Tesla vs. HertzTesla was not a theo

Tesla vs. Hertz
Tesla was not a theoretician by calling, but he made plenty of observations on the electrical nature of
the universe that put him at odds with of official theory. In fashion then (and even now) was the theory
of Heinrich Hertz, an interpreter of the physics of James Maxwell. Hertz explained radio propagation as
transverse waves akin to light. Tesla was convinced that radio disturbances were standing waves in
the ether akin to sound. When you drop a pebble into water, the disturbances you see in the form of
concentric circles are standing waves.
Both Tesla and Hertz assumed the existence of an aetheric medium, but differed as to its energy
transmitting properties. Tesla believed that the ether was a gas like medium, that electric propagation
was very much like that of sounds in air, alternate compression's and rarefaction's of the medium, and
that Hertzian waves could only take place in a solid medium. Tesla once said that Hertz waves are
radiation and that no energy could be economically transmitted to a distance by any such agency. He
said, In my system, the process is one of true conduction which can be effected at the greatest
distance without appreciable loss.
When quantum physics and particle theory came into vogue, the aetheric medium was dropped out of
electric theory altogether, but Hertz's theory was more compatible with the new concepts of
propagation and therefore survived. By way of rubbing this in, the unit of frequency, formerly cycles per
second (cps), was renamed in honor of Hertz (Hz), while only an obscure unit of magnetic flux density
remembers Tesla. It is in respect to Tesla that I have reverted to the old unit in this book. Hertzian
radio is straight-line, light-like radiation's that bounce off hills and mountains. Long distance Hertzian
transmissions are explained in terms of radiation's bouncing off a radio reflective upper layer called the
ionosphere. Tesla thought this was all nonsense and declared in 1919 that Hertzian thinking has stifled
creative effort in the wireless art and retarded it for 25 years. Hertzian radio is aerial.
Most of us are conditioned to thinking in terms of aerial radio; the air waves, on the air. Tesla's radio is
grounded; the lower end of the energized coil is rooted in the earth. Pure Hertzian radio has no such
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the lost inventions of Nikola Tesla
natural load. Tesla doesn't speak of antennas as such; the element he places aloft is an elevated
capacity. Tesla said radio devices should be designed with due regard to the physical properties of this
planet and the electrical conditions obtaining in same. Grounded radio is indeed more powerful than
the Hertzian aerial. But this is true particularly for the frequencies Tesla was using. The higher
frequencies do behave in a Hertzian manner. Yet grounding is all but a lost concept in consumer
electronics. Up through the 1940's, AM radio receivers customarily had a terminal one was
encouraged to connect to a cold water pipe or other deep earth connection. Ground the chassis of any
of today's receivers, and, unless there is some kind of interference coming up through the ground
(from fluorescent circuits, light dimmers, which are oscillators, or from the local Tesla coil), you will
usually improve signal strength and range.
Among Tesla's contributions to radio was remote control. Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat
before crowds at Madison Square Gardens and sent another robot craft 25 miles up the Hudson River.
Grounded radio works particularly well through water. Tesla's basic radio tuning tank circuit for
receiving (coil plus capacitor between antenna and ground) was, and is, all by itself, a powerful signal
amplifier, and a beautifully simple one, at that. But as radio developed over the years, the tank circuit
shrank in size and the result was a loss in gain. This was compensated for by the addition of stage
upon stage of complex amplification circuitry.
Tesla watched this development with bewilderment. Tesla knew that the most efficient long-distance
radio took place in the lower frequencies, especially those close to the earth-resonant frequency.
Frequencies well below the AM broadcast band were the favored ham frequencies in the early days
prior to World War I. In fact, waves of 600 meters (500 kc) were considered short while considered
fairly long were the waves of 1200 meters (25 kc). Like a lot of good real estate, many of these more
radio-effective frequencies below the AM broadcast band have been appropriated for military use, but
also for navigation beacons, weather stations, and time registers.