"I ought to know something about it by this time," said Mr. Brandon. "Uncle Sam has me working for him now as radio inspector, so I'm supposed to know something about it."
"Mr. Brandon was with the aviation radio branch of the service during the war," explained Dr. Dale, "and he has seen radio telephony develop from almost nothing to what it is to-day."
"Yes, it was the war that speeded up the growth of radio," said Mr. Brandon. "It revolutionized war in the air, and made it possible to control the movements of airplanes in a way that had never, been dreamed of before."
"You must have had some mighty interesting and exciting work," ventured Herb.
"All of that," admitted Dr. Dale's friend, with a smile. "Once our whole station was wrecked by a bomb dropped on it from an enemy plane. Luckily, we all had time to duck out before the bomb landed, but there wasn't anything left of our fine station but a big hole in the ground and bits of apparatus scattered around over the landscape. There were very few dull moments in that life."
"It doesn't sound very dull," said Bob, laughing.
"I can assure you it wasn't," said the radio expert. "But in the case I was telling you about, our airmen brought down the fellow who had dropped the bomb, which made us feel a little better."
"There's some interesting stuff coming in now," said Dr. Dale, who had been listening in at the receiving set. "They're sending out news bulletins now, and I'd advise you to listen for a bit. It's away ahead of reading a newspaper, I assure you."
"Besides being easier on the eyes," grinned Mr. Brandon. "Let's hear what it's all about."
Sitting at ease, they heard many important news items of the day recorded. There was a little interference from an amateur sender, but they finally managed to eliminate this almost entirely by manipulation of the tuning coil.