History of TelegraphyA dominating theme of the 21st Century will be the transmission and processing of information as the global network of communication channels continues to develop. The emergence of today's digital communications technology owes much to the growth of telegraphy in the 19th and 20th Centuries. The realisation of cheap long-distance communication using telegraphy stimulated the initial design and development of coded transmissions that proved vital in both World Wars for use on land, sea, and in the air. Methods of data compaction, coding and encryption in modern communication systems all have their origins in the techniques used by the telegraph pioneers. In fact the two main phases of telegraph development - cable-based techniques that began in the early 19th Century and wireless transmission in the 20th Century - parallel the changes in voice and information communications seen recently. |
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achieved Admiralty aerial airborne aircraft American amplifier apparatus arc transmitter Army band Baudot code became Britain British carried circuit civilian commercial connected construction Corps crystal detector device direction-finding electric telegraph Electrical Engineers electromagnetic established fleet frequency range German gutta-percha India initially installed Institution of Electrical instrument insulation large numbers later letter London magnetic major manufactured Marconi Company military Morse code naval Navy needle oscillator patent Post Office Public Record Office quenched spark radio railway receiver relay route Royal Engineers semaphore ships shore stations Siemens signal spark gap spark set spark transmitters submarine cable superhet Surrey techniques tele Telefunken telegram Telegraph Company telegraph lines telegraph network telegraph system telephone teleprinter thermionic valves tion transceiver transmission tuned Type United valve wavelengths Wheatstone wire wireless communication wireless equipment wireless operators wireless telegraphy