History
The use of radio to aid in rescuing survivors of accidents at sea came to the forefront after the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. Lifeboats were equipped with spark gap transmitters such as the Marconi Type 241, c. 1920. These operated using Morse code on 500 kHz, the international distress frequency at the time. This frequency had the advantage of long range due to ground-wave propagation and was constantly monitored by all large ships at sea after the Titanic's sinking. However, due to its wavelength of 600 meters, a long antenna was required to achieve good range. Long wires on the order of 1/4 wavelength held up by kites or balloons were often used. Spark-gap continued to be used in lifeboats long after the technology was banned for general communication.
Read more about this topic: Survival Radio
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I believe that in the history of art and of thought there has always been at every living moment of culture a “will to renewal.” This is not the prerogative of the last decade only. All history is nothing but a succession of “crises”Mof rupture, repudiation and resistance.... When there is no “crisis,” there is stagnation, petrification and death. All thought, all art is aggressive.”
—Eugène Ionesco (b. 1912)
“Don’t give your opinions about Art and the Purpose of Life. They are of little interest and, anyway, you can’t express them. Don’t analyse yourself. Give the relevant facts and let your readers make their own judgments. Stick to your story. It is not the most important subject in history but it is one about which you are uniquely qualified to speak.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)