Setting, Up the Farm Wireless Station 
Being 25 miles from Detroit and 275 from Chicago, I 
am thinking of putting in a radio telephone to get the 
broadcast government reports, music, etc,, and would 
like to know what I need, and the approximate cost. 
Would I have to use a storage battery? Would a three- 
wire aerial from a 25-ft. house roof, 160 ft. to a 50-ft. 
barn roof, be all right? ITow many hours will a bat¬ 
tery last on a receiving set? Can a phonograph horn 
be used to amplify? j f . b, j. 
Rochester, Mich. 
T IIE wireless telephone is going to do more for 
the farmer than any other one invention, not 
even excepting the flivver. Fortunately, you only 
want to receive, since sending, except under very 
onerous restrictions, is “lese mono, 
poly,” which is a much more seri¬ 
ous crime than “lese majesty” ever 
thought of being, and is most strictly 
“verboten,” But. the time will, per¬ 
haps. come when you will he free to 
send as well as receive, and much of 
the outfit is the same. In the first 
place, you need the wire to pick tip 
the vibrations of space which are sent 
out. Your length and height will work 
first-rate, and you could get along with 
one wire, though three will be better. 
But if there is a trolley line or a power 
transmission line anywhere near you, 
you must set your aerial as near right 
angles to it as you can. even if you do 
not get quite so much height and 
length. The aerial must be well insu¬ 
lated at each end, and strongly put up 
and braced: more wind pressure than 
you would expect will be felt on that 
length. Almost any sort of wire can be 
used for the aerial if all joints are well 
soldered. 
GROFNDING.—The next thing is to 
provide the “ground.” and. unless you 
want to lose your insurance policy and. 
perhaps, burn down both house and 
barn some Summer day, there must be 
a heavy switch leading to a wire to the 
earth, and this wire should end in a 
sheet or chunk of metal so far under 
the surface that it is always damp. 
This switch should be so arranged that 
it will close itself unless you purposely 
keep it open, and when it is open it 
should connect the aerial with the in¬ 
struments in the house. The aerial, as 
was said, can be almost any available 
wire, hut this switch, as well as the 
rest of the layout, must be purchased. 
There are plenty of directions floating 
about for “rolling your own,” and it is 
true that a lot of people who hare a 
place a few blocks away where they 
can got materials, have made first-rate 
receiving sets. We have looked into 
this and are firmly convinced that if 
you want results, and not a plaything 
that will work one day and fail the 
next three, you should buy good instru¬ 
ments. The wireless receiving tele¬ 
phone has already become as much of 
a farm necessity as any other tool. 
Consider it as part of the farm equip¬ 
ment and get as good as you can afford, 
and take good care of it. From the 
aerial ground switch a wire runs to 
the instruments, and this can he any 
convenient length, since, when the L. 
ground switch is open and the’ phone 
is in use it becomes :i part of the aerial. 
Where it passes through the house 
walls it should he slanted down and out, 
rain will not follow the wire in. 
RECEIVING.—To receive, the simplest things you 
can have are a two-slide tuning coil, crystal detector, 
fixed condenser, telephone receiver, and another good 
ground connection, which may be on a water pipe, 
provided that runs outside to the ground. The tun¬ 
ing coil varies the capacity of the aerial to pick up 
certain waves, and so allows you to pick up what¬ 
ever message you wish. The detector transforms the 
waves sent out so that the telephone can translate 
them into air waves which make "sound” in your ears 
Why it works is unknown; there are several pairs, 
but the one most in vogue now is a crystal of galena 
and a fine copper wire. The galena should be pro¬ 
tected from dust and dirt and, especially, from hand¬ 
ling, which will grease the surface and spoil it. It pends on tl 
needs a little adjustment (“hunting”) to get a sen- stands idle, 
sitive spot, and will fail from time to time from un- FURTHI 
known causes but, on the whole, is one of the very excited bv 
best detectors for telephone receiving. A set as 
above will cost from $1.5 to $3<>. aiul should pick up 
within a radius of 150 miles if all is favorable, but 
is only 
thing. 
(list,i nee 
•The ’phones are frequently 
lry batteries, since there is 
:hem for current, but these 
renewed from time to time, and a 
is often used for this 
entire battery cost has been estimated 
50 cents a month, under reasonable use 
is at present priced at about $' 
added tidies 
cost would be less. 
purpose. The 
at about 
This layout 
75, inclusive. If you 
ind batteries to your cheaper set the 
We understand that an efficient 
set, especially for moderate distance 
telephone receiving, is soon to he had 
for $50, and they will no doubt ho 
available from several sources at that 
price, since the wireless receiving outfit 
is certain to be a necessity within a 
hundred miles of any broadcasting sta¬ 
tion. If you get a set. in parts do not 
economize on telephone receivers; a 
good pair will get results out of a 
poor aerial and detector; a poor pair 
will never satisfy you. 
HOOK-UP AND AMPLIFIER'S. — 
We give no diagrams for “hook-ups,” 
as the method of making connections 
is called, because they are given, as 
best adapted to the instruments, by the 
makers, and you should follow them 
till you have quite a little experience. 
Anyone can set up the apparatus and 
get results by following directions, but 
take good care that you have a good 
“ground” on your aerial, and always 
ground the aerial unless you are actu¬ 
ally taking a message. As to amplify¬ 
ing, so much depends on what sort of 
effects your aerial is picking up, that 
it is hard to say what you can do. 
Putting a phonograph horn on a tele¬ 
phone receiver is not apt to work well. 
There are amplifiers, rather expensive, 
which will fill a large room, but for a 
small group it is likely that additional 
’phones would ho better, as a good am¬ 
plifier takes quite a hit more current 
Certified Seed Potatoes and Buckwheat 0 n a Hill Farm in Neio York 
Lighting the Farm Premises 
W ITH a farm lighting plant one 
can have light where lie wants 
it and when he wants it. which is some¬ 
thing almost impossible with the old 
kerosene lantern or lamp. One advan¬ 
tage with the electric lights is that one 
can light a way in front, in 
_ a way ren¬ 
dering accidents less liable. Too often 
the steps from the kitchen to the base¬ 
ment A the house are steep, and dark¬ 
ness may mean a misstep. With elec¬ 
tric lights, however, a switch at the 
door will make it possible to light the 
entire stairway, thus making the stair¬ 
way safe for travel. With a simple 
three-wire installation if is possible to 
- control from the house all the lights 
in the barn and outbuildings. For in¬ 
stance, with a switch at the house 
lights leading to the barn or outside of 
tarn may he turned on. thus the way to the barn in 
the evening or early morning hours may be lighted. 
Such a system lias an advantage where there is dan¬ 
ger of thievery, as the premises may be lighted by 
the switch at the house when disturbances are noted. 
Furthermore, the lights at the barn and outbuildings 
may he further attached so as to render them usable 
only after the switch at the house is turned on. In 
returning from the barn the barn lights may be 
switched off, but the premises lights are not turned 
off until the house is reached. 
The same system is valuable to use when electric 
lights are used with laying hens. A turn of the 
switch at. the house turns on a small pilot light in 
the poultry house. When in the poultry house the 
correct illumination may he given by a series of 
you will add to your equipment a variable condenser 
and variometer, the crystal will work up to about 
500 miles under the best conditions. This, if you 
get good instruments, will add some $25 to $30 to 
your cost. If you really want to get the more dis¬ 
tant stations, as a regular thing, you will have to 
have a vacuum tube detector ami amplifier. The 
tube works on the principle that when a hot wire 
within is affected by the energy picked up by the 
aerial, it lets another current flow to the telephone 
receivers in proportion to the disturbance in the 
aerial. So there has to he one battery to heat the 
wire and another one to affect the ’phones. The 
wire heater is almost always a storage battery, 
which has to be charged as often as it is exhausted 
but, of course, we cannot tell how often, as that de- 
