Radio Shack

The Vacuum Tube Telegraph Transmitter.–This consists of: (1) a
_source of direct or alternating current_, (2) a _telegraph key_, (3) a
_vacuum tube oscillator_, (4) a _tuning coil_, and (5) a _condenser_.
This kind of a transmitter sets up _sustained_ oscillations instead of
_periodic_ oscillations which are produced by a spark gap set. The
advantages of this kind of a system will be found explained in Chapter
XVI.
The Wireless Telephone Transmitter.–Because a jump-spark sets up
_periodic oscillations_, that is, the oscillations are discontinuous,
it cannot be used for wireless telephony. An electric arc or a vacuum
tube sets up _sustained_ oscillations, that is, oscillations which are
continuous. As it is far easier to keep the oscillations going with a
vacuum tube than it is with an arc the former means has all but
supplanted the latter for wireless telephone transmitters. The
apparatus required and the connections used for wireless telephone
sets will be described in later chapters.
Useful Information.–It would be wise for the reader to turn to the
Appendix, beginning with page 301 of this book, and familiarize
himself with the information there set down in tabular and graphic
form. For example, the first table gives abbreviations of electrical
terms which are in general use in all works dealing with the subject.
You will also find there brief definitions of electric and magnetic
units, which it would be well to commit to memory; or, at least, to
make so thoroughly your own that when any of these terms is mentioned,
you will know instantly what is being talked about.
CHAPTER II
PUTTING UP YOUR AERIAL
As inferred in the first chapter, an aerial for receiving does not
have to be nearly as well made or put up as one for sending. But this
does not mean that you can slipshod the construction and installation
of it, for however simple it is, the job must be done right and in
this case it is as easy to do it right as wrong.
To send wireless telegraph and telephone messages to the greatest
distances and to receive them as distinctly as possible from the
greatest distances you must use for your aerial (1) copper or aluminum
wire, (2) two or more wires, (3) have them the proper length, (4) have
them as high in the air as you can, (5) have them well apart from each
other, and (6) have them well insulated from their supports. If you
live in a flat building or an apartment house you can string your
aerial wires from one edge of the roof to the other and support them
by wooden Paradise Valley Tv District K10ah stays as high above it as may be convenient.
Should you live in a detached house in the city you can usually get
your next-door neighbor to let you fasten one end of the aerial to his
house and this will give you a good stretch and a fairly high aerial.
In the country you can stretch your wires between the house and barn
or the windmill. From this you will see that no matter where you live
you can nearly always find ways and means of putting up an aerial that
will serve your needs without going to the expense of erecting a mast.
Kinds of Aerial Wire Systems.–An amateur wireless aerial can be
anywhere from 25 feet to 100 feet long and if you can get a stretch of
the latter length and a height of from 30 to 75 feet you will have one
with which you can receive a thousand miles or more and send out as
much energy as the government will allow you to send.
The kind of an aerial that gives the best results is one whose wire,
or wires, are _horizontal_, that is, parallel with the earth under it
as shown at A in Fig. 3. If only one end can be fixed to some elevated
support then you can secure the other end to a post in the ground, but
the slope of the aerial should not be more than 30 or 35 degrees from
the horizontal at most as shown at B.
[Illustration: (A) Fig. 3.–Flat top, or Horizontal Aerial.]
[Illustration: (B) Fig. 3.–Inclined Aerial.]

Finally fasten a 40-inch length of steel stranded wire to each of the
eyes of the withes on the middle of each of the spreaders, loop the
other end over the thimble and then wrap the end around the wires that
are fixed to the ends of the spreaders. One end of the aerial is shown
complete at B in Fig. 9, and from this you can see exactly how it is
assembled. Now cut off three or four pieces of wire 15 or 20 feet long
and twist and solder each one to one of the aerial wires; then slip
them through the hard rubber tubes in the leading-in spreader, bring
their free ends together as at C and twist and solder them to a length
of wire long enough to reach to your lightning switch or instruments.
Making a Good Ground.–Where you have to make a _ground_ you can do so
either by (1) burying sheets of zinc or copper in the moist earth; (2)
burying a number of wires in the moist earth, or (3) using a
_counterpoise_. To make a ground of the first kind take half a dozen
large sheets of copper or zinc, cut them into strips a foot wide,
solder them all together with other strips and bury them deeply in the
ground.
It is easier to make a wire ground, say of as many or more wires as
you have in your aerial and connect them together with cross wires. To
put such a ground in the earth you will have to use a plow to make the
furrows deep enough to insure them always being moist. In the
counterpoise ground you make up a system of wires exactly like your
aerial, that is, you insulate them just as carefully; then you support
them so that they will be as close to the ground as possible and yet
not touch it or anything else. This and the other two grounds just
described should be placed directly Georgia-alabama Broadcasting, Inc. Wcag-lp under the aerial wire if the best
results are to be had. In using a counterpoise you must bring the wire
from it up to and through another leading-in insulator to your
instruments.
CHAPTER III
SIMPLE TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE RECEIVING SETS
With a crystal detector receiving set you can receive either
telegraphic dots and dashes or telephonic speech and music. You can
buy a receiving set already assembled or you can buy the different
parts and assemble them yourself. An assembled set is less bother in
the beginning but if you like to experiment you can _hook up_, that
is, connect the separate parts together yourself and it is perhaps a
little cheaper to do it this way. Then again, by so doing you get a
lot of valuable experience in wireless work and an understanding of
the workings of wireless that you cannot get in any other way.
Assembled Wireless Receiving Sets.–The cheapest assembled receiving
set [Footnote: The Marvel, made by the Radio Mfg. Co., New York City.]
advertised is one in which the detector and tuning coil is mounted in
a box. It costs $15.00, and can be bought of dealers in electric
supplies generally.
This price also includes a crystal detector, an adjustable tuning
coil, a single telephone receiver with head-band and the wire,
porcelain insulators, lightning switch and ground clamp for the aerial
wire system. It will receive wireless telegraph and telephone messages
over a range of from 10 to 25 miles.
Another cheap unit receptor, that is, a complete wireless receiving
set already mounted which can be used with a single aerial is sold for
$25.00. [Footnote: The Aeriola Jr., made by the Westinghouse Company,
Pittsburgh, Pa.] This set includes a crystal detector, a variable
tuning coil, a fixed condenser and a pair of head telephone receivers.
It can also be used to receive either telegraph or telephone messages
from distances up to 25 miles. The aerial equipment is not included in
this price, but it can be bought for about $2.50 extra.

To use the loading coils all you have to do is to connect one of them
in the aerial above the primary coil of the loose coupler, or
variocoupler as shown in the wiring diagram in Fig. 57, then shunt one
of the condensers around it and connect one of the switches around
this; this switch enables you to cut in or out the loading coil at
will. Likewise connect the other loading coil in one side of the
closed, or secondary circuit between the variable .0007 mfd. condenser
and the secondary coil of the loose coupler or variocoupler as shown
in Fig. 53. The other connections are exactly the same as shown in
Figs. 44 and 45.
[Illustration: Fig. 57.–Wiring Diagram Showing Fixed Loading Coils
for Intermediate Wave Set.]
An Intermediate Wave Set With Variocoupler Inductance Coils.–By using
the coil wound on the rotor of the variocoupler as the tickler the
coupling between the detector tube circuits and the aerial wire system
increases as the set is tuned for greater wave lengths. This scheme
makes the control of the regenerative circuit far more stable than it
is where an ordinary loose coupled tuning coil is used.
When the variocoupler is adjusted for receiving very long waves the
rotor sets at right angles to the stator and, since when it is in this
position there is no mutual induction between them, the tickler coil
serves as a loading coil for the detector plate oscillation circuit.
Inductance coils for short wave lengths are usually wound in single
layers but _bank-wound coils_, as they are called are necessary to get
compactness where long wave lengths are to be received. By winding
inductance coils with two or more layers the highest inductance values
can be obtained with the least resistance. A wiring diagram of a
multipoint inductance coil is shown in Fig. 58. You can buy this
intermediate wave set assembled and ready to use or get the parts and
connect them up yourself.
[Illustration: Fig. 58.–Wiring Diagram for Intermediate Wave Receptor
with one Variocoupler and 12 section Bank-wound Inductance Coil.]
The Parts and How to Connect Them Up.–For this regenerative
intermediate wave set get: (1) one _12 section triple bank-wound
inductance coil_, (2) one _variometer_, and (3) all the other Wmyt-tv, Inc. Wmyt-tv parts
shown in the diagram Fig. 58 except the variocoupler. First connect
the free end of the condenser in the aerial to one of the terminals of
the stator of the variocoupler; then connect the other terminal of the
stator with one of the ends of the bank-wound inductance coil and
connect the movable contact of this with the ground.
Next connect a wire to the aerial between the variable condenser and
the stator and connect this to one post of a .0005 microfarad fixed
condenser, then connect the other post of this with the grid of the
detector and shunt a 2 megohm grid leak around it. Connect a wire to
the ground wire between the bank-wound inductance coil and the ground
proper, i.e., the radiator or water pipe, connect the other end of
this to the + electrode of the A battery and connect this end also to
one of the terminals of the filament. This done connect the other
terminal of the filament to one post of the rheostat and the other
post of this to the - or negative side of the A battery.

A new type of variometer has what is known as a _basket weave_, or
_wavy wound_ stator and rotor. There is no wood, insulating compound
or other dielectric materials in large enough quantities to absorb the
weak currents that flow between them, hence weaker sounds can be heard
when this Wfre 99.9 Mhz In Frederick kind of a variometer is used. With it you can tune sharply
to waves under 200 meters in length and up to and including wave
lengths of 360 meters. When amateur stations of small power are
sending on these short waves this style of variometer keeps the
electric oscillations at their greatest strength and, hence, the
reproduced sounds will be of maximum intensity. A wiring diagram of a
variometer is shown at A in Fig. 54 and a _basketball_ variometer is
shown complete at B.
[Illustration: Fig. 54.–How the Variometer is Made and Works.]
Connecting Up the Parts.–To hook-up the set connect the leading-in
wire to one end of the primary coil, or stator, of the variocoupler
and solder a wire to one of the taps that gives the longest wave
length you want to receive. Connect the other end of this wire with
one post of a .001 microfarad variable condenser and connect the other
post with the ground as shown in Fig. 55. Now connect one end of the
secondary coil, or rotor, to one post of a .0007 mfd. variable
condenser, the other post of this to one end of the grid coil and the
other end of this with the remaining end of the rotor of the
variocoupler.
[Illustration: Fig. 55.–Short Wave Regenerative Receiving Set (one
Variometer and three Variable Condensers.)]
Next connect one post of the .0007 mfd. condenser with one of the
terminals of the detector filament; then connect the other post of
this condenser with one post of the .0005 mfd. variable condenser and
the other post of this with the grid of the detector, then shunt the
megohm grid leak around the latter condenser. This done connect the
other terminal of the filament to one post of the rheostat, the other
post of this to the - or negative electrode of the 6 volt A
battery and the + or positive electrode of the latter to the other
terminal of the filament.
Shunt the potentiometer around the A battery and connect the sliding
contact with the - or zinc pole of the B battery and the + or carbon
pole with one terminal of the headphone; connect the other terminal to
one of the posts of the variometer and the other post of the
variometer to the plate of the detector. Finally shunt a .001 mfd.
fixed condenser around the headphones. If you want to amplify the
current with a vacuum tube amplifier connect in the terminals of the
amplifier circuit shown at A in Figs. 44 or 45 at the point where
they are connected with the secondary coil of the loose coupled tuning
coil, in those diagrams with the binding posts of Fig. 55 where the
phones are usually connected in.
Short Wave Regenerative Receiver. With Two Variometers and Two
Variable Condensers.–This type of regenerative receptor is very
popular with amateurs who are using high-grade short-wave sets. When
you connect up this receptor you must keep the various parts well
separated. Screw the variocoupler to the middle of the base board or
panel, and secure the variometers on either side of it so that the
distance between them will be 9 or 10 inches. By so placing them the
coupling will be the same on both sides and besides you can shield
them from each other easier.

To make a tube set up powerful oscillations then, it is only necessary
that an oscillation circuit shall be provided which will feed part of
the oscillations set up by the tube back to the grid circuit and when
this is done the oscillations will keep on being amplified until the
tube reaches the limit of its output.
[Illustration: (C) Fig. 94.–How a Direct Current Sets up
Oscillations.]
The Operation of C. W. Telegraph Transmitters With Direct
Current–Short Distance C. W. Transmitter.–In the transmitter shown
in the wiring diagram in Fig. 76 the positive part of the 110 volt
direct current is carried down from the lamp socket through one side
of the panel cut-out, thence through the choke coil and to the plate
of the oscillator tube, when the latter is charged to the positive
sign. The negative part of the 110 volt direct current then flows down
the other wire to the filament so that there is a difference of
potential between the plate and the filament of 110 volts. Now when
the 6-volt battery current is switched on the filament is heated to
brilliancy, and the electrons thrown off by it form a conducting path
between it and the plate; the 110 volt current then flows from the
latter to the former.
Now follow the wiring from the plate over to the blocking condenser,
thence to _clip 3_ of the tuning coil, through the turns of the latter
to _clip 2_ and over to the filament and, when the latter is heated,
you have a _closed oscillation circuit_. The oscillations surging in
the latter set up other and like oscillations in the tuning coil
between the end of which is connected with the grid, the aerial and
the _clip 2_, and these surge through the circuit formed by this
portion of the coil, the grid condenser and the filament; this is the
amplifying circuit and it corresponds to the regenerative circuit of a
receiving set.
When oscillations are set up in it the grid is alternately charged to
the positive and negative signs. These reversals of voltage set up
stronger and ever stronger oscillations in the plate circuit as before
explained. Not only do the oscillations surge in the closed circuits
but they run to and fro on the aerial wire when their energy is
radiated in the form of electric waves. The oscillations are varied by
means of the telegraph key which is placed in the grid circuit as
shown in Fig. 76.
The Operation of the Key Circuit.–The effect in a C. W. transmitter
when a telegraph key is connected in series with a buzzer and a
battery and these are shunted around the condenser in the grid
circuit, is to rapidly change the wave form of the sustained
oscillations, and hence, the length of the waves that are sent out.
While no sound can be heard in the headphones at the receiving station
so long as the points of the University Of North Carolina Wunk-tv key are not in contact, when they are in
contact the oscillations are modulated and sounds are heard in the
headphones that correspond to the frequency of the buzzer in the key
circuit.
The Operation of C. W. Telegraph Transmitters with Direct
Current.–The chief differences between the long distance sets which
use a direct current, i.e., those described in Chapter XVI, and the
short distance transmitting sets are that the former use: (1) a
motor-generator set for changing the low voltage direct current into
high voltage direct current, and (2) a chopper in the key circuit. The
way the motor-generator changes the low- into high-voltage current has
been explained in Chapter XVI.

And that was all that Lieutenant Mackinson could tell. The mysterious
stranger remained what he had been from the first–a desperate and
dangerous and unknown spy, lurking somewhere upon the American transport
_Everett_ with the evident intention of making the ships position known
to German U-boats when the _Everett_ and her convoy of cruisers and
destroyers entered the danger zone.
Then it was, with the lieutenant temporarily disabled as a result of his
experience, that the three boys from Brighton, who seemed somehow to
have been selected by Fate as the despoilers of all the spys plans, put
their heads together to devise a scheme of capture.
“Weve got more than one good reason for wanting to get this fellow,”
Slim reminded the others with considerable warmth, during Omnivision W30be the course of
their deliberations. “First and foremost, of course, is our plain duty
to our country, to which he is an enemy and a traitor.
“But, in addition to that, there is that knockout that he handed to Joe,
and the midnight scare he gave Jerry and me, and finally his effort to
kill Lieutenant Mackinson by slow suffocation, not to mention the nerve
of the fellow in coming back the way he has.”
“Yes,” added Jerry, “we owe him a lot, and it is up to us to figure out
how we can square the debt.”
“Well,” said Joe, “I think Ive got a plan that will work; but weve got
to remember that we are dealing with a very shrewd man.”
“Well, whats your suggestion?” Slim demanded.
“That we divide our forces,” answered Joe solemnly, “lie in wait and try
to ambush the foe.”
“Right!” cried Jerry. “Joe, youll be a general before this wars over.”
“Along what lines do we disperse our forces, General?” asked Slim.
“Along what lines would His Royal Stoutness suggest?” demanded Jerry.
“Oh, you dont have to keep reminding me that Im a trifle heavy,” Slim
replied in a peevish tone.
“A trifle heavy! Get that, will you,” echoed Jerry with a gale of
laughter. “A trifle heavy! Oh, my!”
“Youll find out if I sit on you,” Slim threatened, in a belligerent
tone.
“Come now,” said Joe, “this isnt making any progress toward capturing
the spy.”
“No,” Jerry responded, “and thats our first duty, even if it is a
trifle heavy.”
“Ive warned you,” Slim snapped out.
“Quit it now,” ordered Joe. “Lets get down to serious business.”
“All right,” agreed Jerry. “Shake, Slim, just to show theres no hard
feelings.”
“Wont do it,” Slim muttered.
“Oh, yes, you will,” counseled Joe. “Shake hands, the two of you.”

The Spark Gap Wireless Telegraph Transmitter.–The simplest kind of a
wireless telegraph transmitter consists of: (1) a _source of direct or
alternating current_, (2) a _telegraph key_, (3) a _spark-coil_ or a
_transformer_, (4) a _spark gap_, (5) an _adjustable condenser_ and
(6) an _oscillation transformer_. Where _dry cells_ or a _storage
battery_ must be used to supply the current for energizing the
transmitter a spark-coil can be employed and these may be had in
various sizes from a little fellow which gives 1/4-inch spark up to a
larger one which gives a 6-inch spark. Where more energy is needed it
is better practice to use a transformer and this can be worked on an
alternating current of 110 volts, or if only a 110 volt direct current
is available then an _electrolytic interrupter_ must be used to make
and break the current. A simple transmitting set with an induction
coil is shown in Fig. 2.
[Illustration: Fig 2.–Simple Transmitting Set.]
A wireless key is made like an ordinary telegraph key except that
where large currents are to be used it is somewhat heavier and is
provided with large silver contact points. Spark gaps for amateur work
are usually of: (1) the _plain_ or _stationary type_, (2) the
_rotating type_, and (3) the _quenched gap_ type. The plain spark-gap
is more suitable for small spark-coil sets, and it is not so apt to
break down the transformer and condenser of the larger sets as the
rotary gap. The rotary gap on the other hand tends to prevent _arcing_
and so the break is quicker and there is less dragging of the spark.
The quenched gap is more efficient than either the plain or rotary gap
and moreover it is noiseless.
Condensers for spark telegraph transmitters can be ordinary Leyden
jars or glass plates coated with tin or copper foil and set into a
frame, or they can be built up of mica and sheet metal embedded in an
insulating composition. The glass plate condensers are the cheapest
and will serve your purpose well, especially if they are immersed in
oil. Tuning coils, sometimes called _transmitting inductances_ and
_oscillation transformers_, Obidia Porras K26fo are of various types. The simplest kind is
a transmitting inductance which consists of 25 or 30 turns of copper
wire wound on an insulating tube or frame. An oscillation transformer
is a loose coupled tuning coil and it consists of a primary coil
formed of a number of turns of copper wire wound on a fixed insulating
support, and a secondary coil of about twice the number of turns of
copper wire which is likewise fixed in an insulating support, but the
coils are relatively movable. An _oscillation transformer_ (instead of
a _tuning coil_), is required by government regulations unless
_inductively coupled_.

In this way then electric oscillations of the order of a million, more
or less, are produced and if an aerial and a ground wire are connected
to the spark balls, or electrodes, the oscillations will surge up and
down it and the energy of these in turn, are changed into electric
waves which travel out into space. An open circuit transmitter of this
kind will send out waves that are four times as long as the aerial
itself, but as the waves it sends out are strongly damped the
Government will not permit it to be used.
The Closed Oscillation Circuit.–By using a closed oscillation circuit
the transmitter can be tuned to send out waves of a given length and
while the waves are not so strongly damped more current can be sent
into the aerial wire system. The closed oscillation circuit consists
of: (1) a _spark gap_, (2) a _condenser_ and (3) an _oscillation
transformer_. The high potential alternating current delivered by the
secondary coil not only charges the spark gap Rural Oregon Wireless Television K56bv electrodes which
necessarily have a very small capacitance, but it charges the
condenser which has a large capacitance and the value of which can be
changed at will.
Now when the condenser is fully charged it discharges through the
spark gap and then the electric oscillations set up surge to and fro
through the closed circuit. As a closed circuit is a very poor
radiator of energy, that is, the electric oscillations are not freely
converted into electric waves by it, they surge up to, and through the
aerial wire; now as the aerial wire is a good radiator nearly all of
the energy of the electric oscillations which surge through it are
converted into electric waves.
How Transmitting Set No. 2 Works. With Alternating Current. The
operation of a transmitting set that uses an alternating current
transformer, or _power transformer,_ as it is sometimes called, is
even more simple than one using a spark coil. The transformer needs no
vibrator when used with alternating current. The current from a
generator flows through the primary coil of the transformer and the
alternations of the usual lighting current is 60 cycles per second.
This current sets up an alternating magnetic field in the core of the
transformer and as these magnetic lines of force expand and contract
they set up alternating currents of the same frequency but of much
higher voltage at the terminals of the secondary coil according to the
ratio of the primary and secondary turns of wire as explained under
the sub-caption of _Ratio of Transformation_.
With Direct Current.–When a 110 volt direct current is used to
energize the power transformer an _electrolytic_ interruptor is needed
to make and break the primary circuit, just as a vibrator is needed
for the same purpose with a spark coil. When the electrodes are
connected in series with the primary coil of a transformer and a
source of direct current having a potential of 40 to 110 volts,
bubbles of gas are formed on the end of the platinum, or alloy anode,
which prevent the current from flowing until the bubbles break and
then the current flows again, in this way the current is rapidly made
and broken and the break is very sharp.

Before delving into the mysteries of receiving and sending messages
without wires, a word as to the history of the art and its present day
applications may be of service. While popular interest in the subject
has gone forward by leaps and bounds within the last two or three
years, it has been a matter of scientific experiment for more than a
quarter of a century.
The wireless telegraph was invented by William Marconi, at Bologna,
Italy, in 1896, and in his first experiments he sent dot and dash
signals to a distance of 200 Knaq 89.3 Mhz In Prescott or 300 feet. The wireless telephone was
invented by the author of this book at Narberth, Penn., in 1899, and
in his first experiments the human voice was transmitted to a distance
of three blocks.
The first vital experiments that led up to the invention of the
wireless telegraph were made by Heinrich Hertz, of Germany, in 1888
when he showed that the spark of an induction coil set up electric
oscillations in an open circuit, and that the energy of these waves
was, in turn, sent out in the form of electric waves. He also showed
how they could be received at a distance by means of a ring detector,
which he called a _resonator_
In 1890, Edward Branly, of France, showed that metal filings in a tube
cohered when electric waves acted on them, and this device he termed a
_radio conductor_; this was improved upon by Sir Oliver Lodge, who
called it a coherer. In 1895, Alexander Popoff, of Russia, constructed
a receiving set for the study of atmospheric electricity, and this
arrangement was the earliest on record of the use of a detector
connected with an aerial and the earth.
Marconi was the first to connect an aerial to one side of a spark gap
and a ground to the other side of it. He used an induction coil to
energize the spark gap, and a telegraph key in the primary circuit to
break up the current into signals. Adding a Morse register, which
printed the dot and dash messages on a tape, to the Popoff receptor he
produced the first system for sending and receiving wireless telegraph
messages.
After Marconi had shown the world how to telegraph without connecting
wires it would seem, on first thought, to be an easy matter to
telephone without wires, but not so, for the electric spark sets up
damped and periodic oscillations and these cannot be used for
transmitting speech. Instead, the oscillations must be of constant
amplitude and continuous. That a direct current arc light transforms a
part of its energy into electric oscillations was shown by Firth and
Rogers, of England, in 1893.
The author was the first to connect an arc lamp with an aerial and a
ground, and to use a microphone transmitter to modulate the sustained
oscillations so set up. The receiving apparatus consisted of a
variable contact, known as a _pill-box_ detector, which Sir Oliver
Lodge had devised, and to this was connected an Ericsson telephone
receiver, then the most sensitive made. A later improvement for
setting up sustained oscillations was the authors _rotating
oscillation arc_.
Since those memorable days of more than two decades ago, wonderful
advances have been made in both of these methods of transmitting
intelligence, and the end is as yet nowhere in sight. Twelve or
fifteen years ago the boys began to get fun out of listening-in to
what the ship and shore stations were sending and, further, they began
to do a little sending on their own account. These youngsters, who
caused the professional operators many a pang, were the first wireless
amateurs, and among them experts were developed who are foremost in
the practice of the art today.

They had been directed to the quarters of Major Jones, in charge of the
Signal Corps men in that section, and it was with considerable surprise
that the boys learned, upon arriving there, that they were to accompany
the lieutenant into the superior officers presence for instructions.
He was a man, they found, about forty years old, already grizzled and
hardened by his field experience. And he knew how to convey orders and
transact business without a moments delay.
“You are to follow the red-ink lines on this map,” he told Lieutenant
Mackinson, as they all leaned over his desk to follow the tracing of his
pencil, with which he showed them the course they were to take.
“When you have reached this point”–indicating a heavy spot about midway
of the map–”you will seek a suitable location from which to establish
communications. You will determine whether it can be done by wireless.
As soon as you can do so, report what progress you have made. Use every
caution, for you will be in the country occupied by the enemy. You
should leave here about seven oclock this evening. It is now six.”
Fifteen minutes later Local Tv Tennessee License, Llc K62da they had examined their arms and equipped
themselves with a full supply of small-arms ammunition, portable
wireless instrument and antennæ, and three rations each of eating
chocolate.
The latter article is dispensed to every soldier in the American armies
just prior to an engagement in which he may become separated from his
unit or companions, and, if wounded, might otherwise starve to death.
The remaining three-quarters of an hour they spent in close study of the
map that Major Jones had given them, and promptly at seven oclock they
started upon the dangerous mission.
With nightfall the big cannonading had noticeably shut down, but to the
south of them artillery firing still could be heard distinctly. It was a
black night and they proceeded with the greatest caution.