FIG. 108.—U. S. Signal Corps pack sets shown open and closed. Receiving apparatus on the left.
The tests were made under all sorts of road and weather conditions but no great difficulty was experienced in establishing communication over distances varying from 35 to 50 miles.
There is probably no application of wireless telegraphy, however, quite as picturesque as the combination of wireless and an aeroplane and the idea of a double seated aeroplane carrying an aviator and a wireless operator hovering over a hostile country to keep the commanding officer informed of all conditions and movements of the enemy.
FIG. 109.—The receiving apparatus of the airship "America" (Wellman expedition).
The huge dirigible balloon Akron in which Melville Vanniman proposed to cross the Atlantic Ocean was fitted with wireless equipment in order to transmit news of the expedition en route to various of the daily newspapers of New York and London and also in case of an accident or emergency to summon aid.
FIG. 110.—Interior of the N. Y. "Herald" (O. H. X.) press station.
The equipment is interesting because of the peculiar conditions imposed upon instruments to be used under such circumstances. A three kilowatt transformer, the latest type of musical rotary gap and a valve detector were included in the outfit. It was proposed to obtain the necessary ground connection by trailing a 1200 foot phosphor bronze ground lead in the ocean. The frame of the balloon was to be used as the aerial. Should it have become necessary to take the lifeboat which the balloon carried, a kite would have been raised and by substituting a copper wire in lieu of a string an aerial provided, and once more a CQ D and its appeal for aid would have gone vibrating forth through the ether.
