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Though many ships still had spark transmitters, marine wireless had by now made considerable progress. Short-wave equipment for telegraphy was commonplace and some 15 transatlantic liners provided a radio-telephone service for passengers. The GPO's long-distance station for working to ships had been much improved and now had a rotating beam array with an electrically-interconnected receiving beam turning in unison at the remote controlling station.
The cathode-ray tube had by now become a regular article of commerce and its applications were no longer restricted to research work; it was being used for routine factory testing.
A stir was caused by the introduction (from Germany) of coils with powder-iron cores; inductors of this type were soon to be widely used in receivers in place of bulky air-cored windings.
A BBC service of official 'Empire' broadcasting, for which we had campaigned for some six years, was at last started. Wire and wireless were linked by a five-metre Post Office telephone link across the Bristol channel.
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