I have been trying to figure out where in the sunspot cycle Earth was in 1912, as that would help estimate how far the Titanic's wireless could reach. I recall that on the trip from Belfast to Southampton, Bride and Phillips worked stations in the Canary Islands and Egypt. I want to say the maximum distance was 3500 miles. I recall that this information came from "On A Sea of Glass."
Of course, but does that part prove anything? Amateur radio operators have always been very focused on their hobby, sometimes to the point of being labelled eccentric. This might have been specially true in 1912 when wireless messaging was still something of a novelty and it was known that the range of signals would increase at night. So, someone in Moore's position might conceivably have remained up all night just to pick-up such signals, although in the light of points made by Julian I agree that it seems highly unlikely that he actually did so.
Just for the sake of discussion Julian, is there the possibility that Moore might have been taken to Ty Llywed by a friend in his cart or some similar vehicle? That would also have solved the problem of hauling the equipment uphill. If there was a farm up there, the local farmer could have owned the necessary vehicle and helped Moore (just being the Devil's Advocate
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From these graphs it looks like 1912 was a minimum year for sunspots. And the website also says the same for 1912. Actually looks like extremely low sunspot activity in 1912. Cheers.
Yes makes sense a dedicated enthusiast would be working the radio at night. Could have been a night owl too like me. Many times I'm out at 2-3 am looking thru the telescope. Seems reasonable to me. Nothing disturbing or strange like what some do with their hobbies. Cheers.Yes, I agree that claims by David Sarnoff and Artie Moore have started to look a bit dubious in view of what Julian and others have said. But I know very little about radio signals and so will watch with interest where this discussion takes us.
Of course, but does that part prove anything? Amateur radio operators have always been very focused on their hobby, sometimes to the point of being labelled eccentric. This might have been specially true in 1912 when wireless messaging was still something of a novelty and it was known that the range of signals would increase at night. So, someone in Moore's position might conceivably have remained up all night just to pick-up such signals, although in the light of points made by Julian I agree that it seems highly unlikely that he actually did so.
Just for the sake of discussion Julian, is there the possibility that Moore might have been taken to Ty Llywed by a friend in his cart or some similar vehicle? That would also have solved the problem of hauling the equipment uphill. If there was a farm up there, the local farmer could have owned the necessary vehicle and helped Moore (just being the Devil's Advocate
The man on the ladder in your pic 2/7 certainly appears to have two legs; do you know which leg Moore had lost? The half-obscured left leg in that picture appears to be his own looking at the natural way it is slightly bent at the knee. The right leg appears straight and I could not discern a shoe and so in theory could be a wooden one but of course, that brings us back to your question of how the man could then have got up the ladder.
While no stargazer myself (I sincerely wish that I had been), I know that a lot of you are night owls. Particularly those living in urban areas where light interference from nearby buildings can be an issue but is often significantly reduced late at night and in the wee hours.
I consider my self lucky where I live. Not much light pollution. No street lights or anything like that here. But it's getting worse with all the people moving here now. If it's something special I'll drive out into the desert 5 or so miles from where I live where there's no lights at all. But things are changing. People I know who are really into it with sky tracking telescopes are now complaining about all the low earth satellites in orbit now. Like the Starlink sat system. Too many streaks showing up in there long term exposure photos. I've read some of the big earth based telescopes are getting really worried about it. It's messing up their observations and science. I just have have a couple of simple scopes. Nothing like friends have. Sometimes just use my 35mm digital camera with telephoto lens. You can get some really good shots with those. But to stay somewhat on topic, there are many reasons why people like Artie Moore could be out at 3 am. Especially radio guys. A lot them are really dedicated to their craft/hobby.
That reminded me of an old friend, a much older man than I, who used to live in some out of the way town in Arizona on the 1950s and early 60s. I lost contact with him ages ago but recall that he used to tell me that on some clear nights he could see bright stars from his bed which was right next to the window. As a teenager, he often sneaked out in the middle of the night on his moped or something similar out into the semi-desert just to gaze at the stars.
Thanks for the graph, Steve. 1912 was the end of Cycle 14/the start of Cycle 15, yet there were only 150 days without sunspots. Both 300 and 600 meters don't require a lot of ionization for skip to occur; at least not to the degree that 20, 15, 12, and 10 meters require. Also, relatively speaking, the bands were less crowded so it would be easier to hear a station.From these graphs it looks like 1912 was a minimum year for sunspots. And the website also says the same for 1912. Actually looks like extremely low sunspot activity in 1912. Cheers.
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Solar cycle 14 - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Thanks for that information. If it was a below-knee amputation and he had adapted to the disability well, it is quite possible that a fit young man could have climbed the ladder. I had not zoomed in on 4/7 but the young man in that picture, who clearly has an artificial right leg, appears to be the same as the one on the ladder in 2/7.
Thanks Mark. Well, that changes things a bit, doesn't it?. First of all, the fact that the announcements appeared on 17th April 1912 puts paid to the belief that Sarnoff made it up much later, although it is possible that he embellished his role to make himself some sort of hero.
Mark...good find on that Standard Union ad/article.
So in your opinion would it have been possible for him to have received the signals from Titanic with the set up he had, being in a low valley and all? As stated before I think it would have but I have limited experience/knowledge on it. I don't doubt his story.
