Talk:Charles E. Apgar

call sign
In the April 10, 1913 station list the call 2MM had not yet been assigned. Apgar is licensed with 2MM in the (July 1) 1913, 1914, and 1915 lists, but 2MM is omitted from 1916. The 1917-18 lists were not published due to the war. In 1919 2MM had been reassigned to Frank M. Soden.

The ARRL claims he used 2MN which must be a typo, as other names are given for that call during the pre and post war years. In 1915 Philander H. Betts was 2MN.

The Aug. 25, 1940 Boston Globe cites W2MN in Radio Amateurs Already Battling Fifth Column but this refers to his 1915 station. This article is reprinted verbatim in the New York Daily Herald on Sep. 29, 1940. The NYT (1950) obituary ref also claims that he was operating W2MN in 1915, which is clearly contradicted by the official gov't lists above. W2MM first appears in 1931, not assigned to Apgar, and W2MN is unassigned.

I've searched through a number of lists and haven't yet found Apgar in the post WWI years. --mikeu talk 18:31, 24 December 2019 (UTC) (updated: --mikeu talk 20:58, 25 December 2019 (UTC))

Marconi
Apgar was published in this reference which states that it is "By and for Marconi Employees." Employment by Marconi is not listed in any obituaries. I removed the statement from the article until I can confirm. --mikeu talk 19:42, 24 December 2019 (UTC)

Proper name
All the references that I've seen refer to him (or he refers to himself) as "Charles E. Apgar" or he styles his name "Chas. E. Apgar." Sources don't refer to him as "Charles Apgar" nor do they spell out the middle name "Emory." I've moved the page with Charles Apgar as a redirect here. --mikeu talk 21:53, 25 December 2019 (UTC)

Poor sources
Moving unreliable external links to talk. --mikeu talk 16:32, 26 December 2019 (UTC)


 * Charles E. Apgar - "Wireless Wizard"
 * Recordings by Charles Apgar at Arcane Radio Trivia
 * The History of Magnetic Recording (page 6) at University of San Diego

"First" or "earliest" recordings
References claim that his recordings ere either the "first permanent record" or the "earliest recordings" of radio signals. It is possible that this could be true. In Sept. 1915 it was stated that there were published reports "during the past year" that Maconi had been installing dictaphones in ship stations. Apgar's work appears to predate these reports. I've refrained from including them in the article until I can find better sources. Ford looks reliable but it is merely a note in a card catalog. Perversity mentions it only in passing with a footnote to Apgar's account which makes no such claim. I'm leaving these notes here for future reference in case someone wants to followup on the claims. --mikeu talk 20:37, 29 December 2019 (UTC)


 * IMO, based on Gernsback in The Perversity of Things, you could have the article say that "Apgar has been credited with making the first permanent record of a wireless message". It's a way of avoiding a flat statement of fact, and instead reporting that reliable sources said Apgar was responsible for this achievement. - LuckyLouie (talk) 19:06, 6 January 2020 (UTC)


 * That sounds reasonable. I added a note. --mikeu talk 18:41, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

Uncontroversial citations in lead
Hi, all those uncontroversial cites should be removed from the lead and placed later in the article. Yoninah (talk) 22:40, 15 January 2020 (UTC)


 * I cleaned up most of the lead. I'll take a closer look at the remaining citations. --mikeu talk 23:38, 15 January 2020 (UTC)