Amateurs were making progress taming the QRM problem. Sometimes a solution did not involve a new invention, or even technology at all. In a drama worthy of a Broadway play, Central Division Manager R. H. G. Mathews, 9ZN, described the bleak situation in Chicago before the war.1 Acute rivalry between local clubs had resulted in “gangs” in the north, south, and west sides of the city, “each having as a primary object the annihilation of the aerials of the others.” … Continue reading
While somewhat greater in number than before the war, women hams were still regarded by other amateurs with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. Nevertheless, even before the war several were already experienced as telegraph operators and had become prominent in message handling as amateurs. Coincident with the closing down of amateur activity for the war, an editorial in August 1917 announced that “The Ladies are Coming,” reporting that “several hundred of the fair sex” were now among the brethren, … Continue reading
In mid-February 1916, coincident with Maxim’s second article on relaying, one of the first organized relay tests was run. With everyone sharing very little spectrum, cooperation was the only way to avoid QRM (a constant fact of life at the time) and hear weak, distant signals. In a rare cooperative operation between an amateur group and the government, a relay test was conducted on Washington’s Birthday by Colonel W. P. Nicholson, 9XE at the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, and … Continue reading