Science: Storms & Radio

One day last week a violent “magnetic storm” or disturbance of the earth’s magnetic field broke out. Associated with the current high sunspot activity, the magnetic storm caused transatlantic telephone communication by short-wave radio to go haywire. Since it is the medium short-wave band which appears to suffer most from such disturbances, American Telephone & Telegraph Co. and R. C. A. Communications restored telephone traffic across the Atlantic by shifting to longer wavelengths.

For conversation across 3,000 miles of ocean some short-wave channel between 14 and 60 metres is required. A. T. & T. announced last week that it had bought 2,500 acres of land near Manahawken, N. J. on which to erect a chain of “rhombic” or diamond-shaped antennae no less than two miles long, for transatlantic short-wave reception. The rhombic arrangement, already tried out experimentally for some years, makes possible a directional focussing effect and cuts fading, at times of ethereal turmoil, to a minimum.