Sending Wireless Messages Under Fire 



Mobile wireless stations on the western front 

 By Captain A. P. Corcoran, Late of British Army 



YOU have heard much of the amazing 

 inventions that have been developed 

 during the great war — inventions 

 that have displayed not merely human but 

 diabolic ingenuity in their effectiveness in 

 destroying human life. There are the 

 British "tanks," and the German gas 

 bombs which have accounted for 

 many a good man. But not all 

 are of such deadly character. 

 Side by side with these weap- 

 ons of destruction are many 

 of more enduring worth, and 

 high among these rank" the 

 motor wireless trucks, or 

 lorries as they are called in 

 England. 



It is quite impossible to 

 overestimate the importance of 

 wireless in the great war, but 

 the part that it plays differs 

 with the character of the 

 fighting. No army now but 

 is equipped with wireless con- 

 trivances. The French use 

 the de Forest system; the Rus- 

 sians and Italians, the Mar- 

 coni; the Germans and Austrians, the 

 Telefunken; and the British use two sys- 

 tems. One is the Leyland, the other is the 

 Marconi — the 

 standard I X A K.W. 

 set — fitted in a 

 Daimler motor 

 truck. But though 

 they all vary in de- 

 tails, in principle 



Iron clamp to 

 hold mast 



Captain A. P. Cor- 

 coran late in active 

 service in the British 

 Army in France 



they are the same. They are alike in all 

 essentials. 



A more compact contrivance than 

 this traveling station it would be ex- 

 tremely difficult to find. The body 

 of the truck is about 12 ft. by 6. 

 The entrance, of course, is at the 

 rear. At the far end of the car is 

 a bench 3 ft. high by 4 ft. deep, 

 , on which are placed the 

 multiple tuner, the magnetic 

 detector, the magnetic key, 

 the operating key, telephone 

 condenser and earth arrester. 

 Underneath, the space is 

 divided by a thick piece of 

 board. On one side are placed 

 the jigger, the aerial induc- 

 tance, high tension condenser, 

 slidinginductance, spark gapand 

 transformer; while, on the other, 

 are the rotary converter and a 

 small dynamo, the starter and 

 field regulator being fitted on the 

 side of the vehicle. 



Running along the truck, then 

 on either side from door to 

 bench, comes a locker 18 in. high by 18 

 in. deep. In this are stored the aerial, on£ 

 set of aerial poles, insulators, spanners, etc. 

 These poles telescope into 5 ft. lengths, 

 which can be neatly stowed away, when not 

 in use. 



As these motor-trucks are designed both 



as traveling and fixed stations, 



it is necessary to equip 



them with two 



sets of 



Socket for 

 heel of -nast 



-Socket for heel of mast 

 ■Steel mast for a fixed station 



Multiple tuner. Detector, 

 Transformer, Rotary, Condenser. Etc. 



A motor-truck, designed for both traveling and 

 fixed stations, which carries two sets of aerials 



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