Charles E. Apgar

Lore & Background

Apgar became interested in wireless telegraphy after reading about an amateur who had heard election returns transmitted by a newspaper on election night. He built his first homemade wireless telegraphy equipment on December 11, 1910, and soon listened to news bulletins from the New York Herald station OHX in Manhattan. After the Radio Act of 1912, he was licensed as 2MM and operated a 450-watt amateur station at his home in Westfield, New Jersey, using equipment he constructed that could reach a wavelength of 8000 meters. He became an associate member of the Institute of Radio Engineers in April 1913 and an early participant in the American Radio Relay League by October 1913.

Apgar built a device he called a 'loud talker-horn'—an early loudspeaker—that could be heard 600 feet away. He also devised a method to record signals from stations he listened to, using a Dictaphone connected to his receiver to capture Morse code transmissions on wax cylinders made by Edison Manufacturing Company. His first recording was made October 12, 1913, of the New York Herald station WHB. By October 1914, he had recorded other transmissions including time signals from the United States Navy station NAA.

Apgar turned his attention to the Sayville, New York, wireless station WSL, operated by the Atlantic Communications Company, which was primarily owned by the German company Telefunken. The station communicated with the Nauen Transmitter Station POZ in Europe, jointly owned by the Imperial German Army and Imperial Mail. Apgar made his first recordings of Sayville in November 1913. In August 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order prohibiting radio communication of an 'unneutral nature' from U.S. territory. The US Navy stationed personnel at Sayville to inspect messages, but the station was soon suspected of including secret messages despite censorship. Apgar noticed peculiar messages and informed an inspector from the Department of Commerce.

Reader's Guide

Apgar's recordings of the Sayville wireless station provided crucial evidence that clandestine messages were being sent in violation of the presidential prohibition intended to maintain United States neutrality. This proof of illicit operation led to the government seizing control of the facility to stop the activity. His efforts received extensive coverage in newspapers and technical science magazines at the time, and his contributions were praised by government investigators. Publications continued to remark on his work many years later. Apgar's method of recording radio transmissions on wax cylinders—colloquially referred to as 'canned messages'—was a novel technique that preserved wireless signals for later analysis, a significant achievement in an era when most amateur operators simply listened and logged what they heard. His home-built equipment, described as a 'high-grade plant' of 'extraordinary efficiency,' demonstrated the potential of amateur radio to contribute to national security and investigative work.

Did You Know?

• His recordings were made on wax cylinders produced by the Edison Manufacturing Company.
• He could hear the Nauen station in Germany, 4000 miles away, with his home-built equipment.
• His daughter Dr. Virginia Apgar became a pioneer in obstetrics and neonatology.