Inventions of the Great WarBond, A. Russell (Alexander Russell)
History
Inventions of the Great War
Bond, A. Russell (Alexander Russell)
Inventions; World War, 1914-1918 -- Technology
There is another radio invention which we contributed during the war,
that proved of utmost service in thwarting German spies and which
is going to prove equally valuable in time of peace. Although a war
invention, its peacetime service will be to save lives. It is a very
simple matter to rig up a wireless-telegraph system that will send
messages to a considerable distance, and simpler still to rig up a
receiving-set. European governments have always discouraged amateur
radiotelegraphy, but in this country restrictions used to be so
slight that almost any one could set up and use a radio set, both for
receiving and for transmitting. When we entered the war we were glad
that amateurs had been encouraged to play with wireless, because we had
hundreds of good radio operators ready to work the sets which the army
and the navy needed.
But this was a disadvantage, too. Many operators were either Germans
or pro-Germans and were only too willing to use their radio experience
in the interest of our enemies. It was a simple matter to obtain
the necessary apparatus, because there was plenty of it to be had
everywhere. They could send orders to fellow workers and receive
messages from them, or they could listen to dispatches sent out by
the government and glean information of great military and naval
importance. The apparatus could easily be concealed: a wire hung inside
a chimney, a water-pipe, even a brass bedstead could be used for the
receiving-aërial. It was highly important that these concealed stations
be located, but how were they to be discovered?
THE WIRELESS COMPASS
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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