Vintage Radio: The Contributions Of "Amateurs"- Giving Radio A Voice

Last month we looked at Marconi and his pioneering work in the advancement of wireless communications. In the early days of radio, prior to government regulation, anyone with the knowledge could build a transmitter and go on the air. Even after the first attempts at regulation, one could still do this, the only rules being a mandate to yield to commercial traffic and to remain silent for a five minute period at the top of the hour to allow for distress traffic from ships at sea. In the days before what we now think of as “broadcasting,” commercial traffic was considered to be the handling of messages between ship and shore stations, or between areas not connected with wires, such as overseas. Everyone else was considered an “amateur,” even if they were a professor at a university, or an engineer trying to develop a new system. World War I brought further regulations prompted by the military, who realized the potential for this new form of communication. Eventually, licensing became the norm, with three types of licenses issued: commercial, for handling messages for hire, experimental, for research and development, and amateur, for others who wished to explore the art as a hobby or outside of what was specified by the other classes of licenses. Still, there were few limits as to what frequency to us…..READ MORE

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Vintage Radio: The Contributions Of “Amateurs”- Giving Radio A Voice