MONOPOLY

Marconi only sought the complete domination of the radio world. Toward this end he wished the complete eradication of every other radio system and radio inventor. Marconi monopolized every aspect of the now expanding system. The natural gowth of scientific thought and experimental curiosity threatened his monopolistic plans. He “solved” this problem by dominating every aspect of wave radio technology with an odious dictatorial attitude. Many young operators simply left the organization and forged their own roads, eagerly in search of Nikola Tesla and Radiant Energy Radio. Where Marconi could not acquire, plagiarize, copy, bust, or by out a component which he required, he would order his engineers to develop a new system. Everything could be bought. To escape the obvious connection of spark generators with things Teslian,

Marconi now actively demanded the development of superior harmonic VLF wave generators.

Though capable of providing incredibly penetrating power bursts, the huge Poulsen Arc devices were no longer desirable (see figure).

But all of this labor, all this effort proved that he was wrong. The large copies of Tesla rotating machines, high frequency alternators copied by Alexanderson, were wastefully inefficient. Requiring enormous amounts of steam power to drive them at their high rotation speeds, giant cooling systems necessarily kept the coils and other parts fi-om simply melting. Applied to the giant system components, this energy seemed prodigious but was, in actuaUty, a small fraction of the total applied steam power. For all this input, the Alexanderson alternator did not yield “signal”. Fuel was expensive, and Alexanderson Alternators required the burning of huge quantities of coal (see figure).

Despite the use of this wave-generating system, Marconi was never able to broadcast power on any levels but those considered insignificant. Utilizing the lossy wave mode, there were other significant problems which appeared. Mammoth VLF systems produced only frail ghosts of signals, mere wisps whose signal content was so much like gossamer in the wind. Marconi found that his signals, however powerfully impelled, were now also subject to the caprices of Nature. The permeating interference generated by natural phenomena exceeded the ability of his best operators to discern the fractured telegraphic characters, blasted by endless static crashes. Noise, natural interference plagued all of his transmissions. He overcame this natural “offense” in a truly bizarre manner.

Marconi found that trans-Atlantic communications suffered in transit along east-west directions, while north-south trans-Atlantic communications came through with great power. This mystery led him to build a special “radio circuits”, signal paths which were rigorously tied to the geophysical environment Having found such positions, Marconi imagined that he now had dominion over the natural limitations. But poised in sea-bordering valleys and mountain ridges did nothing to compete with natural responses. The violent electrifications which bombarded the geophysical environment fi-om his VLF stations were no match for the effects of auroral and geoelectric disturbances, one of many secrets which Marconi kept close. Additionally, both Marconi and Dr. Fessenden each individually found that daily changes in VLF signal strengths often varied by the minute, a dangerous fact for stockholders to know. VLF signals were found to vary as much as eighty-percent between specific hours of the day. This inefficiency equalled lost revenue, a closely guarded secret. Remedies for these effects were never found. Marconi’s method was not to back track his work. A complete revision of Radio would require the change to Teslian radicuit energies. While Tesla was patenting his radiant aether systems, designs unfettered by natural electrostatic constraints, Marconi stubbornly continued to demand the improvement of wave technology.