Transcons at Record Speed

The League ran another round of transcontinental relays over several nights in January 1921, setting new records for coast-to-coast round-trip message relaying.1 Maxim’s station, 1AW, participated in several of them, even unplanned ones, operating all night with several guests sharing the duties as operators. On the first night, 14 January, the Hartford Courant and Los Angeles Times editors exchanged greetings, as did the editors at The San Francisco Examiner and Boston American. The second night, the mayors of Hartford and … Continue reading

Aerials, Attachments, and Audibility

Aside from the spark gap, the aerial was then, as the antenna system is today, a source of intense interest and experimentation. Aerials partly governed resonance in both transmitter and receiver, and therefore played an integral part in determining the wavelength of operation. In QST, The Old Man advised that amateurs should not simply make aerials as long as possible but stick with lengths of around 175 meters with short lead-in and ground connections, so as to stay close to … Continue reading