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ON CUBAN SANDS
The party which installed the station had to live in tents for some time before other buildings could be put up to house them
How Wireless Came to Cuba
The Drama and Struggle of Strenuous Radio Times in the Jungle— Hitherto Unpublished Memoirs of High Technical and Human Interest —What Really Happened in the Early Days of Wireless Telegraphy
BY FRANK E. BUTLER
Former Chief Assistant to Dr. Lee De Forest
THE way we went about building a wireless telegraph station in 1905 was an entirely different procedure from that followed to-day when the modern radio engineer starts out to construct a broadcasting or any other type of radio station.
Instead of blue prints to guide us in those pioneer days we used only past "experience," and our stock of that was mighty limited. If past "experience" failed as a means of attaining further satisfactory results, then we relied upon patience and determination. These unscientific assets were all we had to help us in the working out of each new problem.
Up to this time, three high powered stations had been erected by Dr. Lee De Forest, one at the St. Louis World's Fair, one at Pensacola, and the third at Key West, Florida. These stations, while practically of the same
design and construction, had presented in their building individual problems which had to be worked out These experiences had somewhat tempered our conceit as to what we thought we knew about installation. We began to realize the uncertainty of any set radio laws, and to expect anything to happen, or fail to happen.
This was the situation when I went to Guantanamo, Cuba, to erect the next in the series of five powerful stations to be built by Dr. De Forest for the United States Navy Department.
I sailed from Key West early in the spring of 1905 for Havana from whence I was to take a train overland to Santiago and from there embark once more by boat to within a few miles of my destination.
A brief stay in the delightful city of Havana