[KYHAM] A CHRISTMAS EVE RADIO STORY

[Ron Dodson]

Merry Christmas once again and 73 to all, 

Ron, KA4MAP


A CHRISTMAS EVE RADIO STORY
 
  The year was 1906.  Marconi had already invented the wireless
telegraph,
and land and sea communication networks were being established.

  While DeForest was attempting to perfect his �audion� (triode)
tube,
Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian inventor; and Ernst Alexanderson,
a Swedish
immigrant, had been hard at work in Fessenden�s Massachusetts
laboratory.

  They developed a mechanical device to �alternate� a continuous
radio
wave.  The device consisted of a huge disc that revolved at
20,000 rpm. 
They connected it to a transmitter and a microphone, and
discovered that
they could �modulate� a radio signal!

  On Christmas Eve, as wireless operators at land stations and on
ships off
the Massachusetts coast diligently maintained their radio
watches,
listening to the familiar Morse code signals; they were startled
when they
suddenly heard voices in their headphones!

  They listened spellbound.  Then, they heard a woman singing! 
Finally,
they heard someone playing a violin!

  It was Fessenden himself...playing the sacred carol �O Holy
Night�.

  No longer would sounds be restricted to the �di�s� and �dah�s�
of the
Morse code.

  It happened on Christmas Eve...Nineteen Hundred and Six.