[RFI] Tracking Electrical Interference in 1924

[James Gordon Beattie Jr]

Paul,
This is a cool article describing techniques that we still use.  I was especially amused by the shaking of the utility pole to confirm the noise and the form factor of the ham shown in the photo.  Some things never change!  :-)
Thanks for sharing it!
73,
Gordon Beattie, W2TTT
201.314.6964

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________________________________
From: RFI <rfi-bounces+w2ttt=att.net at contesting.com> on behalf of Paul Christensen <pchristensen at ieee.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 9:07:50 AM
To: rfi at contesting.com <rfi at contesting.com>
Subject: [RFI] Tracking Electrical Interference in 1924

Using Brigg's description of the arcing street light location (i.e., 2nd pole on School St. off Washington), the pole location and surrounding neighborhood can be easily seen using Google street maps.  In those old neighborhoods, it's highly likely that even though the wood poles have been changed through the years, the pole positions mostly remained the same.

Last year, I attended a funeral of a childhood friend in Dwight, IL.  On that visit, I searched for the home of G. Wiley Bergman, 9CA.  Wiley was a prolific spark operator in the early '20s.  Bergman's station was described in a 1923 issue of QST.  Taking that issue with me, I located the home and found the antenna lead-in entry point, just as shown in the QST photos.   The house looks the same today as it did in 1923.  QST photos also show placement of several utility poles.  I compared placement against the photos, and they're at the same locations today.

Paul, W9AC

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephanie WX3K <wx3k at ptd.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2021 7:03 PM
To: Paul Christensen <pchristensen at ieee.org>
Cc: RFI at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RFI] Tracking Electrical Interference in 1924

Paul

Thank you for sharing this. Interesting how we can point to this as another example of our “expertise” way back then !

73
Stephanie WX3K


> On Jan 26, 2021, at 6:54 PM, Paul Christensen <pchristensen at ieee.org> wrote:
>
> For those interested, I have linked to a 1924 QST article that
> discusses how Perry Briggs, 1BGF (of "low-loss" tuner fame), tracked down an arcing street
> lamp through the Hartford, CT neighborhoods.   Nearly 100 years later, we're
> still doing the same, albeit with better tracking gear:
>
> https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/2403034.pdf
>
> Paul, W9AC
>
>
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