75 Radios

In Neverwinter, the testing of a new piece of equipment was beginning. Long range communication has always been of utmost importance and it had value both to help govern a large territory more effectively as well as improving military coordination.

Currently, communication required wires connecting two places in order to transmit messages. This was fine for most things, but there are parts where wired communication has issues. Firstly is that there are long stretches of wire and sometimes the wire breaks. When the wire is broken, the break must be identified and repaired and in the meantime communications would be down.

Militarily, there would also be issues for an army on the march as they could be out of contact when they are moving. Relying on couriers, even flying ones, would mean delays. A portable communications tool like a radio would be very helpful for the army to coordinate its movements.

Moreover, when planes and tanks become more common, they would need communication tools to stay in contact to receive commands. While stones of listening were acceptable for the time being, once the numbers increased they would need to find a different solution.

That is why Roland was working on developing wireless communication devices. It was a difficult task. While he knew the principles behind a radio, actually developing one would require a lot of work. There would need to be extensive testing and calibration to make working devices.

Roland decided to start with the basics. The first radio he would build would be a primitive spark gap transmitter. The device would utilize discharges across a spark gap in order to create radio oscillations that will be transmitted through an antenna. The device had many downsides. It created broad spectrum interference which meant that there wasn't much of a way to allow different sets to use different frequencies. In addition, it could only really be used to communicate in Morse code as the transmitter would only transmit a bunch of popping sounds.

Although the device was still very basic and would not be able to transmit voices, it was still a step forward. The device would help test the basics of radio transmission and pave the way for better methods to be developed. Still, this was going to be a landmark event as communication was now going to be done wirelessly.

The transmitter was set up under a pavilion outside. Atop the pavilion was a large antenna extending into the sky. The device was powered by a generator that Mystery Moon set up. For the purposes of testing, using Mystery Moon to create custom voltage was the most efficient solution. The main device consisted of two metal rods that had a small gap between them.

When the button was pressed, a high voltage built up between the gap between the rods and what is essentially lightning connected the two rods. What occurred was that the air was ionized and was now conducting electricity. One rod was grounded and the other rod was connected to the antenna. Now, the antenna began emitting radio signals.

There was a receiver set up on the other side of the field. As the transmitter began operating, the crew operating the receiver reported that they were receiving signals. After copying down the pattern they were seeing, they reported it back. It matched with what was being transmitted. The test was a success.

This was only the beginning of the testing that was to come. Next, the receiver was put farther away to test the range. Eventually, it was found that the radio could transmit over a dozen kilometers. That was enough to more than cover the entire city, but it wouldn't be able to communicate with other regions of the nation. The range would have to be improved but even then there would need to be multiple relay towers to transfer the signal.

For now, Roland's main goal was to create a radio broadcast for Neverwinter. However, there were many things that had to be done before that. First, Roland needed to create a device that could change audio input into electrical signals. Then he needs to make a device that turns the electrical signals that were derived from the radio waves back into sound. In essence, he would have to create a microphone and a speaker.

In addition, he would need a different way to transmit radio besides a spark gap transmitter. The next step would be to make a transmitter that utilizes vacuum tubes and electronic oscillators. That would create a device capable of transmitting in analog rather than in bursts like the spark gap transmitter. Furthermore, it would be able to transmit at specific frequencies rather than being broad spectrum. That means that there can be multiple transmissions taking place in the same airspace which don't interfere with each other.

There were so many different things that could be done after radio was created. News could be spread over radio instead of newspapers. Once TV was invented then there would be more use of radio waves. Most importantly, Roland could address all of his people at once by talking over the radio.

Roland had learned about the American president Franklin D. Roosevelt and how he often did "fireside chats" where he addressed the nation over radio. FDR used these broadcasts to introduce his policies to the public and to gather popular support. Roland felt that this was something worth emulating and that he could better promote his policies by speaking to the citizens directly over radio.

Radio was a technology with a lot of potential and it was something that would have to be further refined to become a staple of society. To this end, Roland assembled a team of engineers to help him work on the project. Roland told them the general idea of how it was supposed to work and drew some rough sketches. Then, he dumped the task on them and had the team do all the work in actually constructing the device and making it work.