To facilitate your understanding of what was "spark", do the following: connect your radio on a summer evening in the bands of Medias Waves (OM), Long Wave (LW) or Short Wave (OC), and listen to the sounds of static. Now connect your vacuum cleaner or an electric shaver, and listen to your radio again. Listen to noise being caused by sparking the engine... In summary communication spark was merely a "controlled sparkle" which could when we applied a high voltage coil and thus of sparks between the tabs. One of the terminals of the coil was attached to an antenna and the spark was switched ON and OFF (on and off) to transmit the code. The signal generated occupied a huge range. The best spark transmitter operating in 1906 at 400 meters - 750kHz - generated a signal occupying a range between 250metros (1.200kHz) and 550 meters (545 kHz). The receptors were no better. Prior to 1912, all systems were basically detectors without amplification. Tuners were primitive or nonexistent. As might be expected, by today's standards, the first seasons of "wireless" were extremely inefficient. The range of transmissions ranged from six miles with a spark coil with ½ inch, 100 miles with a station of 1 Kilowatt and a spark coil with 15 inches. Vessels 5 KW transmitters could reach a maximum of 500 miles.

It was in this world of communications (almost impossible) that the first radio amateurs ventured. Currently, if we focus on the period prior to the year 1908, it would actually be more appropriate to speak of "experimenters" than in "amateur radio". During the first decade of wireless communications had little interest in personal communications using the radio; the great interest was the technical development of pure science, but also with an eye on the money that the radio could generate as a means of communication. Experimenters were unorganized and with the exception of those living nearby and did their tests, there was no knowledge of other pioneer stations. If there were some "amateur" before 190, its existence was lost in the absence of information, in the darkness of prehistory. In the year 1908, however, the reality of wireless communications has begun to change.

Important technical developments reached its first phase and the United Wireless, one of the largest manufacturers of the time; it formed the first monopoly of wireless communications. In parallel, new magazines were successful and among them we highlight the "Modern Electrics" which published 2,000 copies and rose to more than 30,000 copies in just two years. Also in 1908 he published the first "handbook" for experimenters (hams). It was very difficult (even impossible) to know exactly how many stations were working without any regulation at that time... but estimates indicate that the "major" stations (i.e. those able to communicate beyond 10 miles) was about 600, while the "smaller" which could achieve 1 6 miles were probably a 3,000.

For these reasons it is that we believe and say that the beginning of the Amateur happened in the year 1908. There is no doubt that Father Landell de Moura was the first amateur. The hard part will be to determine the second amateur. Without licensing, regulations or records, hardly find a decisive answer to this question. However we can mention the name of W.E.D. Stokes Jr. who was a founder and Chairman number-1 First Amateur Radio Club - the Junior Wireless Club in New York City - USA 2 January 1909. Other founding members who can claim the title of second amateur are George Eltz, Frank King, and Fred Seymour. In the same year, the Wireless Association of America and the Radio Club of Salt Lake City were created. During 1910 the wireless clubs spread by the USA, and the first "call book" was published. Given that in this period there was no regulation, call signs listed in the "call book" were chosen by the operator... this brings us to another interesting question; how did the word or symbol "ham"? At this time, there was a phenomenal season with a 5KW transmitter that could be heard during the day and night at distances over 500 miles. The operator of this station used the initials of his name - HAM.

The Amateur radio continued to grow. In the year 1911, the "Modern Electrics" had a circulation of 52,000 copies and amateurs already totaled 10,000 in the country. With thousands of broadcasting stations, radio amateurs and commercial interference have become a serious problem especially for maritime communications.

The ships, due to the limited length of their antennae, were limited to frequencies between 450 and 600 meters (660-500 kHz). As we have seen, one spark station could take this entire "spectrum". Thus, it was imperative that all stations cooperate and stay in "stand by" while the others were transmitting. Unfortunately many times this was not the case. It is noteworthy that there was interference between amateur stations and commercial stations and often among the very commercial stations of different companies. A total madness! Encouraged and stimulated by the Navy (which was using old and inefficient equipment and that reason they suffer from excessive interference), Congress began preparing a regulation for wireless communications. That's when a big accident happened that quickly and dramatically changed the "spectrum of wireless communications". 

On 15 April 1912, the R.M.S. Titanic hit an "iceberg" in the North Atlantic and sank. Thanks to radio communications and the first SOS in history, 713 lives were saved. However it was argued that the number of survivors could have been higher if a regulation in wireless communications already been adopted. It was a Monday, 15 / April / 1912, at 12:30. "The Time Machine" (the radio) is within the Titanic in the North Atlantic at 41 degrees 46'Norte, and 50 degrees 14 ' West.

The majestic ship the largest and most luxurious in the world in his inaugural trip. The TITANIC, equipped with a Marconi 5KW station, and two tired operators earning $ 20 a month, not as Ship Company employees, but as employees of the Marconi Company. The box was full of messages received messages, several telegrams from the stock market personnel. They were so busy communicating with Cape Race, Newfoundland, which did not even notice a slight clang. When the two operators of the radio station, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, passed routine traffic, the Captain came and told them, "Gentlemen, the ship collided with an "iceberg" - send messages of danger and distress quickly". The "Blue Spark" jumped across the void while Jack sent "CQD" (come quickly, danger!).

"Send SOS" Harold said, "This is the new message and may be our last chance to send it". Thus began the historical moment that changed the radio. Two hours later, Jack Phillips and over 1,500 passengers were dead, "Titanic" landed in the ocean and 713 survivors huddled in background lifeguard waiting for help at sea. Tragic mistakes in the history the "Titanic" showed the urgent need for regulations to radio communications. The first ship to respond to the distress call was the German Liner, the "Frankfurt".

 

While the communications operator "Frankfurt" reported to his captain, the ship "Carpathia " and " Cape Race" kept in touch . When the operator of the "Frankfurt " came back asking for more information, Phillip replied "SHUT UP , SHUT UP , STAND BY and STAY OUT " . This seems bizarre by our standards, but it made perfect sense for operators of the time (year 1912). The ship "Titanic" , "Carpathia" and "Cape Race" were equipped with stations and telegraph Marconi , while the "Frankfurt" used the services of Telefunken it was German and major competitor Marconi in that country. This trade war extended to the operators themselves. NEVER routine traffic would a Marconi station to a rival, even in an emergency!

The wireless controversy would continue even after the "Carpathia" picked up the survivors. A communication was received, allegedly from the "Carpathia", which read: "... CALM SEA" "ALL SHIP PASSENGERS" TITANIC "SAFELY TRANSFERRED TO" SSPARISIAN TITANIC "BEING TOWED BY SHIP" VIRGINIAN ALLEN LINER TO THE PORT. "Other messages appeared, also stating that ALL passengers were safe and the ship was being towed there was only one problem - these messages were not coming from "Carpathia". The reason was simple their communications had one maximum range of only 150 miles. On the other hand, the communications operator "Carpathia" has some transmissions to only "Olympic" (sister ship the "Titanic"), in which he wired list of survivors and some messages Bruce Ismay - President of White Star Lines, then shut down his station. So complete was the radio silence "Carpathia" they refused to respond to calls from Navy ships sent to the scene by US President Mr. William Howard Taft. The White Star Line, owner of "Titanic", was still insisting that all passengers were safe and the ship had not sunk. But as she made these false statements, the company's dome knew all the gruesome details that had already been informed by the "Olympic". But the rest of the world also knew the entire history thanks to a 21 year old operator named David Sarnoff, who was able to detect a very weak signal "Olimpic". Faced with the truth, hunted by thousands of reporters and affronted relatives of passengers, the White Star Liner officials finally succumbed and revealed all. However, the "Carpathia" headed toward New York City. When the ship passed within range of shore stations, there were frantic attempts to communicate by radio amateurs and authorities, but silence on the radio the “Carpathia” was total and absolute.

Senator found the cause communications silence of the "Carpathia" - was Marconi himself. He sent messages via radio to Bride and Cottam stating "MARCONI COMPANY TAKES GOOD SI ACCOUNT - KEEP YOUR MOUTH CALADA - HOLD YOUR STORY - YOU WILL RECEIVE A LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY - NOW END". This confirmed that Marconi had an agreement with the New York Times for an exclusive story. Thus, essential information for desperate relatives and official inquiries from the President were a setback for the interests of Marconi. When Marconi got on the stand, Senator Smith clung to him with surprising vehemence. Marconi, who had been lionized by the nation, was now handled by the Senator as an entrepreneur any that put profit above the public interest. Senator Smith was warned that his attack on a man as popular as Marconi was political suicide, but he did not care. In its obsession to believe that the delay in regulating the "spectrum" of communications was to benefit the Marconi Company, he described him as a man willing to submit a public good to his equipment monopoly goals and "spectrum". Senator Smith used the statements on the "Titanic to condemn the use and abuse of the current state of communications and called for international radio regulations.

On 18 May 1912, Senator Smith introduced a bill in the Senate. Among his proposals:

Two or more operators should provide continuous service day and night. In response to the interference generated over the years, and especially when the "Carpathia" was within range, a condition was placed "private stations could not use wavelengths greater than 200 meters, except with special permission". Each Government, Marine, or Commercial station would be allowed to operate in a certain frequency, with power and certain hours of operation. The initial legislation considered the elimination of all private stations, non-commercial (i.e., amateur), but Congress reasoned that it could be difficult and costly to fulfill it. A well-known fact was that long wavelengths were the best, and frequencies below 250 meters had no use except for local communications, so it was decided to give the 200 the amateurs where they could work 25 miles maximum.

The law of the Radio of 1,912 was completely obsolete since the year 1920. Designed in an era of long wave and medium wave to spark telegraphy, the Law was totally inadequate when it came to broadcasting and shortwave. The Commerce Department tried to extend the law to the new requirements. Regulations 1922-1924 which banned the amateur radio stream music and sent them to the bands of 160, 80, 40, 20, and 5 meters, really nothing more than a "gentlemen's agreement", valid until they are not bothered. For a long time it worked, amateurs enthusiastically occupied their new bands and began to communicate with the world, while the number of stations that broadcast music in the new region 550-1500 jumped from 30 to nearly 600 in just 3 years. Technical advances did not accompany this growth and the problems reappeared. The transmitters controlled crystal were still far from being built and the instability of broadcastings, which diverted their frequencies, caused interference in other adjacent stations .Even outside the stations 400 to 600 cycles could cause interference of (signs by the mixing of two frequencies). Most receptors were manufactured in 1920 or regenerative or TRF (Tuned Radio Frequency), for good sensitivity and poor selectivity. As a result, in 1920 the average wave was saturated with only 600 stations. Compare that nowadays medium wave with hard frequency control 20 Hz, directional antennas and heterodyne receivers high selectivity, allows more than 4000 stations occupy the band of AM without interference. The Department of Commerce, therefore, issued regulations sharing schedules (where two or more stations occupy the same frequency at different times of day) and only operations during the day. Stations were constantly moving to another frequency, or were requested to lower power transmission to reduce interference. The Commerce Department also enjoined the stations whose frequency transmitter "slid" into adjacent channels and applies penalties. An interesting example of this was the Los Angeles station "Sister" Aimee Semple McPherson of an evangelist church that was leading the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel: It was obvious the frequency slip your transmitter up and down the AM band. When federal inspectors Radio tried to keep it in frequency, station owners wrote to the Secretary Hoover, requiring "Followers of the Devil" stay away from your transmitter . The Almighty is that chose their wavelength, they wrote, not the Department of Commerce.

Many stations had been moved or informed to reduce transmitter power, or share their frequencies did what any American patriot could do - "hired a lawyer." Once the legal struggles began, much has come to light. Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution allows the federal government regulates trade BETWEEN STATES. Moreover, it was an accepted fact that a federal agency could not make regulations, unless you were given these powers by Congress. Thus, the lawyers for the stations complained and challenged the Secretary of the regulations attacked on two fronts, first, that the Radio Act of 1912 did not give authority to the Department to regulate broadcasting stations, and second, since many stations could not be heard through the state's borders, there was no trade "between states," so there was no federal jurisdiction. (This was the argument used by "Radio Free Berkley" and other low-power stations pirates). The Court of Adjustment Day came in 1926 when an Illinois District Court declared that there was no federal law that would allow the Secretary of Commerce to issue licenses for music stations or designate frequencies. The Attorney General admitted that the Federal Government had no control over the radio, except it was authorized by the Radio Act of 1912. It was a real pandemonium! The stations, released from Federal control increased their powers, changed frequencies, and / or started to transmit all day. Small stations have been put down. Unlicensed stations appeared from all sides, chose any frequency and transmitted music. Anarchy was total.

Radio amateurs could legally have joined this true RF orgy, nothing preventing him from returning to stream music, moving to other frequencies, exceed the limit of 1 kW or whatever they wished to do. To their credit they did nothing. One reason for this was the great respect they had for the Secretary Hoover, a man who several times publicly defended the amateurs of all possible ways. They could have renounced the "gentlemen's agreement" they did to him. The other reason was common sense... They knew that Congress would correct the problems briefly adopting a new appropriate legislation. The "broadcasters" were "big boys" with enough money, with great company and 6 million listeners; they could disobey the spirit of the law, without any problem. Radio amateurs could not afford that luxury. They concluded that any violation of the agreements of 1922 and 1924, even though legally they could be breached, could cost the lack of political support. So while the segment 550 to 1500 Khz was free to all, bands of hams were orderly disciplined with hams, masters in the art of crystal control and operational skills, operating quietly.

Incidentally, one of the areas where these are needed these skills were expeditions. Arctic to the Antarctic, MacMillan Byrd, amateurs provided communications with the necessary knowledge and skills. Also, in emergency areas, amateurs provided communications during blizzards and ice, hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. The federal government quickly ended with the chaotic situation in the broadcast band. The Radio Act of 1927 was passed on 23 February. This law defined the "amateur" for the first time in a Federal statute, and created the Federal Radio Commission, which was given the power to classify and regulate all aspects of all radio stations targeting the "public interest, convenience or necessity". Criminal penalties were provided for in the Act of 1927 and entered into force immediately.

The Commission immediately started working and "The followers of the devil" put to Sister Aimee station frequency, sealed the KFKB transmitter, the station of "Dr. John Brinkley," graduate Eclectic Medical School and proponent of the prostate operations and (believe if you like) transplanting goat glands to cure all diseases. Patients by the thousands heard his broadcast KFKB, and crowds came to Kansas to be operated. After the Commission closed its season, "Dr. Brinkley" went to Mexico near the border with Texas, moved into its new 150,000 watt station, and continued their fraudulent operations. In gratitude to the hams, the Commission maintained the same situation for the 15,000 hams (amateur) existing at the time. All agreements and regulations enacted by the Commerce Department were maintained and incorporated in current regulations. A single change was implemented: adding the letter W to the prefix of their amateur radio stations, as well 1AW turned W1AW, 1JS turned W1JS, etc. However, the existence of sympathetic Commission and friendly regulations were not enough. The radio was truly international, and as a result, a Radiotelegraph international conference was scheduled in Washington, DC, for the 4th of October 1927. The word was to the accession of the governments of Europe and the Middle East who were against amateurs. To conclude, it is good all know that the history of Radio is intertwined with the story of several characters that greatly contributed to that today we can connect our TV at home and watch a program being broadcast live by example of Japan. Since William Gilbert that in the year 1600 invented the electroscope by studying magnetism to Lee De Forest to which is assigned the first opera broadcast on the radio, dozens of people over hundreds of years, participated in this discovery that revolutionized the twentieth century, approaching, entertaining, informing and saving millions of people around the world.

We cannot fail to mention Michael Faraday, the great English scholar who discovered in 1831 the magnetic induction as well as the great contribution made by James C. Maxwell mathematically discovered the existence of electromagnetic waves, different only in size of the light waves, but with the same speed (300,000) three hundred thousand kilometers per second. Another character that marked the history of communications was Thomas A. Edison in 1880 found that when putting in a crystal hourglass a filament and a separate metal plate to each other and, by connecting the filament to a negative battery and the positive plate, the passage noted-a plate of electrical current to the filament and never in the opposite direction. Great contribution was given by German professor Heinrich Rudolph Hertz who proved in practice in 1890 the existence of electromagnetic waves, called today "radio waves". His experiences were based on Maxwell's theory. Hertz discovered that when a spark to jump in its oscillator device also sparks leaping between the ends of a metal arc placed at a distance called resonator. Hertz this experiment demonstrated that the electromagnetic waves have the same speed as light waves. In his honor, the radio waves are now called "Hertzian waves", is also using it "HERTZ" as frequency drive. Many characters from the history of radio contributed to the improvement of transmission and reception of electromagnetic signals. Thus we have Professor Pupim 1.887 discovered that in the "Electrical Tuning" used in almost all the radio apparatuses. Branly, who in 1892, discovered his famous "COHESOR"; Popoff who devised a way to add an electric vibrator to Branly cohesor improving its operation. Here comes in 1896 Guglielmo Marconi using an oscillator type "Hertz" and cohesor of "BRANLY-Popoff," performing the transmission and reception signals over a short distance. Marconi put into practice the theories, ideas and Tesla's discoveries, Faraday, Maxwell, Edison, Hertz, Branly and Popoff.

It was the end of the 19th century and great discoveries were being made in short time worldwide in the field of communications, involving the prospect of earning big money as well as the interest of certain countries keep secret, for use military, the inventions of its scientists and researchers. Thus it is very difficult to say with certainty who invented the radio. There is a global trend that gives this credit to Guglielmo Marconi, but we cannot forget the Russian physicist Alexander Stepanovich Popov (1859-1906) that on May 7, 1895, transmitted, received and deciphered the first telegraphic message unsuccessfully Wire. The Russian scientist Alexander Popov had sent a message from a Russian Navy ship 30 miles away at sea, to his laboratory in St. Petersburg - Russia. It was an amazing feat, but the world took no notice. The intention of the Russian Navy was monopolize this powerful technology, urging Popov not to give any news of their findings. Regarded as a great state secret, Popov loses any chance of world fame.

You commit an injustice to a Brazilian scientist Father Roberto Landell de Moura, predecessor of Marconi and everyone else. His theses, signed before 1890, predicted the "wireless telegraphy", the "radio-telephony", the "broadcasting", the "communications satellite" and "laser". In the year 1900, while the achievement of Marconi did not exceed the distance of 24 km, Father Landell de Moura got the Brazilian government charter No. 3279, recognizing its universal pioneering scientific merits in the field of telecommunications. In 1901, Father Landell de Moura, set sail for the United States and 1,904 purposes, The Patent Office at Washington awarded him three charters: for the wireless telegraph, to the cordless phone and the wave transmitter sound. You could consider the Padre Landell de Moura the forerunner in the transmissions of other voices and noises. Its patents claim it. In the twentieth century, it turns the big jump in the findings and modernization, while in 1904 John Ambrose Fleming, the great British scientist invents elementary valve, known as the "Fleming Valve" which consisted of plate and filament. Based on Fleming's findings, Dr. Lee De Forest built in 1905 to Audion valve that completely transformed the radio industry. This valve was composed of filament, plate and grid, replacing sparks transmitters of Marconi by this new technology. Thus, not only was transmitted signals as well as voice and music by Hertzian waves. It fell to De Forest the honor of having been the first to broadcast the radio opera music directly from their station in California. He was the first to transmit the radio comedy shows. With the end of World War I, the American Westinghouse industry was left with a large stock of radios manufactured for the troops in the war. Broadcasting was born by chance, when a large antenna was installed in the factory yard to stream music, and through this "Marketing", selling the devices "stranded" for the inhabitants of the neighborhood. Thus Westinghouse Electric Co. is proud to have sponsored the first commercial broadcaster in the world, the well-known "KDKA" Pittsburgh. She began to work regularly in 1920 and since then, day after day came the growing number of radio stations around the world.