Talks about Wireless
With Some Pioneering History and Some Hints and Calculations for Wireless Amateurs

Originally published in 1925, this is a guide to all aspects of radio technology by a renowned physicist and broadcaster.

Oliver Lodge (Author)

9781108052696, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 August 2012

272 pages, 5 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1.6 cm, 0.35 kg

In the 1860s, radio waves were predicted by James Clerk Maxwell in his work on electromagnetism. It took a further twenty years for the first experiments to produce a working demonstration. In this guide to radio technology, first published in 1925, eminent physicist Sir Oliver Lodge (1851–1940) provides a concise history of the development of the wireless radio, explains the theory behind it, and includes some practical tips for amateurs. Having lived through and contributed to the discovery, he explains the difficulty of the early experiments, which took place in a time when terms like 'frequency' and 'inductance', now taken for granted, did not exist in the scientific vocabulary. His first-hand account reveals the incredible efforts poured into the development of a revolutionary modern technology, rekindling the sense of wonder that once surrounded this strange new science.

Preface
Introduction
Part I. Radio in General: 1. On broadcasting
2. Early pioneering work in radio waves
3. The discovery of the waves
4. The development of radiotelegraphy
5. Wireless achievement and anticipation
6. Vast range of ether vibrations
7. The transmission of wireless waves
8. Wave peculiarities
9. On the general theory of ether waves
10. Earth transmission
11. The Heaviside layer
Part II. Details that Make for Efficiency: 12. Some points about capacity and inductance
13. Conditions for maximum inductance
14. The importance of good contact
15. Advantage of low resistance and stranded wire
16. Some disadvantages of reaction
17. Stray capacities and couplings
18. The use of iron in transformers
19. Contrasting methods of aerial excitation
20. Phase difference in different kinds of coupling
21. The grid as traffic regulator
Part III. Calculations for Amateur Constructors: 22. Comparison of the absolute magnitudes of capacity and inductance
23. A plea for easy specification
24. On self-induction and its maximum value
25. Desiderata for inductance coil of receiver
26. How to calculate the conductance of coils
27. On the use of a simple formula for maximum inductance
28. To estimate the capacity of an aerial
29. Calculation of aerial capacity
30. On the damping of vibrations by coils of wire
31. The romance of wireless
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]