Talk:Reginald Fessenden

Comment
My grandmother's house in Chestnut Hill, mass. had formerly been Fessenden's Boston house. It is a grand Spanish style house, high upon a hill overlooking the city. Equipment my mother remembers in the basement of the house, left by Fessenden, clearly indicates he did do research there, and it is likely that he did radio work due to its excellent position over the city and facing the ocean. My family sold this house in 1978. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.96.166.15 (talk • contribs) 20:03, December 23, 2004 (UTC)

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Technical ed, Nikola Tesla On His Work With Alternating Currents and Their Application to Wireless Telegraphy, Telephony, and Transmission of Power (Denver: Sun Publishing, 1992, distb. by Twenty-First Century Books, Breckenridge, Colo. ). ISBN 0-9632652-0-2. First of four books in the “Tesla Presents” series. LC No. 92-060480. Not Fesseden, Not Eddison, Not Marconi. Was Nikola Tesla. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.159.33.153 (talk) 04:17, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Conflicting information on first transatlantic voice transmitter
It seems clear that the Christmas Eve, 1906 transmission by Reginald Fessenden was the first transatlantic voice/music transmission. But which transmitter did he use? Was it Ernst Alexanderson's alternator, or the rotary spark-gap transmitter that he already had at the Brant Rock, MA. site? Several Internet sources say that it was, indeed, Alexanderson's new alternator. But the IEEE publication comparing Fessenden and Marconi's methods insists that it was the rotary spark-gap transmitter that made this broadcast, and the level of detail it gives is convincing (80 kHz tuned antenna, 1.8 m rotary gap, 50 electrode rotor driven by 35 kVA steam powered (125 Hz) alternator). But the same page has the intriguing paragraph here ''By the summer of 1906 many of the difficulties had been overcome and the Alexanderson HF alternator developed by GE for Fessenden giving 50 kHz was installed at Brant Rock. Various improvements were made by Fessenden and his assistants, and by the fall of 1906 the alternator was working regularly at 75 kHz with an output of one half a kilowatt. This was the beginning of pure CW transmission, (c.f. Alexanderson [1919] "Transatlantic Radio Communication", Trans. AIEE, pp. 1077-1093)'' which lends a bit of uncertainty to the explanation. Evidently Fessenden had both transmitters in place, and we may need to track down these old publications, or find a definitive history text to resolve the differences in the Internet accounts. --Blainster 19:40, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

It has been a few weeks since I read the main article. It struck me, the voice transmission would be extremely difficult. if not impossible, using true spark or synchronous spark technology, I also remember reading Aiken"s "The Continuous Wave" some decades ago. My guess is that an arc rather than spark was used. I did not really understand this until I read The Continuous Wave. I thought that Fessenden was a licensee of Poulsen's arc. I also vaguely remember that small arcs were used as local oscillators for heterodyne detection. There also was a PBS documentary of voice transmission using arcs and absorption modulation17:28, 13 June 2013 (UTC)PEBill (talk) before WWI by Herold near San Francisco. The Perham Foundation, if it still exists, is likely to have information on that subject. PEBill (talk) 17:28, 13 June 2013 (UTC)


 * My understanding is that Fessenden only used the rotary spark transmitter in a very short range test. The audio was barely intelligible and there was a very loud buzz, as you would expect. I think his first broadcast with music must have used the alternator. I don't think Fessenden ever seriously pursued arc designs. I know that his company was working on both the rotary spark and alternator for some time, but as higher speed alternators were developed the alternator became the clear winner. The real problem is the lack of independent reports about his first broadcasts. Can he be credited based on his own account? Claudeb (talk) 21:11, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

Inventions second only to Edison
This statement has been moved from the article intro: Fessenden is second only to Edison in the number of patents held in his name. The same position is also claimed for Edwin H. Land, so it needs to be investigated and referenced. --Blainster 19:24, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Just a tip of the hat; both are very pertinent questions. --DV8 2XL 19:31, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

A search of LexisNexis shows that Reginald Fessenden is listed as the inventor on 136 patents and Edwin Land is listed as the inventor on 459 patents.

Notability
We need more details up top to clearly establish notability. I don't know as much about these subjects as some of you might, but I am willing to help. --Chris Griswold 17:49, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Lack of evidence for Dec 24 and Dec 31 1906 broadcasts
From Radio World Magazine by James E. O'Neal, 10.25.2006 Complete article: http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0052/t.437.html

Let us summarize our reasons to doubt:

No press reports at the time, or for a quarter-century after. No mention for decades by an inventor who knew how to promote himself and wrote hundreds of articles about his work. No mention in a contemporary log and no known logs elsewhere, whether official naval logs or otherwise. No commemorations 25 years later. No challenge to De Forest's published competing claim. No followup to Clark's finding that the year needed to be verified; no consensus as to the date among the group cited by Clark. No mention of 1906 once the year 1907 began to be cited.

Any one of these objections can be explained away. Taken together, they form a powerful counterargument.

The question of the year also might be considered a minor discrepancy except that the evidence seems to point to De Forest being first with what we would consider broadcasts in the spring of 1907.

Fessenden was a great man. It is not my desire to discredit his many accomplishments. However, it appears his claim to this particular historic "first" hangs on a single letter penned late in his life, which laid out a story that has been parroted many times since. This should not guarantee automatic entrance into the "broadcasting hall of fame" and the title of world's first broadcaster.

Perhaps somewhere out there, locked in a trunk, is a diary kept by Fessenden or one of his associates. Perhaps the Brant Rock station log survives in a second-hand bookstore. I leave it to future historians to find such evidence and prove me wrong.

The author acknowledges the assistance of Elliot Sivowitch, Smithsonian Institution curator (retired); Hal Wallace, Smithsonian Institution curator; Jane Johnson, librarian, Charlotte (N.C.) Public Library; Jim Haynes, retired engineer and educator, and his wife Pamela O'Neal, who worked with him in plowing through Fessenden files and writings. He also thanks the staff members of the Smithsonian's Archives Center and the North Carolina State Archives. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gmeader3 (talk • contribs) 10:57, December 9, 2006 (UTC)
 * Although well researched, one problem with the O'Neal article is that he was apparently unaware that there was at least one reference to the Christmas Eve broadcast prior to Fessenden's 1932 letter. In the 1928 book "The Radio Industry: The Story of its Development", there is a section titled "The Early History of Broadcasting in the United States" by H. P. Davis of Westinghouse, who is best known for starting KDKA. On page 190 he states "Attempts had been made, and some successful results had been accomplished, prior to the World War, in adopting telephonic principles to radio communication. Reginald Fessenden, probably the first to attempt this, broadcast a program Christmas Eve 1906. Later, Mr. Lee DeForest did the same in the development of his apparatus".Thomas H. White 23:05, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

GA nomination
I have "quick-failed" this GA nomination because it appears to have a complete lack of reliable sources. Please see Verifiability. Johnfos 04:18, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Good article reassessment
I am disputing the contention that the artilce has a complete lack of reliable sources. The references list found under 'Further reading' seem reliable to me. It does not contain any in-line citations but the references are reliable Cheers! Wassupwestcoast 00:04, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Endorse failure The big issue seems to be that the article lacks any inline citations where specific facts are linked to specific sources. Thus, though there is a list of references, none of those references are actually being used to support anything in the article.  While not every single sentance needs be cited, certain types of statements (statistics, direct quotes, controversial or challengable statements, superlative statements, etc.) should have them.  For example, here is a PARTIAL list of ideas that seem to beg for support from a specific reference:
 * "While growing up, Reginald was an accomplished student." Expresses an opinion. This opinion belongs to someone.  Cite who it belongs to.
 * "At the age of eighteen, Fessenden left Bishop's without having been awarded a degree, even though he had "done substantially all the work necessary". " Direct quote. Needs attribution.
 * "This lack of a degree may have hurt Fessenden's employment opportunities—when McGill University established an electrical engineering department, Fessenden was turned down on an application to be the chairman, in favor of an American.)" Contains an analysis of events. Analysis is opinion.  Opinions must exist outside of Wikipedia and be properly cited.
 * "Interested in increasing his skills in the electrical field, he moved to New York City in 1886, with hopes of gaining employment with the famous inventor, Thomas Edison. " interprets the motives of a person. Such interpretations are opinion, and must be tied to a reliable source where the opinion is expressed.
 * "Fessenden wrote "Do not know anything about electricity, but can learn pretty quick", to which Edison replied "Have enough men now who do not know about electricity". " More unattributed direct quotes.
 * This again is NOT a comprehensive list of uncited ideas, merely a few choice selections from the first few paragraphs. Since the article lacks ANY inline citations, it can be quickfailed, since there is certain to be unverified statements which need verification.  --Jayron32| talk | contribs  01:45, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
 * The above comments were copied by Wassupwestcoast from the good article reassessment page. Please continue any discussion or comments you have THERE and not HERE as any decision to act on the article will be made there.  The above comments were moved here simply to provide some concrete ways to improve the article.  --Jayron32| talk | contribs  03:10, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.94.240.51 (talk) 04:48, 14 June 2008 (UTC)


 * The GAR has endorsed the fail, but hopefully has provided some useful comments. Good luck improving the article. Geometry guy 20:26, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

No real evidence on "O Holy Night" broadcast
According to broadcast historian Donna Halper of Emerson College, " Fessenden never spoke of a Christmas Eve broadcast at the time and only mentioned it once, in a 1932 letter just before his death. If such a broadcast did happen, Halper says, it may well have been a bit of holiday fun amidst more serious experiments and demonstration broadcasts that took place, fully documented, on other dates in December." See http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0106/t.502.html
 * Please read: 1904). Grey Geezer 22:32, 6 August 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Grey Geezer (talk • contribs)

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Fessenden played Gounod's "Adore and Be Still" (not Adam's "O Holy Night") on the radio in 1906
On the first radio broadcast in 1906, Fessenden actually played on his violin a song by Gounod called "Adore and Be Still", and sang the last line of it as well ("Adore and be still"). He later misremembered the title as "O Holy Night", but it was clearly "Adore and Be Still":, ,. The incorrect myth that it was Adam's "O Holy Night" (which Fessenden never even said or wrote) has been perpetuated over the years by various pop-culture publications, but it's just a myth. Softlavender (talk) 01:46, 10 December 2017 (UTC)

Echosounding
German physicist Alexander Behm invented echo sounding system in 1912. --92.76.97.5 (talk) 14:26, 22 September 2020 (UTC)