The political impact telegraph had on society.The political impact came, as I stated above with the advent of sound broadcast. Radio transmitters unlike the receivers were expensive. This normally required the resources of governments for purchase. In owning the transmitting stations they could then be used for national propaganda purposes. Jamming of the news services became commonplace. The news agency Reuter that was using a form of radiotelegraphy for news distribution used to be heavily jammed in the 1950's. The main advance in radiotelegraphy had been in communication on ships. Ships masts could conveniently double as anchoring points for long radio antennas. The military were one of the first to see the importance of radio and British naval ships were first fitted out with radiotelegraph equipment in 1903. Previous to this ships were cut off from the outside world unless within hailing distance of other vessels or the land. The use of radiotelegraphy by the military on land was slow to take off. Radio at that time was very inefficient, and large antennas were required. This was therefore an unsuitable medium for armies that required their equipment to be rapidly deployable. The Boer war in South Africa was the first time that the British Army used Marconi wireless telegraphy equipment in battle. The Boers had ordered equipment from Siemens but this did not arrive in time. To overcome the problem of rapid deployment of antennas on land, kites were used to raise them aloft. This proved to be unsatisfactory and in the end the equipment was dismantled. Radio for use by armies had to wait for the development of more efficient equipment with the use of thermionic valves, frequency selection, and an improved antenna performance with impedance matching etc. before it became practical. This part of the website is under construction |
