§ Sir N. GRATTAN-DOYLEasked the Postmaster-General what is the nature of the transmission from the long-distance wireless station at Rugby; for how many hours out of the 24 is the station transmitting; and what is the normal average speed of transmission in words per minute?
§ Sir W. MITCHELL-THOMSONThe Rugby telegraph transmitter is employed for about eight hours spread over the whole day, the telephone transmitter is employed for 14½ hours a day from 11.30 a.m. to 2 a.m. The telegraph transmissions cover:
- (i) British Official News Bulletins three times a day.
- (ii) Wireless Press Copyright News messages twice daily.
- (iii) Telegrams to ships at sea at scheduled times daily.
- (iv) Greenwich Observatory British official time signals twice daily.
The speed of transmission is limited to the rate at which reception.is possible and is about 20 words a minute. The station is capable of transmitting at a rate of over 80 words a minute. The telephone transmitter carries speech from Great Britain and from several countries on the Continent of Europe to the United States of America, Canada and Cuba.