"Is that so?" Roland was overjoyed. Judging from Barov's tone, it was not as simple as the facilities being built. "You heard the signal too?"
The so-called Iron Tower Project was the first step of the wireless communication plan. To meet the needs of the huge antenna needed for long-wave communication, the Ministry of Construction had built 50-meter-tall towers at North Slope Mountain and Silver City. More than half of the towers were only as thick as an adult's body, so they looked like long, sharp needles from a distance. With the addition of retractable hydrogen balloons dragging metal wires, the antenna could reach a maximum length of more than 100 meters.
In terms of construction difficulty, it was not too praiseworthy. However, the communication tower was a systematic project, and the receiving and receiving equipment at the bottom of the tower was the key. As the debugging process would inevitably emit electromagnetic waves many times, even if the signal was messy and disorderly, in this world where there was no interference, it was normal for the other side to capture it.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Barov replied excitedly. Barov replied excitedly. "It is indeed, as you said, producing some marvelous reaction of its own accord. But... I'm not sure if it was caused by Silver City. "
"I think this question will be answered soon." Roland pondered for a moment. "Inform the ministers of the Administrative Office to go together. I don't think they would want to miss this opportunity to witness history."
...
After several years of development, North Slope Mountain was no longer the steep mining area with only a few narrow mountain paths. Wide cement roads and railroad tracks were built along the slope, and it would only take a quarter of an hour to reach the top of the mountain by train.
Not far from the iron tower was a row of simple red brick single-story houses with a row of icicles hanging from the low eaves. It looked far less imposing than the new factories on the south bank of the Redwater River. Based on its appearance alone, it was difficult to associate it with the "new era".
Entering the house, Anna was directing the Sand Nation members of the Society of Wondrous Crafts to make the final preparations. When she saw Roland, she secretly made a "everything is ready" gesture and then seriously immersed herself in her work.
Roland could not help but grin.
As early as when the wireless communication plan was first set, it had caused a heated discussion in the Administrative Office. Most people could clearly see what kind of change this project would bring to the human world. If the news could be transmitted, it would be a great boost to both the war power and the control of Neverwinter.
The wired phones, the flying messengers, and the Sigil of Listening were proof that the old aristocratic forces in Graycastle had not found any opportunity to make a comeback. Many officials had thought that centralization of power would be a long and repeated process, but the fact was that they had not been able to make any waves after being overthrown by the First Army. The reason was that in the face of efficient information transmission, the nobles would be annihilated by the Second Army or even the police as soon as they showed the slightest sign of trouble, leaving no room for them to grow.
However, the phone had a wire, and the last two were related to magic power, so the officials could somewhat understand it. However, not only did the Iron Tower Engineering not have any connections, but its theoretical effect was even stronger than that of a magical creation. This was truly unbelievable. Although there was a basic introduction to electromagnetic waves in primary education textbooks, many people still had doubts about something that could not be seen or touched. In a sense, it was even more unimaginable than a biplane.
Of course, this heated discussion would not affect the actual progress of the project. After all, under the guidance of Roland, there were too many miracles in Neverwinter over the years. Even if he suddenly announced that he was going to fly to the Bloody Moon, the Administrative Office would still go all out.
However, wireless communication was not his specialty, so he was not as confident as developing mechanical equipment. This set of transceiver devices was completely copied from the Graycastle Design Bureau's prototype, so no one knew the actual effect. With Anna's gesture, he finally did not have to worry about losing face in front of the ministers.
"Then, let's begin."
Roland took Anna's hand and led her to the transmitter.
"Uh... Roland?"
"This is the result of the Ministry of Engineering. Of course, you're the first tester." He winked at her. Although he already knew in advance that she had confirmed the feasibility of communication during the debugging process, it would definitely be the official test that would be recorded in the history books.
"There's still a receiving position. Who wants to be the first to experience it?"
Barov and the others looked at each other and raised their hands. "Your Majesty, let me do it!"
After some scrambling, the old director, with the most profound qualifications, successfully fought his way out of the crowd and became one of the testers for the "first" long-distance telegram communication.
In theory, the transmission and reception of the telegram could be completed by one person, but it was obviously easier to verify the test results by separating them at this time. For people who had never seen a radio before, the most important thing was how to convince them that the other end, hundreds of kilometers away, had really received the message transmitted here. The simplest way was to let the unknowing receiver report the information through the telegram that should only be known by the sender.
After Roland briefly explained the test method, he asked the guards to cover Barov's eyes. Anna drew three horizontal lines and two dots on a small blackboard. The horizontal lines represented long tones, and the dots represented short tones.
After everyone confirmed that there was no mistake, she pressed the button of the transmitter.
— "Three long lines and two segments."
The moment the circuit was connected, a bright blue light bloomed in the center of the gap between the sparks.
As the electric key was not connected to a buzzer, there was no other movement in the house except for this light.
Everyone held their breath. This arc of light was so small that it would be difficult to see it standing outside the house, let alone Silver City which was hundreds of kilometers away.
Roland, on the other hand, could not help but have goosebumps.
At that moment, he seemed to feel something pass through his body.
There was no doubt that it was an illusion. In the case of low power, electromagnetic waves would not have any effect on the human body. But in his mind, everything appeared in a clear and distinguishable image. The electric flame seemed to disappear in a flash, but the transmitted electric current repeatedly oscillated between the inductor and the capacitor, as many as tens of millions of times per second. The rapidly changing electric field quickly spread along the antenna and the ground wire, and spread in all directions.
It was a human cry in the silent world - no one could hear it, and yet it was louder than any sound that had ever been heard.
Even after flying hundreds of kilometers, the wave did not disappear, and was accurately recorded by the antenna of Silver City.
It was greeted by two receivers.
After an ancient powder detector caught the electromagnetic wave, the metal powder in the glass tube turned from loose to condensed. This caused the resistance in the circuit to suddenly decrease, and the originally extinguished light bulb bloomed with a soft yellow light. Its biggest function was to inform the listener that the cry was echoing in the sky above the dome.
The other was an ore detector. It did not require any external power supply and was always in the receiving state. A piece of galena and a wire inserted into it formed a natural semiconductor. The energy radiated by electromagnetic waves formed a weak electric current inside it. One had to wear headphones to hear the sound.
In the absence of a buzzer modulation, it did not produce a clear and melodious beep, but it still accurately reproduced the frequency of the transmission.
Then, the process was reversed.
Distance was no longer a problem, and it was as fast as light could be. In other words, it was light itself.
Anna repeated it three times before putting down the button.
According to the agreement, if Silver City received the transmission, it would send the exact same message. If it was a conventional way of sending a letter, it would take about five to seven days to complete a round trip between the two places. If it was a flying messenger, it would take at least a day.
But the moment Anna put down the button, the light on the receiver lit up.
It only took a few seconds!
The crowd could not help but burst into an uproar.
The blindfolded Barov knew nothing about it. He listened for a long time, and finally slowly wrote down the message he heard on a piece of paper.
When he took off the headset and blindfold, there was no need to ask about the test results — from the surprised looks of the crowd, the answer was self-evident.
The mark on the paper was three horizontal lines and two dots!
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