Sayville Radio Tower, 1915

A hundred years ago this month, the August 1915 issue of Electrical Experimenter magazine shows the giant radio tower at Sayville, Long Island, superimposed over a scene of the war raging in Europe. As discussed in earlier posts, the station was owned by Germany’s Telefunken System, which had been placed under German government control, and communicated with […]

U.S. Sets Wireless Neutrality Rules

A hundred years ago today, August 21, 1914, President Wilson resolved the issue of use of wireless stations in U.S. territory by the warring nations. After protests from Germany, whose cable had been cut and had only wireless contact with Germany, it was decided that the warring nations would be permitted to send coded messages […]

Hiram Percy Maxim Catches a Breach of Neutrality

The New York Sun had a flurry of dispatches in its August 7, 1914, issue regarding wireless and U.S. neutrality. In the first, the French steamer Rochambeau, docked in New York, was reportedly sending wireless messages to the French cruisers Conde and Descartes. U.S. radio inspectors were investigating. The report even mentioned that there were hundreds […]