38 Maple Ave., Stamford, Conn.
Jan. 6, 1916.
Mr. C. D. Tuska.
Dear Sir:
Have received first two issues of "QST" and think they are great.
I recently came home after being on a six month's trip on the S. S. Somerset (KSV) and I find that there have been numerous late developments in the "Amateur World," some of which I know practically nothing about, for instance the Oscillating Audion, which I believe to be due largely to the co-operation of the amateur operators through the American Radio Relay League.
I find very few points on which to criticize the advanced amateur and his work. One fault, however, is that very little has been done to help the "Spark Coil Amateur" do long distance work. Many amateurs are unable to have current installed in their homes either because they live too far away from current wires or else they cannot afford the cost of installation. Cannot amateurs find some means by which long distance work with a spark coil may be improved?
I have tried numerons experiments but can give only one suggestion for better work. That is: Place two bridges across the vibrator, one bridge not to be connected to the vibrator or to the batteries but to be placed across the vibrator. By means of a thumb screw the note can be varied. This arrangement not only produces a high, pleasing note, but also increases the radiation.
Yours very respectfully,
V. A. HENDRICKSON.
Mr. R. M. McLain of Huntsville, Alabama, writes in part:
As I was passing through the lonely hills of North Alabama, several days ago, I noticed a young lady of about seventeen years standing on a barrel at the foot of an aerial mast, repairing the aerial. I asked her what the trouble was and she explained that the wind blew down the mast every time she put it up. She had repaired it three times, in two weeks.
"Do you catch anything?" I asked.
"Oh, yes," she replied, "I used to, but do not now. Do you know anything about fixing a detector?"
I examined the neat little set and found it O.K. I asked her if she liked the work.
"Oh, yes, I am crazy about it; I listen all the time."
I glanced about the yard and saw several mules and cows, a yard full of chickens, an old-fashioned spinning wheel, in perfect shape, and with thread on it. It looked as if the young lady could operate anything from an old spinning wheel to a modern wireless telegraph.
Mr. W. B. Pope, Athens, Georgia, writes:
I use a Packard one-quarter kilowatt transmitting set (transformer), balance of set of my own construction. I am in constant communication with Macon, Georgia, a distance of 100 miles from here. I have just received a letter from. Mr. Charles W. Weber, Abington, Pennsylvania (about 10 miles north of Philadelphia) stating that he has been hearing me, as loudly as he has been hearing a one kilowatt set located within 200 miles of him.
In addition to a Packard one-quarter kilowatt transformer, I use three sections of Murdock moulded condenser, a high-speed rotary gap, giving almost 1,000 interruptions per second, an oscillation transformer, glass insulator, of my own make, and wound with edgewise copper strip, and an aerial only 70 feet high and 200 feet long, input to transformer, as when heard by above named party, three amperes.
This is one of the best records I have so far heard of, as the distance from Athens, Georgia, to Philadelphia. Pa., is between 700 and 800 miles. This was at 9:10 P. M. or thereabouts and when conditions for wireless were not the best.