§ 40. Viscount SANDONasked the Postmaster-General what the geographical limitations are to the ability of the Rugby wireless station to reach ships at sea; whether he can give a list of the almost blind and the difficult spots for reception; and whether progress is being made in circumventing this difficulty?
§ The POSTMASTER-GENERAL (Sir William Mitchell-Thomson)The most difficult localities for reception appear to be in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean between Honolulu and Valparaiso. The power of the transmissions from Rugby has recently been increased in order to facilitate reception in such difficult localities. All radiotelegrams sent from Rugby are transmitted twice, once during the day and once during the night; and experience shows that the messages are regularly and reliably received during one transmission or the other by ships in all parts of the world.
§ 41. Viscount SANDONasked the Postmaster-General when the Rugby wireless station is likely to be capable of and to undertake telephonic inter-communication between this country and the whole world; when such communication is likely to be available for the public with the United States; and what is preventing this at present?
§ Sir W. MITCHELL-THOMSONThere are still certain technical difficulties to be overcome before a trans-Atlantic wireless telephone service can be offered to the public, and no definite date can yet be fixed for the opening of such a service. Experiments are still proceeding, and until the results are known and experience has been obtained of the working of a trans-Atlantic service under commercial conditions, it is not possible to make any useful forecast concerning the possibility of extension to other countries.