Hertzian Wave Wireless Telegraphy

by Sir J. A. Fleming

Dr. Slaby and Count von Arco, working in Germany, have followed very much on the same lines as Mr. Marconi, though with appliances of a somewhat different nature. As constructed by the General Electric Company, of Berlin, the Slaby-Arco syntonic system of Hertzian telegraphy is arranged in one form as follows:—The transmitter consists of a vertical rod like a lightning conductor, say, 100 or 150 feet in height. At a point six or nine feet above the ground, a connection is made to a spark ball (see Fig. 24), and the corresponding ball is connected through a variable inductance with one terminal of a condenser, the other terminal of which is connected to the earth. The two spark balls are connected to an induction coil, or alternating current transformer, and by variation of the inductance and capacity the frequency is so arranged that the wave-length corresponding to it is equal to four times the length of that portion of the aerial which is above the spark ball connection. The method by which this tuning is achieved is to insert in the portion of the aerial below the spark balls, between it and the earth, a hot wire ammeter of some form. It has already been shown that in the case of such an earthed aerial, when electrical oscillations are set up in it, there is a potential node at the earth and a potential anti-node or loop at the summit, if it is vibrating in its fundamental manner; also, there is a node of current at the summit of the aerial and an anti-node at the base. This amounts to saying that the amplitude of the potential vibrations is greatest at the top end of the aerial, and the amplitude of the current vibrations is greatest at the bottom or earthed end. Accordingly, the inductance and capacity of the lateral branch of the transmitter is altered until the hot wire ammeter in the base of the aerial shows the largest possible current.

Fig. 24.—Slaby-Arco Syntonic Transmitter and Receiver. I, induction coil; M, multiplier; B, battery; A, aerial; F, filings tube; R, relay; E, earth plate; C, condenser.

The corresponding receiver is constructed in a very similar manner. A lightning conductor or long vertical rod of the same height as the transmitting aerial is set up at the receiving station, and at a point six or nine feet from the ground a circuit is taken off, consisting of a wire loosely coiled in a spiral, the length of which is nearly equal to, although a little shorter than, the height of the vertical wire above the point of connection. The outer end of this loose spiral is connected to one terminal of the coherer tube, and the other terminal of the coherer is connected to the earth through a condenser of rather large capacity. The terminals of this last condenser are short-circuited by a relay and a single cell. When the adjustments are properly made, it is claimed that the receiver responds only to waves coming from its own syntonised or tuned transmitter. In this case the length of the receiving aerial above the point of junction with the coherer circuit is one quarter the length of the wave. A [variation of the above arangements] consists in making this lateral circuit equal in length to one-half of a wave, and connecting the coherer to its centre through a condenser to the earth. The outer end of this lateral circuit is also connected to the earth (see Fig. 24).[64]

Dr. Slaby claims that this arrangement is not affected by atmospheric electricity, and that the complete and direct earthing of the aerial and also in the second arrangement, of the receiver of the outer end of the lateral conductor, conduces to preserve the receiver immune from any electrical disturbances except those having a period to which it is tuned.

A method has also been arranged by him for receiving on the same aerial two messages from different transmitting stations simultaneously. In this case, two lateral wires of different lengths are connected to the receiving aerial, and to the outer end of each of these is connected a coherer tube, the other end of which is earthed through a condenser. One of these lateral wires is made equal, or nearly equal, in length to the aerial, and the other is made longer to fulfil the following condition.[65] If we call H the height of the receiving aerial above point of junction of the lateral wires, then the length of one lateral wire is made equal to H, and the height of the aerial is adjusted to be equal to one-quarter of the wave length of one incident wave. The other lateral wire may then be made of a length equal to one-third of H, and it will then respond to the first odd harmonic of that wave, of which the fundamental is in syntony with the vertical wire. By suitably choosing the relation between the wave-lengths of the two transmitting stations, it is possible to receive in this manner two different messages at the same time on the same aerial. Subsequently to the date of the above-mentioned demonstration of multiplex wireless telegraphy by Mr. Marconi an exhibition of a similar nature was given by Professor Slaby in a lecture given in Berlin on December 22, 1900.[66]

Fig. 25.—Lodge-Muirhead Syntonic Receiver. I, induction coil; S, spark gap; A, aerial; CC, condensers; E, earth plate; R, relay; L, variable inductance; F, filings tube; B, battery.

Both the above-described syntonic systems of Mr. Marconi and Dr. Slaby are "earthed" systems, but arrangements for syntonic telegraphy have been devised by Sir Oliver Lodge and Professor Braun which are "non-earthed."

Sir Oliver Lodge and Dr. Muirhead have devised also syntonic systems. According to their last methods, [the systonic transmitting] and receiving arrangements are as shown in Fig. 25.[67] On examining the diagrams it will be seen that the secondary terminals of the induction coil are, as usual, connected to a pair of spark balls, and that these spark balls are connected by a condenser and by a variable inductance. One terminal of the condenser is earthed through another condenser of large capacity, and the remaining terminal of the first condenser is connected to an aerial. It should, therefore, be borne in mind in dealing with electrical oscillations that a condenser of sufficient capacity is practically a conductor, and an inductance coil of sufficient inductance is practically a non-conductor. Hence the insertion of a large capacity in the path of the aerial wire is no advantage whatever and makes no essential difference in the arrangement. In order to obtain any powerful radiation, the length of the aerial, or sky wire, as they call it, must be so adjusted that its length is one-quarter the wave-length corresponding to the oscillation circuit, consisting of the condenser and variable inductance.