|
Reginald J. Iversen Saint Petersburg, FL QCWA # 149 |
- Born Reginald Julian Iversen in Highwood, Illinois, on May 12, 1899
- Iversen has been misspelled Iverson (with an "o") in many publications.
Reginald J. Iversen, 93, of St. Petersburg, died Friday (Nov. 20, 1992) at Pasadena Manor Nursing Home. He was born in Maywood, Ill., and came here in 1969 from Long Island, N.Y. A wireless engineer, he retired as chief engineer and manager of the New York Times radio communications and recording operation department.
After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War I, he served during World War II as radio consultant and chief instructor in radio communications at Chamberlin School, a training center of the Army Signal Corps. He also designed and built transmitters for several noted explorers, including Sir Hubert Wilkins, Lincoln Elsworth, Capt. Robert A. 'Bob' Bartlett and Adm. Richard E. Byrd.
He was a life member of the Veterans Wireless Operators Association and the Society of Wireless Pioneers, a senior member of the Institute of Radio Engineers and the Quarter Century Wireless Association. He was a member of the American Radio Relay League and an honoary Naval communicator of the local chapter of the U.S. Navy Pelican Club with the call letters K4QZ. He was a senior member of Boca Ciega Power Squadron.
Survivors include his wife, Kathryn; two stepsons, Harvey Hortman, Florida Keys, and Donald Hortman, Walnutport, PA; two stepdaughters, Barbara Rasgaitis, North Olmsted, Ohio, and Sue Rabe, Germansville, PA; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. David C. Gross Funeral Homes, Central Avenue Chapel, St. Petersburg.
(Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL), November 21, 1992)
Preface: In 1920 the NY Times used early wireless stations to deliver the news from Europe. Most of the traffic was sent from London and Paris and received at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia and then by leased line to the Times. Unreliable communications caused the Times to install receivers and antennas in their mid-Manhattan (Times Square) offices. The station did not work as planned.
Reginald J. Iversen, 9CG, W2LDR, K4QZ (SK) was an operator at the transatlantic Navy receiving stations in Belmar, NJ; Chatham, MA; and at NBD in Chatham, ME before he became the chief engineer and radio operator for the New York Times. Iversen updated the equipment and receivers such that dispatches sent during the day could be printed at night for distribution in the next day's paper. Iverson was then hired to establish another transatlantic station, which was known as the News Wireless Board, Ltd. The Times, noting his success, had Iverson create a new station in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. In 1924 the Manhattan station was updated which included new short wave receivers. It was the age of exploration and numerous adventurers took off for little known parts of the world.
Howard F. Mason in his Spark's Journal article First Byrd's Antarctic Expedition 1928 - 30 goes into great detail about the wireless communications used by the expedition. An excerpt from the article relating to Iversen appears below. The full article is available at URL
http://www.silentkeyhq.com/wireless_archive/SOWP/Vol5No4.pdf
"The New York Times had made a rather large monetary contribution and was awarded exclusive news rights. They would also furnish all radio communication equipment and operators. The Times would furnish a reporter as a member of the expedition who would send back daily reports direct to the Times in New York for publication in papers of the North American Newspaper Alliance throughout the country and the world."
"Out in the Pacific WHD [The New York Times station] started to have difficulty in reading the ships due to the high level of man-made interference in mid-town Manhattan. This caused considerable concern as it would jeopardize the whole communication plan."
"Mr. Iversen, the Times chief operator, put a receiver in his car and went way out on Long Island and searched until he found a place relatively free of any interference. There he put up a shack and installed a receiver and a special type of long wire antenna directional south. Two telephone lines were leased to the Times office, one for a signal line the other for an order line. This completely remedied the problem and receiving was through this remote station for the rest of the time it was needed."
From South-Pole.Com ....Byrd's use of communications equipment overshadowed that of the others as regular wireless communications were established with the outside world, as well as with all flights and field parties. As Byrd put it, " this single department received more attention than any other, for our program called for the most elaborate system of communication ever proposed in a Continent where radio conditions are notoriously bad".... Assistance was provided for the selection of equipment by the US Navy, the New York Times and several corporations. Communication with Little America was so reliable that it was referred to as "the 9000-mile wire to the South Pole."
During the Byrd expedition, Iversen and his team also set a world record for wireless communication with an airplane. This is how the article appeared in the New York Times, Sunday, January 27, 1929.
Radio Wonder - New York and Antarctic
Two-Way Communication With Plane
NEW YORK. Saturday.
A world's record for radio and aviation was established early this morning, when Commander Byrd's plane, flighting at an altitude of 3000 feet, conducted two-way communication direct with the New York 'Times' radio station. The distance between the plane and the receiver was 10,000 miles. It was the first time an air plane in flight had sent and received messages at such a long distance.
It was 10:30 pm in New York when Operator Carl Peterson, aboard the City of New York the base ship of the expedition called the Times on a 34 metre wave length. He said Malcolm Hanson radio chief of the expedition, would make a test flight-aboard the plane at 8:15 pm in the Bay of Whales.
"Listen in; try and hear the plane," said a flash from the Far South. While the ether in the north temperate zone was fairly quiet, early in the morning in New York, with most of the broadcasters fast asleep. Reginald Iversen, radio engineer of the 'Times' station, tuned the dial to 34 channel, and found that the operator nearest the South Pole had kept his rendezvous.
It's interesting to note that in 1926 the Time radio communications were handled using amateur sign U2UO. A few years later after complaints from the ARRL, the Times obtained commercial station license, WHD. The importance of timely communications was evidenced by the fact that many Times stories featured the slug 'By wireless to the New York Times.'
The Times supported many expeditions. The radios for Thor Lothing's New York to Norway flight was provided by the Times. The inscription on the photo reads: 'To my good friend R. J. Iversen. I thank you for your keen interest and advice on installation of radio in my plane during the preparations of my Norway flight 1935.'
On June 1, 1969, Iversen retired after serving 69 years with the New York Times. In 1973 he was awarded the Marconi Memorial Gold Medal of Service by the Veteran Wireless Operators Association.
Reginald J. Iversen became a Silent Key at the age of 93 in St. Petersburg, Fl on November 20th, 1992.
For more information on the New York Times radio stations, its chief engineer Reginald J, Iverson, photos and more, see 'The paper, the Station and the Man' by Emelie and Rexford Matlack, W3CFC in the February, 1980 issue of 73 Magazine.
http://archive.org/stream/73-magazine-1980-02/02_February_1980#page/n50/mode/1up
Photos courtesy of Archive.org
'Spark's Journal,' is the quarterly publication of the Society of Wireless Pioneers.