Radio Broadcast (Nov 1923-Apr 1924)

Record Details:

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When Cowboys Heard Bedtime Stories An Adventure in Receiving at a Grand Canyon "Dead Spot" By THOMAS H. McKEE VISITORS to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, at Bright Angel Point in Arizona, appalled by a sense of remoteness, have exclaimed: " Radio is made for just such places as this! Why doesn't somebody put in a receiving set?" In the light of the many trials and failures we have witnessed there, our answer has been: " Radio has been thoroughly tried out here and it won't work. The great forest about us absorbs too much of the strength of the ether waves; and with high amplification, static takes possession of the receiving set and drowns out all intelligible sounds. It can't be done. Nature is against it." This region eighty miles from a post-office and two hundred from a railroad station is probably the most remote area of its size in the United States, and therefore an ideal place for radio to show its worth. But, in spite of ambitious efforts of both novice and expert, the north rim has hitherto remained a blank spot on the radio map. The north rim stands a vertical mile above the river. Its altitude above sea level is eight to nine thousand feet. Northward from the brink spread a million acres of dense pine forest, cut by long side-canyons three to four thousand feet deep, each with precipitous walls and rocky rims. The chief obstacle to successful reception has been the astonishing prevalence of static electricity. It is rampant both night and day, and as no one remains in the region in winter, the experiments have all been carried on in summer when static conditions are at their worst. All through the summer thunder-storms are frequent, with lightning stabbing viciously and constantly at the high pinnacles and promontories which stand out from the rim. No wise person ever stays near the Canyon's brink during these electrical bombardments, though withdrawal a few hundred yards from the verge brings one into a zone of reasonable safety. Standing there the stranger is filled with awe as his ear-drums are pounded by the mighty thunder-claps and the rolling reverbations from the Canyon walls. It suggests some bitterly fought contest of unseen Titans, whose struggles threaten the overthrow of the precipices themselves. It is no uncommon thing for persons in shaking hands with one another to be startled by a spark passing between them. One wearing a silk-lined coat draws it off and on touching some other object emits a spark that lights his tent at night. But most curious of all this static phenomena is the effect frequently seen on people's hair. Persons standing on the tip of Bright Angel Point often feel their hair pulled strongly upward; and to see a bobbed-haired girl standing there with her hat off and her abbreviated locks stretched skyward into a sharp pointed cone is not only one of the most ridiculous of spectacles but one that brings spooky thoughts to the steadiest minds. Even the United States Government failed in a serious and expensive effort to establish radio communication here. In 191 7 elaborate sending and receiving apparatus was set up on Bright Angel Point, and also on the south rim just across the Canyon. The main purpose was to establish communication between the two rims. Although the air-line distance is only thirteen miles complete failure resulted. Radio science has advanced greatly since then, but so discouraging was the report on the general static situation on the north rim that despite the sore need for such communication Uncle Sam's men have never tried it again. Two telephone lines lead into the region from the outside world. They are single wires with ground return, and static interferes with their operation so seriously that for long spells nothing intelligible can be sent over them. Thus it is that the rangers, hunters, cowboys, and occasional visitors, who make up the