“Yes, but that still leaves you in the dark as to whether the station is one mile away or a hundred miles,” observed Mr. Fennington, as Brandon paused.
“That’s very true,” answered the other. “And for that reason we can’t stop at using just one loop aerial. What we actually do is to have three stations, each one equipped with a loop. These three stations are located a good many miles apart. Now, with these three loops, we have three lines of direction. We lay out these lines on a chart of the territory, and where they intersect, is the place where the unlicensed station is located. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly,” said Mr. Fennington. “But what looks like a point on the map may be a large space on the actual territory.”
“Oh, yes, our work isn’t done by any means after we have got our first rough bearings,” continued Brandon. “Having determined the approximate position, we take the loops and receivers to what we know is a place quite near the station we’re after, and then we repeat the former process. This time it is much more accurate. Gradually we draw the net tighter until we find the antenna belonging to the offender, and then—well, we make him wish he hadn’t tried to fool the government.”
“You certainly have it reduced to an exact science,” acknowledged Mr. Fennington. “I don’t wonder that everybody interested in radio gets to be a fanatic.”
“We’ll make a ‘bug’ out of you before we get through, Dad,” declared Herb, grinning.
“If my load of silk is recovered through the agency of radio, I’ll be enthusiastic enough over it to suit even you fellows,” said his father. “It will mean the best set that money can buy for you if I get it back.”
“We’ll hold you to that promise,” threatened Herb. “Radio can do anything,” he added, with the conviction of a devotee.
“Well, pretty nearly everything,” qualified Mr. Brandon. “A little while ago it was considered marvelous that we could transmit the voice by radio, and now the transmission of photographs by radio has been successfully accomplished.”
“What!” exclaimed Mr. Fennington incredulously. “Do you mean to say that an actual recognizable photograph has been sent through the air by radio? That seems almost too much to believe.”