Radio Broadcast (May 1928-Apr 1929)

IHh MARCH OK RADIO SEEKS AND INIlUPUlTATIttN or niUUFNT USttD ESESISZ Aviation Must Come to the Use of Radio THE question of wireless received serious consideration," wrote Commandant James C. Fitzmaurice in the New York Times, after the first westward airplane flight across the Atlantic, "but it was decided that an efficient and useful wireless set would weigh approximately 1 80 pounds. It was decided that this weight of benzol would be better. This was the one weak point in the organization of the flight, as we now realize that had we had a wireless set on board, upon our estimated arrival in the neighborhood of Newfoundland, we could have been given almost our exact position by the direction-finding stations along the coast and informed of the precise direction and velocity of the wind over the area, and we would have made New York easily and accomplished our objective. We consider wireless absolutely necessary for all future undertakings of this nature." If radio could have enabled the German fliers to reach their goal, it may be argued with equal force that Nungesser, Coli, Hinchcliffe, Hamilton, St. Roman, and the other transatlantic fliers might well have made safe landings, guided through the hazardous Newfoundland region by compass bearings from Cape Race, Belle Isle, and Chebucto Head. Had the Bremen been properly equipped with radio, she would have landed in an airport and Floyd Bennett's tragic flight to aid the German aviators would have been unnecessary. Last year, the Bremen started a westward flight across the Atlantic but, warned by radio of unfavorable weather, returned to safety. Byrd's transatlantic flight was successful largely because of radio beacon signals although he did not make the most of his installation. Those who attempt long-distance flights without the aid that radio can give them, heroes or not, are both unscientific and foolhardy. The fact that some succeed in their undertaking without radio is no justification for recklessness. Only when transatlantic and international flights become common and scheduled occurrences will long-distance flying take its place among the useful arts of human society. Like radio, aviation must become a regular service which is expected to function satisfactorily and without failure. The scientific development of aeronautics has already advanced to the point where we have aircraft and aircraft motors which are entirely serviceable and reliable. Ships can be built to meet almost any reasonable requirement. Motors are still uneconomically shortlived, but their limitations are so well known that an ample factor of safety for any reasonable flight can be provided. The principal obstacles to everyday use of aviation are safety and cost. When the problem of safety is solved, the public will so quickly accept the airplane as a means of rapid travel that the cost of flights will fall to a point justified by the time which they save. Public confidence, based on reliable service, rather than spectacular feats, is the greatest need of aviation. The development of radio communication as an integral part of our commercial flying struc ture is the most important and the most neglected step to promoting safety in aviation. Its general adoption is not so much a matter of developing new equipment as one of convincing the aircraft industry of the value of radio. Radio serves the aeronaut in several distinct capacities. At all important landing fields, radio stations are required for the exchange of weather reports, to report the leaving and arrival of ships, to issue orders to aircraft in flight and to disseminate periodic weather reports. With a properly coordinated system of collecting and distributing weather information, storm warnings can be issued in ample time to assure the comfort of passengers and the safety of cargo. At least 500 low-power transmitting stations for this purpose will ultimately be required, as well as a few high-power transmitters to broadcast information to these landing field stations. Another important function of radio is to mark out the highways of the air and to keep the aviator on his course. The aircraft direction beacon, which radiates two directional signals at forty-five degrees from the prescribed course, has demonstrated its usefulness. The radiated signals consist of mechanically sent dots and dashes, so timed that, when a flier is exactly on his course, the combined signal received from both directional stations equally forms a single series of dashes. But should the pilot deviate from his course, the signal from one of the directional antennas predominates and produces a ABOARD A PRIVATE MOTOR YACHT The motor yacht Crusader, owned by A. K. Macomber of California is one of the most elaborately fitted yachts afloat, from the radio point of view. The ship has elaborate broadcast receiving equipment with loud speaker outlets in nearly every cabin. The illustration shows the 0.5-kw. voice transmitter aboard the Crusader distinctive signal, enabling him to determine whether the plane is to the right or to the left of the prescribed course. At a distance of more than fifty miles, short-wave beacons become erratic in their behavior and directional readings unreliable. Therefore aircraft direction beacons should be placed in operation each one hundred miles along the principal highways of the air. A third service is the aircraft beacon or radio lighthouse which gives a distinctive signal to a ship in flight when it is within a definite distance of a given marker point. In foggy and heavy weather, the radio beacon enables the flier to come sufficiently close to the landing field that its neon light beacon can guide him to a safe landing. Literally thousands of these low-power marker beacons are required to serve as the sign posts on the highways of the air. Recently, the Department of Commerce awarded a contract covering radio equipment for twelve radio-controlled stations, six radio beacons and twelve markers, at a total cost of slightly more than $150,000. The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics, William P. MacCracken, stated: "Radio telephone communication to the airplane is expected materially to decrease accidents and provide for stability of schedules with greater comfort to air travelers and may be considered the greatest need of air transportation to-day." The leaders of research in the radio industry have by no means neglected the requirements of aviation. The General Electric Company and the Westinghouse Company have developed standard models of directional signal transmitters and beacon equipment. The American Telephone & Telegraph Company has recently added an airplane to its experimental equipment at Whippany in order to perfect various types of aircraft radio-communication apparatus. Receivers which give visual indication of direction have been developed. The principal obstacle to the use of radio on aircraft arises out of the fact that radio is considered by the greater number of pilots only as an additional burden and nuisance. The airmen's opposition is singularly reminiscent of the ridicule which sea captains accorded radio when the first installations were being made on passenger ships. It required more than a decade of education to make the sailor welcome the radio operator. The aircraft pilot remembers radio as a necessary evil to his course in military flying. He complains of the radio helmet which he must wear, because it prevents him from hearing the functioning of his motors. His ear must be ever alert to observe the slightest irregularity in their functioning. But newly developed forms of radio equipment are day by day lessening the attention required on the part of the pilot to operate the radio equipment. A recent innovation, for example, is the installation of microphones in the fire wall at the aircraft's motors so that the pilot, wearing a radio helmet, can, by the flip of a switch, choose between the radio signal or the microphone's output. The latter gives him 129