Radio broadcast .. (1922-30)

Developments in High-Power Radio 401 ment by radio with our Atlantic, Pacific, and Asiatic Fleets and to afford our government a means of communicating with our outlying possessions in the West Indies, the Panama lanal Zone, Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, iamoa, Guam, and the Philippines, either di•ectly or through intermediate radio relay itations, and entirely independent of cable facilities. The Navy's main high-power circuit was to comprise, in addition to the Arlington station, primary high-power stations at points on the California coast, in the Hawaiian Islands, and in the Philippines. It was hoped that reliable rans-Continental service could be maintained between the Arlington station and a primary station on the California coast, thence with awaii and thence with the Philippines. Secondary high-power stations in the primry chain were planned, one for the Canal Zone, »ne for the West Indies, one fa* Alaska, one for Samoa, and one for Guam, to work with Arlington direct or through one or more of the primary stations. Other stations of medium power were planned, but these nine stations were to be the principal reliances or key stations for exchanging communication with our three Fleets and with our outlying possessions. Work was gotten under way without delay, and within five years all of the eight remaining stations were completed and placed in operation as were also several less important stations. These nine key stations are located at Arlington in Virginia, Darien in the Panama Canal Zone, El Cayey in Porto Rico, San Diego in California, Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands, Cordova in Alaska, Tutuila in American Samoa, Guam in the Mariana Islands, and Cavite in the Philippine Islands. These stations, extending nearly halfway around the world, have been maintained in daily operation since their establishment and they have rendered the service originally expected and required of them, with the exception of the Arlington station, this station having been supplanted as the terminus of the high-power circuit by the more powerful station subsequently established at Annapolis, Maryland. Thus it will be seen that within an interval of about twenty-five years after Marconi's epoch-making demonstrations when he signalled, without utilizing connecting wires, over distances of from one to eight miles, the United States Navy had in daily operation in the services of its Fleets and the Government in general, a chain of radio stations whose signals constantly were encompassing the globe, this chain of stations being the most widely extended, most effective and reliable, and comprising the greatest number of high-power radio stations of any country in the world. The effective working ranges of these stations throughout all periods of the day and night and all seasons of the year is from 2,ooc miles for the less powerful stations to 6,ooc miles for the most powerful stations, such as th~ Cavite station in the Philippines; and these effective ranges, together with the widely separated locations of the stations and the fact that they are operated practically continuously, results in electrical impulses corresponding to the " dots" and "dashes" of the radio code corn Upper section of one of the Navy's standard 6oo-foot self-supporting towers extending high up into the clouds. Note that the large antenna insulators are barely visible