Radio broadcast .. (1922-30)

496 Radio Broadcast keen pleasure and relief. You radio fans who enjoy making your own sets and revel in the thrill of "hearing results" for the first time, can perhaps appreciate to a degree the sensation that was ours that evening. From this time on "PN" worked perfectly, and it was not long before we were heard by distant Northern stations. KEY WEST GETS STATION /COURAGE soared. V> It was time for another "forward march!" Leaving the Pensacola station in charge of the Navy wireless operators, I departed for Key West, overland, by way of Tampa, and thence by steamer. Even if I .had not taken a snapshot . of it, I should still be able to visualize the primitive engine that went ambling leisurely from Pensacola to Tampa, an engine of the "diamond stack" wood burning type. About every twentyfive miles cords of three foot stove wood (Were loaded on the tender, to be consumed during the I next twenty-five miles with much belching of I smoke that, compared to coal smoke, was a 'grateful odor. Arriving at the Tampa docks just before noon, I had lunch, after which I found my finances reduced to exactly five cents. My boat ticket included meals, but the boat was not to leave until evening. There was nothing but a railroad yard at the Tampa docks, and the city itself was ten miles distant. So, with insufficient carfare to "go to town" there was nothing to do during the long afternoon but to watch the fish from the dock. It did not occur to me to mourn over being broke, for, during those early days of wireless, being broke was the usual condition with all of us, and being flush meant knowing where next month's rent ALL IN THE DAY S WORK Here are the laborers pumping out water from the "ground excavation" at Pensacola to enable the diggers to get at their job of making a place for the large copper ground plate and below, the gang of diggers shovelling sand for the "ground" excavation at Pensacola. Some of them had to work waist deep in the cofferdam. The peculiar character of the ground connection here led to some unusual and very discouraging difficulties was coming from. And it was worth it, the fight, the privation, the anxiety. And even if any of us had had it in us to weaken, it would have been impossible with De Forest always at the helm, an inspiring leader. I found him at Key West in his wireless station set in the midst of a picturesque tropical grove. Cocoanut, banana, and palm trees completely surrounded the station and the living quarters of the wireless crew. So far as climate and scenery were concerned, this island was an ideal place in which to live. But the restaurants were exceedingly poor. The only appetizing food was rice and hard rolls. Although fish was abundant, no one seemed to know how to cook it. When our work was going fairly well (comparatively speaking) we felt rather disturbed about this inadequate food supply. But when trying to solve seemingly unsoluble problems, we scarcely knew whether we ate or not. Spread majestic ally over the trees of the grove that surrounded the station was the huge triangular cage antenna consisting of 45,000 feet of wire, suspended from three equi-distant masts, two hundred feet high. The radio fan who has used seven .stranded phosphor bronze wire for antenna purposes knows how stubborn and kinky it is and how difficult to handle. Think, then, of the difficulty of this antenna installation owing to the density of the tree foliage and the prevalence of high winds. Many improvements in the wireless apparatus were noted at this station, and the quality of the spark at "KW" (as it was then called) was better than hitherto heard. Most notable of these changes were new ideas in receiving tuning devices. We made a definite endeavor to overcome the incessant static.