An American field radio outlet at the front in France

An American field radio outlet at the front in France

American field radio outfit

18739

Here we have an American field radio outfit in operation ; science, the handmaiden of war. Cars of every type have been used, even as small as a three-quarter ton truck. And over ground which a car cannot cover, motorcycle outfits are run. The two and one-half ton chassis has however proved to be one of the most satisfactory types. All types have a special body in which is built the apparatus for wireless transmission and receiving. The current for the wireless is supplied by a generator connected with the gasoline motor which propels the car. In the two and one-half ton chassis truck the antennae are usually of the umbrella type mounted at the top of a sectional mast which can be erected in six minutes. The sections are ten feet long and made of artificial bamboo—hollow, semi-circular gutters of spruce, glued together, and wrapped with wire at the joints. These outfits have a sending radius of about 200 miles and can receive from almost any distance—2,500 miles has been registered. As a rule there are ten men to an outfit of this type—one chief, a driver and mechanician, at least two skilled operators, and the others drilled in erecting the mast. This latter service is of great importance, for on the battle field seconds mean lives. Squads are trained so that they can dash up to a given spot, erect the mast, and get into communication with headquarters in six minutes. Before us a motorcycle outfit using short, slender, readily portable masts is at work. Messages are being sent while an observer watches the sky for hostile planes.

1 stereograph : b&w

1 gelatine silver print stereograph (8 x 15 cm) mounted on card (9 x 18 cm)

Copyright. The Keystone View Company

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World War through the stereoscope