Oral messages were important for quick communications Messengers often ran messages to the recipient Horseback provided a means for faster delivery Eventually post offices developed Still people often needed to send messages even faster Over the centuries the search for speedy communication evolved As writing communications developed using electromagnetic waves for fast communication also developed Joseph Henry’s development of the first electric telegraph in 1831 led to a way for sending fast messages Other inventors improved on this Joseph Henry 1797 1878 The telegraph uses electricity to send coded messages through wires 5
Used mainly for individual messages at first news agencies adopted the electric telegraph as a way to get the latest updates on developing news stories Reporters used it for updating sports scores as well Early telegraph lines were primitive Soon the use of two lines one for sending and a second for receiving improved message sending In 1835 Samuel Morse developed the Morse code which used dots and dashes for the alphabet further simplifying message delivery The telegraph changed the dots and dashes of this code into electrical impulses and transmitted them over telegraph wires A telegraph receiver on the other end of the wire converted the electrical impulses to dots and dashes on a paper tape 6
Great Britain adapted a form of Morse code used throughout Europe As the need for international communication grew the more complicated Morse used by the United States changed and adopted what was called the Continental Morse Guglielmo Marconi 1874 1937 The problem with telegraphs was that they were limited to the wires that transmitted them There was no way to contact ships on the seas or reach other countries overseas either These radio waves moved around the Earth and could go long distances across land and oceans This discovery first allowed waves to transmit information In 1895 Guglielmo Marconi discovered groundwave radio signals 7
The Radio Act of 1912 a United States federal law enforced limited amateur use of radio waves and required a license It also assigned the frequency they had to use Guglielmo Marconi’s ocean-crossing radio devices saved many lives including all of the surviving passengers from the sinking Titanic in 1912 Marconi sent radio signals across the Atlantic Ocean with high power radios and giant antennas He used information discovered by James Clerk Maxwell in 1873 the electromagnetic field a spectrum of waves Many people began to use the limited radio wave space called bands Amateur radio operators also called ham radio operators communicated in relays at first and by 1921 around the world Wireless information was past its infancy and on its way Ham radio operators competed for radio air space and those interfering with others broadcasts were called hams Over time the term became common and no longer holds the original meaning The correct term for operators is amateur radio operators Amateurs must still be licensed and follow regulations 8
