ca