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HOW TO MAKE A WIRELESS OUTFIT*
By A. FREDERICK COLLINS
E
VERY Woodcrafter ought to be able to send and receive messages over long distances by every known means including smoke signals, wig-wagging, heliography, and wireless, and the last named method is to my way of thinking the most useful and interesting.
There are three parts to every wireless- set, and; these are (1) an aerial wire system, (2) a sending apparatus, and- (3) a receiving apparatus; and you can buy all. of it ready to- put up, or if you like to use tools yoa can make all of the parts yourself, except the head telephone receivers, as thousands of other wireless fellows have done before you.
The Aerial Wire System
The aerial wire system, or just aerial, as it is called for short, is formed of two or three No. 14 aluminum or stranded copper wires stretched as high above the ground as you can get them. These wires must be insulated from the poles, or whatever they are fastened to, and to do this six porcelain insulators, and two strain insulators, are needed. Each end of each wire, which should not be less than thirty feet long, is fastened to a porcelain insulator and the latter is in turn fastened with a bit of wire to a spreader, that is, a strip of wood one inch thick, three inches wide, and four feet long. Each spreader is then fastened to a strain insulator when the aerial is hoisted and fixed to the supports; and don't forget that the higher the aerial and the longer the wires the greater the distance to which messages can be sent and received.
* Used by permission of the Woodcraft League, New York City.
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