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The story of man’s friend, the electron, and how they have been harnessed to carry his message around the world. From native drumbeats, and the ever expanding distances people have moved, communication needs have become more complex through the years. The written word, sent by letters had limitations in how fast urgent messages could be sent. It’s the tragedy that sparked artist, Samuel Morse, into pursuing technology to improve communications.
The telegraph was born to instantly send a message to distant towns. With a government grant, telegraph lines were built to begin the first network of communication. What hath God wrought?
To improve on the invention, Alexander Graham Bell invented a method to transmit voice messages over those same lines. In Europe, Marconi began work on transmitting coded messages wirelessly through the air. Similar to the experiments with wire communication, the limits to distant wireless communication was pushed to the point of reaching over the seas. The first ship emergency, CQD, later to be known as SOS, was broadcast.
In the early days of commercial radio stations, cat whisker crystal radio sets required a headset for only one listener to enjoy the signal. It opened the floodgates for more advanced radio sets to harness the electron, and build into the marvel of network communication of the days of this radio show, and beyond to our own day.
