Imperial Wireless Telegraphy Committee.
REPORT.
493
THE IMPERIAL WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY COMMITTEE.
The Right Hon. Sir HENRY NORMAN, Bart., M.P. (Chairman).
F. J. BROWN, Esq., C.B.E., M.A., B.Sc.,
Assistant Secretary, General Post Office.
W. H. ECCLES, Esq., D.Sc., M.I.E.E.,
Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering, City and
Guilds of London Technical College.
Rear-Admiral F. L. FIELD, C.B., C.M.G., R.N.,
Third Sea Lord.
Professor Sir JOSEPH ERNEST PETAVEL, K.BE., D.Sc., F.R.S.,
Director of the National Physical Laboratory.
Sir JOHN SNELL, M. Inst.C.E.,
Chief Electricity Commissioner.
JAMES SWINBURNE, Esq., M.Inst.C.E., F.R.S.
L. B TURNER, Esq., M.A., M.I.EE.,
Fellow and Lecturer of King's College, Cambridge.
Secretary: Brigadier-General S. H. WILSON, C.B., C.M.G. Assistant Secretaries: Lieutenant-Colonel C. G. CRAWLEY, M.LE.E.
Mr. F. W. PHILLIPS.
The Right Hon. Viscount Milner, G.C.B., G.U.M.G.,
Secretary of State for the Colonies.
1. ON the 24th November, 1919, we were appointed by yourself, with the approval of the Cabinet, as the Imperial Wireless Telegraphy Committee, to prepare a complete scheme of Imperial wireless communications in the light of modern wireless science and Imperial needs, and in doing so—
(1.) To consider what high-power wireless stations it is desirable on commercial or
strategic grounds that the Empire should ultimately possess.
(2.) To prepare estimates of the capital and annual costs of each station--the life of the plant and buildings, as taken for the calculation of depreciation, to include an adequate allowance for obsolescence.
(3.) To examine the probable amount of traffic and revenue which
expected from each station.
(4.) To place the stations recommended in their order of urgency.
may be
The conclusions we have reached and the recommendations we make will be found summarised at the end of this report.
2. In the course of our inquiry we have held 23 sittings; we have examined numerous witnesses, including representatives of the Admiralty, with especially important evidence from His Majesty's Signal School, Portsmouth; the War Office, with valuable information from the Signats Experimental Eatablishment, Woolwich ; the India Office; the Colonial Office; and of two commercial wireless firms, each of which would be prepared to tender for the construction of wireless stations; we have been informed of the views of the Royal Air Force, and we have received helpful com- munications from eminent technicians and commercial wireless organisations in France and the United States. The Post Office is represented on our Committee by an Assistant Secretary, and a Staff Engineer has been present, when required, at our discussions. The Marconi Company declined our invitation to give evidence.
3. It was unnecessary for us to visit wireless stations, as every important type of long-range station in Europe is already well known to one or more of us.
4. The Post Office wireless staff has, at our request, kept twenty-four-hour inter- cepting watches upon the working of the chief European long-range wireless stations. We have thus learned the average amount of traffic, chiefly Transatlantic, handled by these stations, the delays and interruptions occurring, the speed of working, the number of repetitions required to ensure correct reception of messages, &c. This intercepting work was done with great efficiency, and the information thus acquired has been very instructive.*
It may be of interest to give a few extracts from the logs of the intercepting officers. Of course "atmospherics" (atmospheric electrical discharges) are among the causes of bad service. means of identification.
We omit any
Service 4 (not Transatlantic).-"A consilerable part of the time is taken up with repetitions." “As a rule about half the messages have to be repeated."
Service B (Transatlantic).-On different occasions
די
6,883
of 7.557 words 915 repeats.
+9
11
5,444
14
568 1,746
"
17
"1 7,230
5.132 FI
11
" 4.656
•
2,394
ני
Service C (Transatlantic). correctious,"
From & P.x. till midnight was mostly used in giving repetitious and
Repetitions averaged about four words every minute, and requests for V's (the letter V continuously repeated to enable the receiver to adjust his apparatus) were numerous."
Wt. 0.481 2000 20 O.P. (358)
(Nate command on page 4.
B 2
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