‰  NOW 40 WPM  ‰  TEXT IS FROM JANUARY 2014  QST  PAGE 69‰
A MAXIMUM POWER OF 1 KW, EVEN A WELL EQUIPPED STATION COULD NOT REACH OUT
MUCH FARTHER THAN 50 MILES.  THESE RESTRICTIONS LIMITED AN OPERATORS
ABILITY TO EFFECTIVELY SEND MESSAGES FOR THIRD PARTIES, OR IN EMERGENCIES,
WHICH WAS A PRINCIPAL AMATEUR ACTIVITY.  AFTER EXPERIENCING THESE
LIMITATIONS IN HIS OWN PERSONAL OPERATIONS, MAXIM MADE A SUGGESTION TO THE
RADIO CLUB OF HARTFORD.  INCEPTION OF THE LEAGUE ON APRIL 6, 1914, MAXIM
PROPOSED AN ORGANIZATION OF STATIONS STR

STATIONS WITH HANDMADE COMPONENTS.  THEY WERE ABLE TO REACH OUT TO THEIR
COLLEAGUES IN THIS WAY.  AMONG THIS GROUP WERE TWO INDIVIDUALS WHO WOULD
RISE TO THE FOREFRONT OF AMATEUR RADIO, ESTABLISHING IT AS A PURSUIT THAT
THOUSANDS WOULD COME TO EMBRACE OVER THE NEXT CENTURY.  UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP
HIRAM PERCY MAXIM AND CLARENCE TUSKA WERE LARGELY DISSIMILAR IN AGE,
CHARACTER, AND WORLD EXPERIENCE BUT BONDED BY A COMMON ZEAL FOR RADIO.
MAXIMS INTEREST IN AMATEUR RADIO FORMED AT A TIME WHEN HE WAS A MIDDLEAGED
PROFESSIONAL HIS DIVERSE THE SUCCESSFUL ENDEAVORS INCLUDED THE DEVELOPMENT
OF A WEAPON AND AUTO SILENCER, AUTO MANUFACTURING, GLIDER FLIGHT AND MOVIE
MAKING.  WHEN MAXIMS CHIEF ENGINEER AT MAXIM SILENCER CO, ROLAND BOURNE
LATER 1ANA, RELATED HIS WIRELESS EXPERIENCES, MAXIM WAS CAPTIVATED.  MAXIMS
SON, HIRAM HAMILTON, SHARED HIS FATHERS LOVE FOR INNOVATION, AND HAD BEEN
PURSUING WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY WITH HIS SCHOOLMATES.  THE FATHER AND SON
TEAMED UP TO EXPLORE THE NEW WORLD OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION.  THEY STUDIED
THE CODE, UTILIZING A SIMPLE TELEGRAPH APPARATUS A KEY AND SOUNDER.  THIS
WAS NOT A PRACTICAL METHOD, AS THEY WERE HEARING THE MORSE CODE, COMPRISED

THE BEGINNING  AMIDST TURN OF THE CENTURY EXCITEMENT SURROUNDING NEW
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP LED TO THE FORMATION OF THE
AMERICAN RADIO RELAY LEAGUE.  MICHAEL MARINARO, WN1M  AT THE DAWN OF THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY, THERE WERE NO RADIO SIGNALS ONLY THE HISS OF
ATMOSPHERIC NOISE AND THE OCCASIONAL CRASHES OF ELECTRICAL STORMS.  THE
EQUIPMENT FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING SIGNALS HAD NOT YET BEEN INVENTED.
AS THE CENTURY WORE ON, HOWEVER, THERE WAS A GROWING INTEREST IN WIRELESS
COMMUNICATION.  THE SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS OF THE DAY EXPERIMENTED IN
SENDING AND RECEIVING SIGNALS AT GREATER AND GREATER DISTANCES.  BY THE
TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, OPERATORS BEGAN COMMUNICATING WITH EACH
OTHER USING THE ROUGH, RASPY NOTES GENERATED BY SPARK GAP TRANSMITTERS.
RADIO WAS BORN.  THE USE OF THESE EARLY AIRWAVES WAS THE INTEREST OF
NUMEROUS GROUPS FOREMOST WAS THE NAVY AND MARINE INDUSTRY, FOLLOWED BY THE
COMMERCIAL WIRELESS SERVICES, EAGER AS THEY WERE TO COMPETE WITH THE
TELEGRAPH SERVICES.  IN THE EYES OF THESE GROUPS, THE EMERGENCE OF AMATEURS
THE NEIGHBORHOOD SHORT RANGE OPERATORS WHO BUILT THEIR OWN STATIONS AND
COMMUNICATED WITH EACH OTHER OVER SHORT DISTANCES WAS INSIGNIFICANT.  YET
THESE AMATEURS WERE ENTHUSIASTIC AND RESOURCEFUL.  THEY MONITORED THE
COMMERCIAL AND NAVAL STATIONS TO LEARN THE CODE, AND THEN ASSEMBLED MODEST
‰  END OF 40 WPM TEXT  ‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ