What was said about it in the USA

QST – the journal of the American Radio Relay League

JANUARY 1925  – THE G-Z WORK

We are able to report briefly in our last issue that New Zealand and England amateurs were working, to the shattering of all previous records. It is indeed so. Starting with g2SZ and z4AA on Oct. 18th, there has been easy and reliable communication almost every night. British stations 2SZ, 2KF, 2NM, 2OD, 2WJ, 6TM, 2JF, 5LF and 5NN, in the order named, got into communication with Zedders 4AA, 4AG, and 4AK, and the ether has been resounding with the 12,000-mile wallop! This is the really marvelous work of the year. Except g2NM, none of these stations used over 250 watts. We hand it to ‘em; great stuff !

A peculiar thing is that the three NZ stations getting QSO are situated in a radius of 50 miles on the south island of New Zealand and z2AC to the north, altho heard in England, has not yet been able to work. Nor has Australia, although a2DS reports g20D and g5LF. All of the work so far done has occurred between 0615 and 0730 G. M. T., when it is dawn in England and dusk in New Zealand. With the rising of the sun in England, the signals fade out at both ends. Peculiar antipodal effects enter into the communication; both the G’s and the Z’s say it is decidedly easier to work each other than it is to work U.S!’. British and French amateurs comment on the great intensity of NZ signals, often mistaking them for nearby stations. They have worked easily when U. S. stations reported the British signals quite weak; but that is understandable, as investigation has showed that signals are often stronger at the Antipodes than they are at intermediate points. The long-wave high-power European stations have their antipodes near southern New Zealand and their signals are much stronger in the vicinity of the NZ-fours than they are further north; but it is also interesting to note that these long-wave stations are received at maximum strength about 6 a. m. NZ time, while amateurs have been utterly unable to communicate between Britain and NZ at this time. Recently, however, z4AA and several Australians have been heard in England at 7 p. m. British time, and it is hoped that communication may yet be effected when the times of dawn and dusk are reversed in the two countries.

Now here is a dizzy feature of this business. The shortest distance between England and New Zealand is East from London, a little less than half-way around the world. All communication has occurred during the hour of sun-up in England and dusk in NZ, when it is daylight over the area east from England. Since signals fade out regularly with the rising of the sun, it is obvious that they are not going thru the daylight area. They therefore go the other way, across the Atlantic, Canada, the United States, and the Pacific, over a distance greater than half the, circumference of the globe! This is even more emphasized in the work of French amateurs with NZ This balls up all our calculations. We really don’t know now just how far it will be possible for amateurs to work on this footstool!

Credit g2OD with being the first Englishman heard in NZ, and the first to hear NZ for sure. This occurred just a day before the two countries clicked. Apparently all that was necessary was to determine the time of day that signals could be heard in both places. Most of this work has been done with low-loss tuners, detector and one stage audio, no fancy trappings necessary, although g2OD uses a superhet.

There must be a terrific kick for an Englishman in this business of working the Empire’s far-flung Dominions.