Wireless Work in Wartime-L 



The beginning of a series which will cover every 

 present-day application of the principles of wireless 



By John L. Hogan, Jr. 



IN military and naval warfare there are 

 many times when no man is of more 

 importance than the radio operator. 

 Upon his speed and accuracy, and on his 

 knowledge of the principles of his appa- 

 ratus, may depend the failure or success of 

 great strategic moves. Radio amateurs 

 and operators, as well as those who have 

 an aptitude for this work and are now 

 taking it up, are indeed fortunate in having 

 the opportunity to serve the Nation so 

 well in the present crisis. Radio operators 

 are needed in the Sig- 

 nal Corps of the Army 

 and in several branches 

 of the Naval service, 

 including the new fleet 

 of submarine chasers 

 now being equipped. 

 The call for men to 

 take up these classes of 

 military work will leave 

 other positions open, 

 particularly with the 

 commercial radio or- 

 ganizations, positions 

 which probably can be 

 effectively filled by 

 competent women. 

 There is and will con- 

 tinue to be a demand for skillful wireless op- 

 erators, both experienced and newly trained. 



Fundamental Knowledge 



The fundamental knowledge which all 

 radio operators must possess relates to the 

 use of the Continental or International 

 Morse code. It is absolutely essential to 

 be able to send well-formed Morse char- 

 acters rapidly, and to have the ability to 

 write clean "copy" when receiving signals 

 from a distant station. Without this 

 ability none can claim to be a radio oper- 

 ator. And of only slightly less importance 

 is the understanding of the basic principles 

 of the apparatus used, together with the 

 ability to adjust it quickly and accurately. 

 This first article will take up the study of 

 the code, pointing out not only the best 

 and quickest way to learn it but also the 

 elements which characterize good and bad 

 sending. Just as many engineers fail to 



PERIOD 



FIG 

 Letter chart with dots 

 cross section paper to 



appreciate what is going on inside their 

 instruments, so many operators fail to 

 realize that there are good reasons for a 

 number of rules of sending which appear 

 unimportant at first glance. Either atti- 

 tude leads to results which must necessarily 

 be poor when compared with what is 

 attainable by a little careful study. 



It has been stated as a general rule 

 that men and women who have a feeling 

 for musical rhythm make the best teleg- 

 raphers. It seems curious that the same 

 quality of beating time 

 enters so strongly into 

 both music and teleg- 

 raphy. A keen time- 

 sense, or the ability to 

 note and correct small 

 variations in time in- 

 tervals, is of extreme 

 importance to the tele- 

 graph operator. This 

 is because the tele- 

 graph signals are sent 

 by turning electric 

 currents on and off 

 for definite times. 

 The elements of the 

 Continental code 

 are dots, dashes 

 and spaces. Spaces of various lengths 

 are merely periods of idleness, when 

 no current is turned on. They occur 

 between letters and between words, as well 

 as in separating the dots and dashes which 

 combine to form each character. The dot 

 is the short active element, and is formed by 

 turning the current on for a brief time; the 

 dash is a longer active element, made by 

 allowing the current to flow about three 

 times as long as for a dot. Various combi- 

 nations of dots and dashes stand for the 

 various letters of the alphabet, and words in 

 any language are spelled out letter by 

 letter. 



Learning Telegraphy 



There are three steps in learning tele- 

 graphy: viz., memorizing the code, manipu- 

 lating the sending key, and writing out 

 incoming messages (reading by sound). 

 These are independent to some degree, but 



Sffiffifi 



and dashes plotted on 

 show length of spaces 



317 



